Today, the European Commission held the last bilateral meeting of the screening process with Albania and North Macedonia on this Cluster 3 of the EU acquis. Experts from the European Commission, Albania and North Macedonia have been exchanging on countries’ levels of preparedness and discussing on authorities’ plans to further align with the EU acquis.

Cluster 3 on Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth encompasses digital transformation and media, science and research, enterprise, and industrial policy. It also covers social policy and employment, and education and culture, as well as customs union, economic and monetary policy, and taxation.

Eight bilateral screening meetings were held between European Commission officials and representatives of Albania and North Macedonia examining the state of play of both countries. The next step in the screening of cluster 3 will be the European Commission report to the Council on the degree of preparedness of Albania and North Macedonia for accession on this cluster, their plans for future work on this, and on preliminary indications of the issues that might arise during the negotiations.

The Council will decide, by unanimity, whether to define opening benchmarks for each negotiating cluster, on the basis of the proposal from the Commission in the screening report.