Luxembourg, Joint press conference, following the 10th Intergovernmental Conference between Albania and the European Union

Ireland’s Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne: Today marks an important moment for Albania and indeed for the European Union. It was a real pleasure to chair the 10th accession conference with Albania together with our Commissioner for EU enlargement, Marta Kos, and the Prime Minister of Albania, Mr Edi Rama.

Today, Albania has closed one additional negotiating chapter, which is Chapter 20 on enterprise and industrial policy. The closure of this chapter continues the positive momentum behind Albania’s candidacy in what has been a positive year for Albania’s accession process.

Following the fulfilment of the rule of law benchmarks for Chapters 23 and 24. In May, Albania closed the first three negotiating chapters; in July, during the first month of our presidency, today, we are confirming that Albania has not only entered the final phase of its accession process, but it continues to make progress. This continuous and sustained progress is a demonstration of Albania’s commitment to joining our Union. We can only encourage Albania to keep up this work. Over the coming weeks, the Commission is expected to publish its 2026 enlargement report. This will provide an important opportunity to take stock of the achievements made over the past year, while also identifying the areas where further efforts are needed to advance Albania’s path towards EU membership.

I encourage Prime Minister Rama and Albania to continue the momentum that you’ve created and to continue to implement the Commission’s recommendations to secure further progress in the accession process.

As Ireland experienced first-hand, implementing the necessary reforms not only enables candidate countries to align with EU standards, but also significantly transforms institutions, economies and societies.

As Presidency, we want to close additional chapters with Albania before the end of the Presidency. Your future lies within the European Union. Thank you.

 

Prime Minister Edi Rama: Good afternoon and again, thank you. Dear Thomas, and thank you, dear Marta. Today, Albania has taken another decisive step towards its rightful place in the European Union.

The provisional closure of Chapter 20, Enterprise and Industrial Policy, is a further recognition of the reforms Albania has delivered and of the transformation our country continues to undertake.

Following the very positive IBAR assessment on May 26, Chapter 20 becomes the fourth negotiating chapter, provisionally closed within just a few months.

And I heard you, dear Thomas, loud and clear. You want to do more. We want at least to double. So let’s work together, Albanians and Irish, and let’s rock this house together and let’s make it happen.

But on the other hand, we are aware that progress is not measured just by the number of chapters closed. These are important milestones, no doubt, but progress is measured above all in reforms delivered, institutions strengthened and tangible results achieved.

So again, a heartfelt thank you to the Irish Presidency, to you personally, Thomas, and, no doubt, to the European Commission, to Marta, her team, and last but not least, all member states for their continued trust, support, and engagement throughout this process.

We know that we still have a long way to go, but we are prepared to make it. And at the same time, we look forward to hosting the next summit of the growth plan together with the investment forum in Tirana. And until then, I’m very hopeful that more progress will be made and more progress will be recognised.

European Union Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos: Dear Prime Minister Rama, dear Minister Byrne, some habits are really hard to break. Holding four accession conferences together is becoming one of them. Yesterday, dear Thomas, we called it Montenegro Monday, today we could say together Super Tuesday.

So this is already our third time this year. And listening to you, especially Thomas, I know that we won’t stop here. And this is good. Albania is among those leading this impressive. Albania’s hard work and the strong support of our member states, we are closing another negotiating chapter.

Chapter 20 on enterprise and industrial policy is about helping Albanian businesses grow, compete, and create more jobs. Small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of Albania’s economy. Reforms under Chapter 20 bring real benefits for them.

Albania is also bringing its industrial policies closer to the EU’s, particularly on new technologies, clean energy and critical raw materials. These are important steps towards building a stronger Albanian economy, ready to grow in the EU single market.

I want to congratulate Albania’s institutions, public administration and citizens on another achievement and especially you, dear Madam Minister, dear Delina; this is your achievement.

Albania has set itself an ambitious goal of closing all negotiating chapters by the end of 2027, and we support this ambition. But to reach it, Albania must keep delivering, especially on the fundamentals, and this work must involve everyone, as we know: the government, the opposition, civil society and citizens.

Why? Because EU membership is a national project.

On our side, we are preparing for a larger union. Last week, we presented our assessment of how we need to prepare for a larger union. Our message was that we can make a bigger union work, and we are taking the steps needed to make it happen.

Albania’s future is in the European Union. Together with you, dear Prime Minister, we are making it happen. And today’s progress brings that future one step closer to becoming reality.

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-Will the new enlargement rules lead to Albania joining the EU before 2030?

European Union Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos: Oh, this I don’t know. I will be able to answer your question at a later time, meaning the closer we get to the end of the negotiations, the easier it would be.

But what we have seen now is really the drive we hardly see in any country reaching the membership. As I said before, we support Albania’s vision of concluding the negotiations by the end of ’27. If the dynamics in the member states will also be that positive as they are today, then yes, I go back to your question, the membership before 2030 would be possible.

***

-I’ve got two questions for the Prime Minister, if I may.

-So, a short one. I’m wondering whether you already know which chapters you think Albania will close next and, realistically, when that might happen.

-The second question: you mentioned the progress is not just measured by the number of chapters closed, and you mentioned a few other things that it is measured by. But one I think you missed is also vibes. And once this process moves further along, the political aspect comes in, the European public has to support Albania’s accession too.

And I’ll be honest with you, I’m not an Albania expert, but when I see the stuff about the Kushner development and now this scandal with the intelligence chief who had been fired in Kosovo and has now been fired in Albania, it just gives an off vibe that things aren’t fully clean and kosher yet in Albania.

So I’m wondering, how would you reassure the European public that you’ve got this in order, that it’s going to move in a good direction and that these things are not things we should worry about or that if they are, that they’re going to be sorted out soon?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: Well, thank you. Let me first of all express my respect for your paper, if your paper is what it’s written. Kyiv Independent, big respect. Keep doing the great job you are doing.

And going to your direct questions, number one: no, I am not aware of which chapters. I am aware that every chapter has its own importance, and I just keep counting. The others that are with me, so many people, are aware not only of each chapter but of each paragraph within each chapter. I can guarantee you that. So we have a fantastic team, and this is recognised even here where good words are not easy to get.

On your second question, well, I would invite you to come to Albania because looking at Albania from afar, you can get confused, and looking at Albania through the many filters of nowadays media, you can get totally confused.

So I’m not sure what you meant about the Jared Kushner project, but I’m telling you that what has been recognised worldwide as the Jared Kushner project is, in fact, a project that involves much more than just a name, and it’s a project that we have a big ambition for and which we want to realise as a role model for how to invest and how to develop nowadays in harmony with nature.

And I must tell you that also the manifestations that have been broadcast worldwide have helped to improve and have helped to go towards a result that will be convincing for many more people than in the beginning.

But of course, this is something to be proved, and this is something to be fact-based, and we are very much looking for the moment when we’ll show all the work that is being done.                And on the other hand, I believe that you and your country can understand very well what it is about when we speak about situations in which justice does its job. It’s what we need.

So the fact that you know about it shows that the system is starting to work. So once upon a time, when we started this journey, we were recognised in this house as the homeland of the culture of impunity.

Today, we come to this house, and we are recognised as one of the frontrunners, also because the culture of impunity is gone and there is no one above the law.

And exactly because what was yesterday the system controlled by corruption and what it is today the system fighting corruption, we are here closing another chapter, and we’ll be here back to close more chapters.

So it’s a matter of angle, and this is how we get the motivation and the energy to go forward because, from the angle of this house, this is how it should be, and this is how we should keep going.