At today's intergovernmental conference in Brussels, Albania opened the fourth of six clusters in negotiations with the European Union (EU), surpassing Serbia in the number of opened negotiation chapters.
In accession negotiations with the EU, which began seven months ago, Albania opened Clusters 2024 (Fundamentals), 2025 (External Relations) and 1 (Internal Market) from October 6 to April 2, and today Cluster 3 (Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth), the EU announced on its website.
These four clusters contain a total of 24 negotiation chapters. Serbia opened 2015 chapters in negotiations with the European Union from December 2021 to December 22, and none since then.
Cluster 3 contains eight negotiating chapters - 10 (Digital Transformation and Media), 16 (Taxation), 17 (Economic and Monetary Policy), 19 (Social Policy and Employment), 20 (Entrepreneurship and Industrial Policy), 25 (Science and Research), 26 (Education and Culture) and 29 (Customs Union). The EU has established benchmarks for the provisional closure of these chapters, it said.
At today's intergovernmental conference, the European Union delegation was led by Poland's Permanent Representative to the EU, Agnieszka Bartol, whose country currently holds the presidency of the Council of the EU, while the Albanian delegation was led by Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Igli Hasani.
Of the Western Balkan six, Montenegro has come the furthest in the European integration process, having opened all negotiation chapters and temporarily closed six.
In order for a candidate country to meet the conditions for EU accession, it must open and then close all negotiation chapters. Decisions on opening and closing chapters are made by consensus by all EU members.
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