On the basis of a draft report on the European Commission’s Western Balkans strategy Radio Free Europe reports that the European Commission has set the date for opening accession negotiations with Albania in 2019, the same year as for Macedonia:
Albania and Macedonia should start EU accession negotiations by the end of 2019, provided that Tirana has implemented judicial reform and Skopje has resolved a bitter name dispute with Greece that has dogged the country since it gained independence from the collapsing Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
The “indicative” timeline presented in the draft report further includes EU membership of Serbia and Montenegro in late 2025.
It is expected that both Germany and France will object to the “ambitious” timeline of the European Commission, which will be officially presented on February 6, and will be discussed at the next EU summit in Brussels in March, as well as at the Balkan summit in Sofia on May 17.
The European Commission’s progress report on Albania is expected in April.
