BRUSSELS – EU Member States are close to reaching a consensus on the draft EU Common Position related to Albania’s Interim Benchmark Assessment Report (IBAR), European Western Balkans learns from sources in the Council.
Discussions within the Council Working Party on Enlargement and Countries Negotiating Accession to the EU (CEOLA) are still ongoing, and no final agreement has been formally reached yet.
However, according to EWB sources, Member States are close to a compromise. Compared to the situation in early April, when the timeline for this step was unclear, there seems to have been progress between EU Members.
If consensus is achieved at the COELA level, the next procedural step would be the approval of the draft EU Common Position at the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) scheduled for 22 May.
The issue could be adopted as a so-called “I-item”, meaning that ambassadors of the Member States would approve it without discussion.
If COREPER endorses the EU Common Position, this would pave the way for holding an intergovernmental conference with Albania in the coming days.
However, EWB’s sources stress that no formal confirmation of the IGC can be made before COREPER completes the procedure.
The IBAR represents the European Commission’s assessment of whether interim benchmarks under Cluster 1 – Fundamentals have been met. This cluster covers areas including the rule of law, judiciary, fundamental rights, democratic institutions and public administration reform.
A positive IBAR would allow the process to move forward towards the eventual closing of all negotiating chapters. Albania, having opened all negotiating chapters, cannot proceed further without a positive IBAR.
Albania formally opened accession negotiations with the European Union in July 2022, alongside North Macedonia. Cluster 1 – Fundamentals was opened in 2024, while additional clusters were opened during 2025, bringing the country into a phase focused on meeting interim benchmarks and advancing negotiations.
