FLASH
Shkruar nga Ylli Pata
The green light given by Brussels today represents an important and decisive act for moving to the next step.
Last week, after the session where the majority voted against granting SPAK an arrest warrant for Belinda Balluku, there were several statements from the most important European embassies in Tirana.
Which clearly called on the majority not to obstruct investigations and to preserve the independence of justice. Statements that immediately received a response from Edi Rama, which was later commented on as "serious" on the dinner shows.
In some, it was even said that this weekend (this past weekend) the 27 EU ambassadors will gather in Tirana to decide on what is called the IBAR or Interim Assessment Report.
Citing "trusted" sources, various panelists said that the ambassadors would embarrass the government and would not approve this document, which is the basis or starting point for further actions for the passage of a group of EU chapters.
Meanwhile, the new week came and there was no announcement regarding the ambassadors' meeting, while some media outlets emphasized that the decision for Albania would be postponed to an unspecified date, while for Montenegro it would be approved immediately on Wednesday.
But today, in Brussels, the European Commission approved the IBAR report, which means it has given the green light for the next step in the accession negotiations.
IBAR is a mechanism in the voluminous books of strict evaluation that Brussels makes of candidate countries.
As the EU spokesperson stressed, “The European Commission has presented its positive assessment on the fulfilment of the Interim Milestones Assessment Report, as well as a draft EU Common Position on Group Chapter 1 to the Council. It is now up to the Member States to agree on an EU Common Position on Group Chapter 1, which will set out the final milestones in the area of the Rule of Law.”
Which means that the Interim Report is approved by the Commission, while the Council of Ministers, namely the member states, give their OK to the entire chapter group.
The Interim Benchmark Assessment Report, known internationally as the IBAR (Interim Benchmark Assessment Report), is a key document of the European Commission that assesses a candidate country's progress in meeting specific standards (interim benchmarks) for the most important integration chapters.
This report is crucial for the progress of EU accession negotiations, especially for:
Chapter One Group ("Fundamentals"): This group includes critical areas such as the rule of law, justice, freedom and security.
Moving to the next phase: A positive IBAR indicates that the country has made sufficient progress to move from the opening of negotiations to the phase of closing chapters.
Member State Decision-making: After the submission of the report by the Commission (as happened for Albania in February 2026), the 27 member states must give their unanimous agreement to move forward.
Without a positive assessment of these intermediate points, no other negotiation chapter can be finally closed, making this report a necessary "test" on the path to full membership.
Which means, the green light that Brussels gave today represents an important and decisive act for moving to the next step.
The European Commission conducts assessments for candidate countries, namely Albania, based on strict criteria and a standard methodology. Meanwhile, it must be said that the European Commission of recent years, led by the German Ursula Von der Leyen, is increasingly a political and geopolitical commission rather than a technical one.
Von Der Leyen's power was demonstrated during the Covid 19 pandemic, when she distributed gigantic funds to member states, amounting to more than 200 billion euros for member states.
On the other hand, the Commission has an authoritative voice when it comes to issues of global trade, the war in Ukraine, the Middle East, clashes with Trump over tariffs, etc.
This power of the Commission has meant that in recent years, member states have not rejected the reports issued by Van Der Leyen's cabinet. After all, even these reports, before they are issued, are consulted with representatives of member states when there are strong disputes. As was the case of North Macedonia with Bulgaria, where the Commission's reports, almost every year, have asked Skopje to resolve this issue between them, so that they can move on to the next step.
However, beyond the noise, the increased tone of the debate on EU integration has given Albanian politics and the public a more active role in this issue, where until yesterday only the majority spoke, while the opposition, out of anger, said that they would not let us into Europe.
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