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The Working Group on Enlargement in the European Union, COELA, has approved the joint draft for the IBAR, the interim assessment report on Albania's progress in the EU accession negotiations.
The agreement between the 27 member states is expected to be approved tomorrow by COREPER, a meeting of ambassadors of European Union countries.
The news was initially made public by the head of the SP parliamentary group, Taulant Balla, who said that Albania is closing an important week for the European integration process.
"We are at the end of a week within which the EU, in compliance with bureaucratic procedures, moves from the working group to the Committee of Representatives tomorrow, where in a way all that colossal work done by many state institutions involved in this process of addressing intermediate milestones is approved ," declared Balla.
The approval of the common position in COELA has also been confirmed by sources close to the EU Council, pro-government media report.
After the move to COREPER, the next step will be the Albania-EU Intergovernmental Conference on May 26, where Albania will be represented by Prime Minister Edi Rama. This phase is considered crucial for the further advancement of the negotiations and the process of closing the group chapters.
The European Commission submitted to the member states at the end of February the report on Albania's progress in meeting the interim milestones, mainly related to the rule of law and justice reform. The Commission's assessment was positive.
The COELA review process was accompanied by discussions and doubts in Albanian politics, especially from the opposition, which raised claims about delays or the risk of freezing negotiations, linking this to the issue of the failure to arrest Belinda Balluku by SPAK.
The adoption of the IBAR is considered one of the key stages for moving to the phase of closing the negotiation chapters.
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