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If consensus is reached at the COELA level, the next procedural step will be the approval of the draft at the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the member states (COREPER), scheduled for May 22.
European Union member states are close to reaching a consensus on the draft EU common position regarding Albania's IBAR report, sources from the EU Council for the European Western Balkans report.
Discussions within the Working Group on Enlargement and the Countries Negotiating for EU Membership (COELA) are still ongoing and no formal agreement has been reached so far. However, according to diplomatic sources, member states have moved closer to a compromise, marking progress compared to the beginning of April, when the deadlines for this process remained unclear.
If consensus is reached at the COELA level, the next procedural step will be the approval of the draft at the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the member states (COREPER), scheduled for May 22.
According to " European Western Balkans ", the issue could be approved as an "I-item", a procedure that implies approval by the ambassadors of the member states without additional debate.
If COREPER approves the EU common position, this would pave the way for an intergovernmental conference with Albania in the coming days. However, sources emphasize that there can be no official confirmation of the conference before the end of the procedure in COREPER.
The IBAR report represents the European Commission's assessment of the fulfillment of the interim benchmarks under Chapter Group 1 - "Fundamentals", which includes areas such as the rule of law, the judicial system, fundamental rights, democratic institutions and public administration reform.
A positive IBAR assessment is considered key for further advancement of membership negotiations and for the eventual closure of negotiation chapters. Albania, which has already opened all negotiation chapters, cannot move forward without a positive report.
Albania officially opened accession negotiations with the European Union in July 2022, together with North Macedonia. The “Foundations” chapter group was opened during 2024, while other chapters were opened during 2025, entering the process into the phase of fulfilling intermediate criteria and advancing negotiations.
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