Berlin Keeps the Gate Open for Albania’s EU Ambitions

Albanian official Hoxha met with the chair of the German Bundestag’s EU Affairs Committee, securing Berlin’s explicit backing for Albania’s path toward European Union membership. The meeting underscored Germany's continued political commitment to Western Balkan integration into the bloc.

For citizens in Albania, EU accession promises eventual access to the single market, free movement, and structural funding, alongside requirements for judicial and anti-corruption reforms. For current EU residents, bringing Western Balkan nations into the fold aims to stabilize the bloc's immediate neighborhood, though it also reopens debates over governance reforms and decision-making efficiency within a expanding Union.

In Brussels, joining the EU is not a single decision but a lengthy marathon of opening and closing thirty-five negotiation 'chapters'—the formal law-by-law process through which candidate countries align their domestic legislation with EU rules. Because enlargement requires absolute unanimity among all 27 member states in the Council of the EU, support from Berlin carries exceptional weight. Furthermore, unlike many national parliaments, the German Bundestag holds a constitutionally mandated veto over key stages of the accession process, making parliamentary diplomacy in Berlin just as vital for candidate countries as talks with EU institutions.

Albania will continue its technical negotiations with the European Commission and member states to progress through remaining policy chapters. Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts will focus on maintaining unanimous support across all 27 EU capitals necessary to advance each stage of the accession timeline.