The European Commission is moving to formally back Albania’s goal of completing European Union accession negotiations by the end of 2027, according to Euronews.

For years, Albania has promoted the 2027 target as a key milestone on its path toward EU membership. Now, European officials say the Commission plans to recognize that objective in its upcoming enlargement roadmaps.

To support this effort, the Commission is drafting a roadmap that will set out the reforms and concrete results Albania must deliver to close all negotiating chapters by December 2027.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Edi Rama and other senior Albanian officials continue to present the deadline as part of a shared agenda with the European Commission.

Until now, however, the Commission has avoided setting specific accession dates, insisting that each candidate country must earn membership by meeting the required criteria.

Nevertheless, EU institutions increasingly acknowledge the progress made by countries advancing through the accession process.

“As you know, enlargement does not work with dates. But the closer a country gets to completing the technical part of accession, the more we can talk about years and timelines,” Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said in July.

At the same time, the Commission is preparing a new series of enlargement roadmaps. Last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the initiative in the European Parliament, highlighting candidate countries that have made the strongest progress toward membership.

As a result, the new roadmaps are expected to provide clearer guidance and indicative timelines for candidate countries, including those in the Western Balkans.

In addition, the Commission is preparing its annual Enlargement Package, which it plans to publish at the end of October. The document will assess each candidate country’s progress and outline the next steps in the accession process.

Furthermore, the Commission is drafting a report that will evaluate whether candidate countries have met the benchmarks required to close negotiations. The assessment will focus particularly on justice, the rule of law and other fundamental reforms.

For Albania, the report is expected to identify the key reforms, obligations and results still needed to complete the accession process.

European officials point to Montenegro as an example. There, the Commission used a similar approach to define specific reforms and measurable targets needed to advance membership negotiations.

Consequently, the EU aims to give candidate countries a clearer picture of their remaining tasks and help them focus on priority reforms.

If adopted, the roadmap would provide stronger political backing for Albania’s ambition to complete accession negotiations by 2027 and move closer to full European Union membership.

/a.c/