Albania submitted in April 2009 the official request for membership at the European Union. The info-graphics analyze the performance and preparation of Albania for 33 chapters according to the annual progress reports of the European Commission’s from 2010 until the end of 2015.
Based on the progress reports during 2010-2015, Albania has improved in some of the chapters, but efforts towards harmonization with the EU legislation are still limited. Progress has been achieved in 19 cases, while good progress has been achieved only in 3 cases. In 9 cases there is no progress at all. Chapter 31 (Foreign, Security and Defense) is the sector with more progress and Chapter 33 (Financial and Budgetary Provisions) is the sector with little progress.

Regarding the preparation level of chapters, in the opinion of the European Commission November 2010 praised Albania’s level of preparedness for the 33 chapters; in which 8 chapters were very easy to align with EU legislation, 12 chapters easy to align, while 12 chapters required additional efforts to align and were marked as difficult, the environment chapter was estimated to be very difficult to align with the EU legislation.

Whereas in the progress report of 2015 the Commission estimates that 7 chapters are at an early stage, for 9 chapters is achieved a certain level of progress, while 16 chapters the preparation stage is moderate and only one chapter has a good level of preparation.

The observation from 2010 until today indicates an improvement of the status for 4 sectors (12% of the chapters), respectively Chapter 1, 10, 22 and 32. In other 14 sectors (42% of the chapters) there has been no change in the status of readiness, and for 15 sectors (46% of the chapter) there is a deterioration of status, comparing to the assessment of 2010, respectively chapters 2, 5, 11, 13, 16, 18, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30 and 33.

Infographics – ALBANIA’S PREPARATION FOR ACCESSION NEGOTIATIONS