EU likely to start negotiations with Albania in June 2018

The European Parliament's Rapporteur on Albania, Knut Fleckenstein, said Monday that he was confident that the European Union would give the green light to opening negotiations with Albania on its EU accession in June next year.

"The parliamentary group that I represent, as well as that of the European People's Party, are supporters of your path to the European Union and the opening of accession negotiations," Fleckenstein told Albanian Speaker Gramoz Ruci.

Fleckenstein, who was visiting Albania, said the EU had two key conditions for Albania.

First, he said, was the elections, and second was the advancement of key reforms, mainly in the justice system. This is an area Albania had to work hard on, he said.

Albanian top officials told Fleckenstein they were determined to fulfill any obligation related to the country's path to the EU, but also promoting Albanian citizens' welfare and improving their living standards.

Albania received EU candidate status in June 2014 and is working to implement the necessary reforms to open EU accession negotiations.

In November 2016, Albania received a European Commission recommendation to open EU accession negotiations conditioned primarily upon the implementation of a judicial reform package passed earlier the same year.