EU prepares the rules for enlargement, Albania among the four most advanced candidates

The European Commission is expected to present on Tuesday, October 6, a long-awaited document on how the European Union should prepare for future enlargement, after almost a year of delays.

Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos is expected to present the results of the pre-enlargement policy review, a document that will centre on three key issues: the EU treaties, the budget and the decision-making process.

The document will have no legally binding force, but it will define the Commission’s strategic approach and is expected to serve as the basis for the EU leaders’ discussion at the European Council summit on October 15–16.

One of the key elements for candidate countries relates to the “roadmaps for the most advanced candidates”, announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the Union speech on September 16.

Albania, Moldova, Montenegro and Ukraine are expected to be included in this group.

The roadmaps, which are expected to contain concrete deadlines and objectives for the necessary reforms, are not expected to be published on October 6.

They are envisaged to be presented together with the 2026 Enlargement Package, currently scheduled for October 28.

Albania, in the focus of the discussions on Chapter 20

Meanwhile, the meeting of the working group for Enlargement and the countries negotiating accession to the European Union (COELA) is taking place in Brussels today, where the focus is Albania’s negotiating position for Chapter 20, “Enterprise and Industrial Policy”.

The discussions in COELA aim to consolidate the member states’ position on the provisional closure of this chapter in the accession negotiations with Albania.

If consensus is reached in COELA, the issue is envisaged to pass for examination to COREPER, before further formalisation at an EU–Albania Intergovernmental Conference, scheduled for October 13.

Albania has opened all the negotiating chapters for EU membership. So far, the country has provisionally closed three chapters: Chapter 25, “Science and research”, Chapter 26, “Education and culture”, and Chapter 30, “External relations”.

Safeguards against democratic backsliding

An important part of the discussion relates to how the EU can protect itself against democratic backsliding once a candidate country becomes a member.

Kos has stated that if a country “takes steps backwards on our fundamental issues”, including democracy and the rule of law, “the safeguards should hit hard”.

One of the possibilities is the inclusion of specific provisions in future accession treaties which, during a transitional period, could allow the suspension of certain rights if a new member state undermines the rule of law.

The idea has also been supported in a non-paper by five member states, which have asked the Commission for a “catalogue of options” for safeguard mechanisms in future accession treaties.

The Commission, however, does not intend to impose new membership criteria only for the new countries.

Unanimity, another point of discussion

Another issue is the use of unanimity during the negotiations.

A general move towards qualified majority voting is considered difficult, but one of the options discussed is reducing from around 150 to 70 the decisions that require unanimity during the intermediate stages of the accession process.

Such a change aims to reduce the possibility of a candidate country’s negotiations being blocked by bilateral disagreements.

Among the instruments that could be used are the so-called “passerelle” clauses, which allow the way decisions are taken in certain areas to be changed without requiring a formal revision of the treaties.

The Commission is reviewing the methodology

The Commission is also examining changes to the enlargement methodology.

Kos has described the current system as a methodology created “for peacetime, not for times when we need to act fast”.

But, faced with member states’ reservations about a deep reform of the process, gradual integration appears more likely to advance.

This would enable candidate countries to take part in certain EU programmes and policy areas before full membership.

The publication of the document on October 6 is thus expected to give the first concrete signal of how the European Union itself intends to change ahead of future enlargement.

For Albania, alongside the Chapter 20 process, the next important stage is expected at the end of the month, when the European Commission presents the roadmap with the reforms, deadlines and objectives for the most advanced candidates.