1. Hungary and Albania share commitment to a merit-based approach in the EU enlargement policy
The war in Ukraine put geopolitical considerations into the focus of the EU enlargement policy. While those arguments have not been applied in case of the Western Balkans despite the growing competition with other external actors, the Russian aggression against Ukraine has become a game-changer. The Western Balkan countries, including Albania in particular are facing great challenges to meet the reform requirements of the European Union. The judicial reform and the vetting process for prosecutors and judges are a prime example. In the process (until the beginning of October 2023), 57% of cases have led to the suspension or dismissal of a judge/prosecutor. This results in a serious turnover of staff and a significant shortage of judges, another major criticism of which is the length of the proceedings. Tirana applied for EU candidate status in 2009 but was only granted candidate status in 2014. The country then had to wait another six years for accession negotiations to be authorised, but despite this, the Albanian political leadership has remained committed throughout. Albania is not against EU enlargement towards Ukraine but demands – along with Hungary and the other Western Balkan partners – a fair application of merit-based approach in the EU accession process which guarantees positive responses in case of compliance with EU requirements. During the Bled Strategic Forum in 2023 Rama ironically said that if a being at war is taken as a benchmark for EU membership, then all of the countries from the Western Balkans would attack each other, just to become part of the Union.
2. Despite the decreasing credibility of the EU’s enlargement policy, Albania remains the most supportive of EU accession among the Western Balkan countries
Generally speaking, there is a relatively high level of support for EU integration among Western Balkan societies, with a positive image of the EU among Albanians standing out. Large majority of Albanians continue to support the country’s EU membership despite the lack of tangible outcomes of the accession process and the visibly withdrawn – sometimes very negative – attitude of some member states towards EU enlargement that significantly undermine credibility of the process. According to the Balkan Barometer 2024, 77 % of Albanian society continues to rate the country’s future EU membership as a good move, compared to 54 % on average in the region. Economic opportunities within the EU (58%) are seen as the most important factor, but freedom to study and work in the EU (43%) is also a key priority. Moreover, Albanians are the most confident that their country could become an EU member state by 2030. Another 2024 poll conducted by the International Republican Institute confirms the pro-EU stance of Albanians. 92% of respondents said yes to the question on how they would vote if a referendum on the country’s EU membership were held today.
3. In the absence of EU integration, there is a parallel increase in border change efforts in the Balkans, one idea being the “Greater Albania” concept
Importance of the EU integration process of the Western Balkans cannot be understood without the historical background of the region. State borders in the region have never coincided with linguistic-ethnic borders, and this was and is still a source of several unresolved conflicts, and, according to critical voices, an obstacle to state development. Political discourses on changing borders periodically returns, especially when the main strategic direction of the region, the EU integration process is losing pace. Time to time even more radical ideas of unification efforts occur, which are typical of Serbs and Albanians. The idea of Greater Albania is a response to the lack of progress in the accession process and the lack of political engagement of the EU towards the region. The concept of Greater Albania covers the political initiative to unite Kosovo and Albania, but also, in a broader sense, to unite Albanian people living in the Balkans. Hungary understands well from its own example the importance of ‘dismantling’ borders in building relations between communities belonging to the same nation, and the prominent role that EU accession plays in this. It is no coincidence that European integration plays a key role in resolving many of the outstanding political issues in the multi-ethnic Western Balkans.
4. Gradual integration is a chance to accelerate the pace of the EU integration, which is also an important Hungarian economic concern
Although Albania is not a direct neighbour of Hungary, its geostrategic position makes it a key country in the Western Balkans. The security and stability of the Western Balkans is in Hungary’s security policy interest, and one of the means of guaranteeing peace and good neighbourly relations in the region is the integration of the countries into the European Union. Albania’s membership of the EU is not only a (security) policy interest; the country also has considerable untapped economic potential, which will only increase once accession is completed. A move towards gradual integration could be the solution to speed up the pace of integration, while at the same time increasing the EU’s credibility. This would allow the Western Balkan countries to be part of the Single Market even before full-fledged membership, which would not only increase the competitiveness of domestic economic entities, but also provide opportunities for foreign companies entering the market to establish economic links. The Albanian market is still less known to Hungarian SMEs, but like the Western Balkans as a whole, it can serve as an important economic backbone for Hungary. It should be underlined that gradual integration cannot be an alternative to full-fledged membership, but it is a practical stepping stone in the stalled EU accession process, given the economic opportunities.
5. A symbolic event is that the opening of the first cluster, namely the practical start of accession negotiations with Albania, is expected to take place during the Hungarian EU Presidency
Albania’s EU accession process, similar to other Western Balkan countries, is progressing very slowly, hampered not only by rule of law concerns but also by negative attitudes towards enlargement and the region among EU Member States. There are also a number of prejudices against Albania, both because of the still high number of Albanians applying for refugee status in Western European countries as well as the fact that in many places Albanian immigration is associated with security threats posed by the Albanian mafia. Albania’s progress has also been hampered by the fact that member states have been dealing with the country jointly with North Macedonia, so when Skopje has been stuck in bilateral disputes, this has had a negative impact on Tirana’s prospects. This is one of the reasons why the green light to start accession negotiations was only given in 2020, but again was not followed by practical steps. It is no coincidence that Hungary regularly criticises the EU’s enlargement policy, which should consistently apply a performance-based approach. The EU’s enlargement policy has been given a new impetus by the war in Ukraine, which – although controversially – has also created new opportunities for the Western Balkan countries; the first intergovernmental conference with Albania was held in July 2022. For Tirana, the decoupling from North Macedonia could also be a significant step forward. The Hungarian EU Presidency’s top priority is to advance the accession process of as many Western Balkan countries as possible, and the opening of the first negotiating cluster with Albania could be a symbolic event.
Written by Julianna Ármás & Anna Orosz