The European Union's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has praised Albania's "ambitious" agenda to close full membership negotiations in two years and urged its political parties to support the difficult reforms ahead.
Kallas, who is on a regional tour, was in the capital Tirana to meet with the Western Balkan country's leadership and assure them that the country's future is in the bloc.
"It's vital to sustain the high pace of reforms. And I also understand that the reforms are always quite difficult," Kallas said at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Edi Rama.
"Albania's future is in the European Union," she added.
"Your decision to fully implement EU sanctions against Russia alongside your political, military and humanitarian support to Ukraine demonstrates your commitment to our shared values," Kallas said of the government in Tirana.
The EU decided in 2020 to start full membership negotiations with Albania, and talks began last October on how the country aligns with the EU's position on issues such as the rule of law, democratic institutions, and tackling corruption.
The Western Balkan countries — Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania — are all at different stages of the EU membership process.
The slow pace of progress turned frustrating, but Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 encouraged EU leaders in Brussels to renew the push for all six to join the bloc.
Rama has said he hopes to complete the negotiating process with the EU by 2027 and for Albania to become a bloc member by 2030.
"We will not rest until we step into the door of the European Union and sit around the same table that the European Union does," he said.
Albania is part of the bloc's growth plan, and it is expected to receive more than €920 million over the next decade.
Albania also signed a €90 million agreement with the European Investment Bank to reconstruct the railway between the port of Durres and Rrogozhine, which Kallas said would "serve as a critical route ... between member states in NATO, for military mobility in southeast Europe."
"This is extremely important in the current security environment," she said.
Albania is set to hold parliamentary elections on 11 May. Rama's governing Socialist Party has made EU membership one of the goals of its programme.
Kallas earlier visited Montenegro and will end her tour with a trip to Bosnia later on Tuesday.
