“These four candidates have combined their ambition with concrete action,” said EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, <\/strong>who could not help but rejoice at “this great year” of EU expansion.<\/p>\n 2025 was a year of significant progress for EU enlargement.<\/p>\n Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine and Moldova stand out.<\/p>\n They advanced most on reforms in the past year.<\/p>\n Our candidates have ambitious goals to finish negotiations.<\/p>\n The coming year will be a moment of truth.<\/p>\n – Marta Kos (@MartaKosEU) November 4, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Montenegro, described as “a pioneer country for accession<\/strong>,” received the highest praise. Kos confirmed the important progress of the small Balkan state: “It has already closed four negotiating chapters<\/strong> and should be able to finalise another six<\/strong> in 2026.” The obstacle posed by the political crisis <\/a>last December, caused by contradictory rules governing<\/span> the election of judges, has been overcome. Now, Podgorica has greater stability to advance its European project.<\/p>\n Progress has been made toward full adherence to the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy<\/strong>. Still to be worked out is how to strengthen the rule of law<\/strong> and fight corruption,<\/strong> as well as organised crime. To do this, the Union has “extended its hand,” as emphasised by Kos, by making six billion<\/a> available to support the integration of the Western Balkans.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A similar argument can be made for Albania, which, according to Kos’s statement, is ready to close negotiating chapters by 2027<\/strong>. “Albania has made unprecedented progress: five out of six negotiating chapters have been opened<\/strong>, one remains that could be opened in November.”<\/p>\n The swift pace of reforms supported by the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama<\/strong> is the key to integration. The progress<\/strong> achieved by Tirana relates to justice reform and the protection of minorities.<\/strong> However, the commissioner reminded, not referring directly to Albania, that “when the population considers corruption as acceptable, a law is not always enough to enforce the rules.” Perplexity, therefore, remains even if a recent population survey leaves no room for doubt: <\/span>91 per cent of Albanians want to join the Union.<\/strong><\/p>\n This goal will not be easy for Tirana, however. Despite Rama’s good offices, in Italy and elsewhere, Greece <\/strong>might put a spoke in the wheels of the accession process<\/span>. <\/p>\n Between Tirana and Athens<\/strong> a final agreement on maritime borders in the Ionian Sea<\/strong> could never be found. The agreement signed in 2009 between the two capitals was contested the following year by Tirana, and no further agreement was signed. Athens could use the veto<\/strong> in the European Council to obtain concessions.<\/p>\n The European Union has also set its eyes on the shores of the Black Sea<\/strong>. Moldova and Ukraine are making increasing political efforts to hoist the twelve-star flag on their soil. According to Marta Kos, this could happen by 2028. Not easy, but not impossible either.<\/p>\n Moldova enjoys strong popular support on the issue. In the last electoral round, the population brought the PAS party<\/a> to power, the one of the pro-European president, Maia Sandu<\/strong>. The electoral success gave the Union confidence. “We have seen that when we work to protect free and independent information<\/strong> from Russian interference, democracy wins,” said Kos. The task now is “to put the European Council in a position to open all negotiation clusters<\/strong> for Moldova and Ukraine.” Neither country is yet as advanced as Albania and Montenegro, and, for now, they are passing reforms <\/span>without the certainty that the European Council will open negotiations<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n Chi\u0219in\u0103u’s major successes include gradual integration into the SEPA market system,<\/strong> <\/span>EU roaming (active from 2026), and customs cooperation with the EU. However, several question marks remain, including legal loopholes<\/strong> in the justice system, economic backwardness<\/strong>, and a lack of transparency<\/strong> in <\/span>public administration. <\/p>\n An issue of a different but equally significant nature is the presence on Moldovan territory of the Transnistria Republic<\/a>, a “small Russia<\/strong>” that is not internationally recognised. Prompted by a Moldovan journalist, Kos did not want to fuel alarmism on the issue: “We recognise Moldova’s territorial integrity.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The most complicated dossier, however, remains Ukraine’s. The country is the largest of the candidate countries (37 million inhabitants<\/strong>) and has been at war since 2022. The commissioner recalls how “despite the ongoing conflict, Kyiv is pushing ahead with many reforms<\/strong>“. <\/p>\n Ukraine’s entry would be of enormous importance for the Union’s security, as well as its industrial and military capacity. Ukraine is now in the screening phase of the <\/strong>acquis,<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/span>that is, the in-depth analysis of the legislative, administrative, and institutional framework of a candidate country. The doubt around Kyiv is not so much whether it will be able to complete its reforms, but whether capitals will accept its entry. Orb\u00e1n’s Hungary has never opened the door<\/strong>, and the entry of an agricultural giant like Ukraine frightens many in Europe. Without the European Council’s consent, any reform may be pointless, but Kos urges Ukraine to “go ahead with the new rules anyway,” with the hidden hope that, sooner or later, something will change.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 2026, it could already be Montenegro’s turn while Albania would have to wait until 2027. Moldova and Ukraine have not yet opened negotiation chapters, but are pushing to join. Commissioner Marta Kos: “It is a great year for enlargement”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7891,"featured_media":433216,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681],"tags":[27094,28103,25836,26619,30781],"class_list":["post-439327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-albania-in-2","tag-eu-enlargement-en","tag-montenegro-en","tag-ukraine-in-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7891"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439327"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":439328,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439327\/revisions\/439328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Montenegro’s road to 2026<\/h3>\n
![\"Ant\u00f3nio](\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/108eac07-9310-48c1-bd3d-0174a4226489-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>The pressure on Albania<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Imagoeconomica_2454986-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>Chi\u0219in\u0103u toward Bruxelles<\/h3>\n
![\"Tusk](\"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AFP__20250827__72LL8UG__v1__HighRes__MoldovaFranceGermanyPolandUkraineRussiaPolitics-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>The dream called Kyiv<\/h3>\n
\nKyiv adopted a roadmap on the rule of law<\/strong> and democratic institutions, as well as a plan for national minorities, all of which were positively assessed by the Commission. The democratic incident that took place in July, when an attempt was made to put the two main anti-corruption authorities<\/strong> under state control, has now been rectified, and the path has resumed swiftly.<\/p>\n