It doesn’t happen every day that three #Ministers from EU Member States visit #Albania together to show their support. I was very pleased to welcome and meet today with the members of the Slavkov format (S3): Ministers @BMeinl 🇦🇹, @petr_macinka 🇨🇿 and #JBlanar 🇸🇰, for a friendly yet substantive and open exchange on Albania’s EU accession process and the broader European perspective of the Western Balkans. Our discussions reflected the growing mutual trust, shared responsibility, and a clear understanding of the strategic importance of enlargement in today’s geopolitical context. We reviewed progress in the accession negotiations and reaffirmed our joint commitment to maintaining momentum and preserving the credibility of a merit-based process grounded in reforms and concrete results. I underlined that EU membership remains Albania’s top strategic priority, its lifeline, which is firmly anchored in a broad national consensus. I also reaffirmed our determination to sustain this pace, with the ambition to conclude #negotiations by 2027 and achieve EU membership by 2030. We also held a substantive exchange of views on regional developments, emphasizing stability, cooperation, and a clear #European perspective for the #WesternBalkans, as well as preparations for the upcoming “Friends of the Western Balkans” meeting in Bratislava, on 12 May 2026. Energy interconnections, transport corridors, migration management, and border security were also key topics, highlighting the importance of connectivity, resilience, and energy security, particularly in light of current global challenges. I reiterated Albania’s longstanding full alignment with the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and Common Security and Defence Policy, and its role as a trusted and reliable partner contributing to regional and European #security. Grateful to #Austria, #Czechia and #Slovakia for their strong and continued support for a united #Europe, the most remarkable peace and prosperity project in human history. #Horizon2030 #Together
