The agreement with Kosovo was the first to be signed after the Lisbon Treaty came into force, which brought down the EU`s legal personality. [2] [3] An EU representative in Kosovo stated that “unlike the ASA with other countries in the region, this agreement will be exclusively the EU agreement. The EU will sign them as a legal entity. [4] The agreement did not have to be ratified individually by each Member State, some of which did not recognize Kosovo`s independence. [5] The representative added: “Since Kosovo is not recognised by the five Member States, we had to adopt a directive stating that the signing of the agreement will not mean that the EU or any of the countries will recognise Kosovo as a state.” [4] The Visa Facilitation and Readmission Agreements between Albania and the EU came into force on 1 January 2008. [61] In June 2008, Albania received a roadmap from the EU for further visa liberalisation with Schengen countries. [61] Stabilization and association agreements are part of the EU stabilisation and association process (PSA) and the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). At present, the countries of the Western Balkans are at the heart of the PSA. Specific Stabilization and Association Agreements (ASAs) have been implemented with various Balkan countries, which contain explicit provisions for the country`s future accession to the EU. The SAAs resemble in principle the European agreements signed in the 1990s with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the association agreement with Turkey. The agreement focuses on the liberalisation of trade in goods.

All tariffs on industrial products, including fish and other seafood, will be abolished as soon as the agreement enters into force and additional agricultural agreements between the individual EFTA states and Albania will be an integral part of the free trade area`s instruments. The parties recognize that economic development, social development and environmental protection are interdependent. In Chapter 6, they reaffirm their commitment to multilateral environmental and labour contracts and principles and commit to imposing their level of protection. Arbitration procedures do not apply to this chapter. The rules of origin and methods of administrative cooperation provided for by Protocol B and its seven annexes are based on the pan-Euro-Mediterranean model. This will allow the accumulation of materials from the EFTA states, Albania and other Pan-Euro Med Member States as soon as the corresponding agreements between these countries and Albania have been concluded. The agreement also provides tariff concessions for processed agricultural products (Protocol A). Trade in agricultural commodities is covered by three bilateral agricultural agreements between the state of EFTA concerned and Albania.

These agreements provide for substantial concessions on both sides, taking into account the respective sensitivities of the parties. Successive amendments to the agreement were introduced in the original document. This consolidated version is only of documentary value. The decision has been in effect since February 26, 2009 and the agreement since April 1, 2009. The ASA stresses the importance of the rule of law and the strengthening of institutions at all levels. Cooperation focuses on a number of specific areas, including: the screening procedure is ongoing and no chapter has been opened to date. On 23 June 2014, the Council of the European Union, under the Greek EU Presidency, agreed to grant Albania candidate status, which was approved by the European Council a few days later.