Albania’s path towards the European integration process is a long one in terms of duration and effort. It started with Albania’s official application for EU membership on 28 April 2009. Regular political and economic dialogue between the EU and Albania has continued through the relevant structures under the Stabilization and Association Agreement that was signed in April 2009. The European Council granted Albania the status of candidate country in June 2014. The government of Albania is engaged in EU related reforms and in addressing the key priorities identified for the opening of accession negotiations.

After several years of discussion, finally the Council decided (March 2020) to open accession negotiations with Albania. In the coming months, the Commission will submit proposals for negotiating framework with Albania. This framework establishes the guidelines and principles governing the accession negotiations with Albania as a candidate country. The general opinion is that Chapter 27 will not be among the most priority chapters to start negotiations, but Environmental CSOs remain with strong beliefs that preparedness and discussions on the country progress should be an early start, too.

The Swedish government, through the Swedish Environment Protection Agency supports the work of the Republic of Albania towards better environment and implementation of EU Environmental benefits of Chapter 27 with the Swedish competence and knowledge of EU regulations and implementation. The funding source for this tender originates from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) in frame of implementation of SANE27 programme.

Goal and Objectives of the project

GREEN 27+ consortium, which comprises around 20 environmental organization from around the country, who have expressed their will to be involved in the processes and negotiations of our country with the EU for Chapter 27: Environment. Initiated by REC Albania as lead organisation and Center for Environment, Development, Education and Network (EDEN), Institute for Conservation of Nature in Albania (INCA) and Urban Research Institute (URI), with the financial support and in collaboration of the SANE 27 Programme are engaged in developing a support and capacity building program for the civil society, aiming at enhancing Albania’s EU accession process by stimulating dialogue between Governmental institutions and NGOs on environmental acquis. Following the results and outcomes of the to date EU Negotiation process the first pilot program is built up contribute to the process by developing and articulating the CSO position in the EU-Albania negotiations related to topics of Chapter 27: Environment and Climate Change.

Specific project objectives are following:

• Strengthen capacities of environmental NGOs on Albania’s EU approximation and encourage their proactive and constructive participation in the EU negotiation process;

• Stimulate cooperation among the NGOs to formulate and communicate common positions on environmental matters;

• Raise awareness and stimulate active role of Albania’s civil society on EU approximation issues;

In order to maximize tangible outputs of the project, following thematic sub-chapters of EU approximation Chapter 27 (Environment and Climate change) are identified as priority focus: i) Horizontal issues, ii) Waste, iii) Water, iv) Nature conservation

Activities and results (outputs) to be achieved

The programme with a duration of 1 year (May 2020 – April 2021) is in line with 1st year opening the negotiation with Albania. It is structured as a CSO capacity building, networking and direct contribution through developing the CSO opinion report on Country progress to the EU negotiations. Various capacity-building tools (mainly through workshops and exchange visits) will be used to raise capacities of CSO experts on EU negotiations topics, as well as maintain communication and dialogues channels between authorities and civil society, in order to enhance their influence in decision-making processes for EU negotiations aspects.