Thanks very much, and today is a really important day for Albania, but also an important day for the European Union. Super Tuesday has ended on a super ending. I started today at our first accession conference with Marta at 8:00 a.m. This is the fourth we've had today. It's the most accession conferences we've had in any single day since 2002.
And it was a real pleasure to chair the ninth accession conference with Albania together with Marta and Prime Minister Edi Rama. Today, Albania has notably started the closing of negotiating chapters. The Council has agreed that Albania is ready to close three negotiating chapters on science and research, on education and culture, and external relations. Albania has demonstrated its commitment to joining the European Union. With the closure of these chapters, we see Albania entering a new accession phase.
Albania opened all six negotiating clusters within one year and met interim benchmarks in May during Cyprus's presidency. We commend the pace, determination, and indeed the consistency, Prime Minister. We encourage Albania, of course, to implement the necessary reforms, in particular on the rule of law, absolutely crucial, the judiciary, anti-corruption, and they all remain the bedrock of the enlargement process of the European Union. As presidency, Ireland will support Albania to continue to align its national legislation with the EU acquis and advance on the accession process.
EU enlargement is a transformational journey. Ireland knows that more than anyone, I would say. It benefits the institutions. It benefits the society. It benefits the economy, not only of the candidate countries, but also of the entire European Union. And we look forward in the Council to continuing to advance Albania's candidacy in the coming months.
Thank you, Minister. Next, I give the floor to Prime Minister Rama, please.
Thank you very much. What happened just now marks indeed another very important milestone in Albania's irreversible journey towards the European Union.
As it was said, we just agreed to close three important negotiating chapters, and this is not only simply another step in a long process. It is a clear recognition that Albania is moving forward, that reforms are delivering results, and that our country is increasingly prepared to assume the responsibilities of membership.
And today is important also because it reiterates a very powerful message of this outcome called new era. Albania delivers, the Union delivers. Albania progresses, the Union reacts accordingly. And this is the essence of the process. Credible, merit-based, and in both ends. So I can't but thank you, Thomas. It was amazing, very Irish. Super Tuesday. And as I said to you before, I wish you will keep this ambition and have only super, super, super for the rest of your presidency. And thank you, Marta, for being stubbornly patient and for keeping us on track all the time, no matter the noise, no matter the obstacles.
And yeah, we are bringing European standards closer to our citizens, strengthening our institutions, creating more opportunities, and building the Albania that we want to see as a full member of the European Union. And the very best proof of it is that people want more and people are less and less tolerant about what does not yet work. So we have to keep going and we have to deliver for our people. And there is nothing better than delivering on the basis of this negotiation framework, which is about increasing the standards and strengthening the institutions in our own country. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Prime Minister. Commissioner.
Dear Prime Minister Edi Rama, dear Minister, dear Thomas, today we closed, as we have heard, the first three chapters with Albania. This is a big moment for Albania on its path to the European Union. This is a super Tuesday for enlargement, and Albania is a part of it.
We closed chapters on research and innovation, on education and culture, and on external relations. Three are done, 30 more to go. These are areas where Albania is already part of the European family in practice. Albania has been fully aligned with the foreign policy of the EU for many years, and Albanian universities are part of Europe's research and innovation networks. The country is participating in Horizon Europe, and more than 15,000 Albanian students have taken part in Erasmus Plus since the program launched in 2014.
Congratulations to all our Albanian friends for their work and these achievements. This was possible because Albania met the interim benchmarks on the rule of law last month. The interim benchmarks are a gateway that every candidate country must pass through before it can start closing negotiating chapters. But let me be clear, this is also an interim step, which means that the reforms in this area need to be pursued and deepened. The link between progress in the accession and compliance with fundamentals will continue to be a guiding principle as Albania moves towards its ambitious objective of closing all negotiating chapters by the end of 2027.
For this we encourage continued progress on the rule of law and fundamental rights, justice system, anti-corruption and fight against organized crime. This is why we now count on Albania to double down on the necessary reforms and come to decisions in a transparent, accountable and inclusive way. This must involve all political forces, civil society and the general public.
And speaking about the general public, we have the newest results of our perception survey. In Albania, 92% of the citizens are in favor of EU membership. 94% of the citizens think that accession will bring more advantages than disadvantages, and 93% are trusting the European Union. The best results for all the candidate countries.
Reforms that serve Albanians can only succeed if everyone affected has a chance to be heard and be involved, and this is how EU accession becomes a transformational process for candidates. Political leadership and public support in favor of EU accession are beyond doubts and are a strong recipe for success. It is in your hands now to deliver on the expectations of the Albanian people by intensifying alignment with EU rules and delivering on the reforms that matter most to them.
I will be on your side until the end of my mandate, and Thomas will be with you until the end of this year.
Thank you, Commissioner. Okay, I'll open it up for questions and please state your name and your organization. Federico.
Federico Baccini for the New European Post. Prime Minister Rama, three chapters are provisionally closed. What is the state of progress on the remaining 30? So, like an overall state of progress. And I think for Commissioner Varhelyi and Minister, in one of the previous conferences, sorry, don't remember which one, it was a very long day, you said that you don't have rest in the coming weeks and probably in the coming weeks we will have other accession conferences. So I wanted to understand what can we expect from the next weeks and months and can we expect an accession conference before the General Affairs Council on the, I think, 22nd of September? Thanks.
Well, the important thing is that so far we are on track with a very ambitious calendar that has been discussed and agreed in our mutual interaction with the Commission. And thanks to the relentless homework that we have done so far. This being said, the calendar becomes more and more ambitious, and we have to become more and more relentless in our work.
If the atmosphere will continue to be the one that we are experiencing in the last period, everything will be in place, and every homework will be done accordingly. If the atmosphere will change, then we'll see. But so far we have no reason to believe that there will be a change of atmosphere.
Yesterday, in the meeting of the coalition of the willing, there was also an angle about this process for the actively negotiating countries, and what one could sense easily was that everyone is eager to push, and everyone is eager to find even faster ways to make it possible. So I'm very, very optimistic, in the Albanian way, meaning tragically optimistic. So ready to go, and ready to face adversity if it comes up. But as I said in the introduction, the Irish presidency is of comfort because Ireland is a country that has shown by example that exponential progress is possible, and Irish people do not take anything but really excellence as a goal. So to be excellent in the goal of the presidency is to be able to close much more chapters with us and with others until the end of the year. And we trust our Irish friends. We trust the work we are doing with the Commission, and we trust the partners. So, so far, so good.
What I can say is that we will continue to progress this agenda. We've made enlargement a key part of our presidency priorities. We see big momentum in the process now, not just within the European Union member states, but within the accession countries as well in terms of the reforms they're making. And when we see benchmarks being reached, standards being set, we will be in a position then to have further accession conferences. It's certainly our ambition to do so. But you might have — we knew this one was coming, but it was literally days' notice to make sure that we had this and got everything right at Coreper and at Coreper, etc. So we will continue that work until the summer break and then immediately afterwards. And two months ago I couldn't have predicted that this would take place today, that we'd have Super Tuesday. I can't really predict what's happening in two months, except that the Irish presidency, my team, Department of Foreign Affairs staff who are working on the Council presidency will continue to pursue this enlargement with vigor and respond to what Albania and other accession countries are doing. And we certainly are extremely open and excited by the prospect of further enlargement conferences.
Okay. Just in the front here, please.
