Current Albania (official name Republic of Albania) is a country located in the Balkan Peninsula bordered in the West by the Ionian and Adriatic seas, and in the East by the Republic of North Macedonia. In the North West it is bordered by Montenegro and in the North-East by the Republic of Kosova while in the South and South East it is bordered by Greece. With an area of 28,748 km2 (11,100 sq mi), it has a varied range of climatic, geological, hydrologic and morphological conditions.
Albanian territories were inhabited since 100 00 Years ago and over the centuries the country's culture was influenced by the Romans, Greeks, Ottomans and Italians. The first inhabitants of the present day Albania were Illyrians tribes, a group of Indo-European people. In the 2nd century BC, the Roman Republic annexed the region, and after the division of the Roman Empire it became part of Eastern Roman Empire. In the late 15th century Albania became part of the Ottoman Empire and it remained under Ottoman rule until 1912 when the country declared independence, In 1939 the then Kingdom of Albania was invaded by the Italian Empire and the Nazi Germans. Following the end of the Second World War Albania was proclaimed as the People's Socialist Republic of Albania and the communist rule lasted until 1991 where the current Republic of Albania was proclaimed.
In April 2018, the Commission issued an unconditional recommendation to open accession negotiations. In its June 2018 Conclusions, the Council set out the path towards opening accession negotiations in June 2019, depending on progress made in key areas such as the judiciary, fight against corruption and organised crime, intelligence services and public administration. The Commission reiterated the recommendation to open accession talks in the Enlargement Package adopted in May 2019. In its June 2019 Conclusions, the Council took good note of the Commission's recommendation. In March 2020 the members of the European Council endorsed the General Affairs Council’s decision to open accession negotiations with Albania and in July 2020 the draft negotiating framework were presented to the Member States. In July 2022, the Intergovernmental Conference on accession negotiations was held with Albania. In July 2023, the European Commission submitted to the Council the screening report on Cluster 1 – Fundamentals, including benchmarks for opening accession negotiations on this cluster. Albania is a Member of NATO since 2009 and a member of several European and International Organizations.