EU Integration and Perception of Key Priorities EU membership has been declared as Albania’s top national priority, significantly shaping and influencing domestic and foreign policies. In March 2020, the EU decided to open membership negotiations, though Albania will have to meet certain conditions in order to obtain an initiation date for these negotiations. This decision seems to have affected citizens’ perception regarding the time at which Albania will join the EU. This is expressed by means of a slight increase of the percentage of those who think that membership will be achieved within 10 or 15 years and a decrease in the percentage of those who think that this will happen in 20 years or will never happen. In how many years could Albania become a full member of the EU? 40 35 26.55 30 25.2 25 20 15 10 5 0 5 years 35.1 31.75 10 years 17.9 16.32 18.12 15.9 5.74 4.8 15 years 20 years Never 1.52 1.2 Don't know 2019 2020 Graph 53. Expectation of the time needed for Albania to achieve EU membership. Opening EU membership negotiations and subsequent membership are related to the fulfilment of some key priorities, including(1) reform of the public administration in order to enhance its professionalism and to undergo depoliticization,(2) strengthening of the independence, efficiency, and accountability of judicial institutions,(3) the fight against corruption,(4) the fight against organized crime, and(5) the improvement of the protection of 61