<P> After the Albanian Government applied for EU membership, on 16 November 2009 the Council of the European Union asked the European Commission (EC) to prepare an assessment concerning the readiness of the Republic of Albania to start accession negotiations, a process lasting about a year usually . On 16 December 2009 the EC submitted the questionnaire on accessing preparation to the Albanian Government . Albania returned the questionnaire's answers to the EC on 14 April 2010 . Candidacy status was not recognised by the EU along with Montenegro in December 2010, due to the long - lasting political row in the country . In December 2010, Albanian citizens were given the right by the European Union to travel without visas to the Schengen area . </P> <P> On 10 October 2012, the European Commission evaluated Albania's compliance with the twelve key priorities that were defined in November 2010 as necessary to be met before the country could be approved as an EU candidate and start negotiations for accession . Of these, four were found to be met, while two were well in progress and the remaining six were in moderate progress . The Commission recommended in its assessment conclusions that Albania: </P> <P> On 16 October 2013 the European Commission released its annual report which concluded that the Albanian election was held in an "orderly manner" and that progress had been made in meeting other conditions; as such it recommended granting Albania candidate status . However, several states, including Denmark and the Netherlands, remained opposed to granting Albania candidate status until it demonstrates that its recent progress can be sustained . Consequently, the Council of the European Union at its meeting in December 2013, agreed to postpone the decision on candidate status until June 2014 . </P> <P> On 24 June 2014 the Council of the European Union agreed to grant Albania candidate status, which was endorsed by the European Council a few days later . </P>

Which countries are referred to as eu candidate countries