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The EU Council today approves the abolition of roaming fees with Western Balkan countries

2026-06-04 07:18:00, Aktualitet CNA

The EU Council today approves the abolition of roaming fees with Western Balkan

The Council of the European Union is expected to approve on Thursday the European Commission's proposal to launch negotiations on the abolition of roaming fees with the Western Balkan countries.

After receiving the green light from the Council, individual negotiations will begin with each country in the Region, including Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

The European Council is the institution that sets the main policies and priorities of the EU. It consists of the Prime Ministers of the member states, the elected President of the Council, and the President of the European Commission.

The abolition of roaming fees between Albania and the European Union was announced in October last year in Tirana by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

The abolition of roaming fees means that mobile service subscribers in Albania and other countries in the region will use their numbers in European Union countries at the same rates as in their own country.

The process does not have a clear deadline and its progress will depend on the negotiations that will take place with each country in the region. The abolition of roaming fees with EU countries, however, will also require legal changes in each of these countries.

The Albanian government has prepared several amendments to the law “On Electronic Communications”, which, among other things, will create the legal basis for regulating roaming between Albania and the European Union. The legal amendments are expected to be approved this year.

Currently, roaming fees between Albania and the European Union are not legally regulated, but since 2023, with the mediation of the European Commission, 38 mobile service operators from the EU and the Western Balkans region reached an agreement to reduce internet roaming fees.

Of the two Albanian mobile operators, only One Albania became part of the agreement, but Vodafone Albania also offers similar preferential tariffs for using the services of other Vodafone group companies in the EU.

Specifically, the operators that became part of the agreement agreed to set a maximum retail price level of 18 euros/GB (gigabyte) starting from October 1, 2023, while since the beginning of this year the ceiling price has been reduced to 14 euros/GB.

The agreement also foresees a third stage, which will reduce prices to 9 euros/GB, starting in 2028.

The agreement has enabled mobile phone users from Albania to enjoy lower prices for internet use while they are in European Union countries, and, conversely, foreign tourists to use the internet at cheaper prices in Albania.

Mobile phone users of both Albanian mobile companies, however, have access to even lower-cost roaming communication packages, at a fixed price.

The agreement to reduce roaming internet fees with EU countries followed the agreement reached to completely abolish roaming fees between Western Balkan countries.

From the end of June 2021, mobile phone users in Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina will be able to communicate while traveling to other countries in the region at no additional cost and with the same tariffs as the respective national plan./Monitor