Albania prepares legal framework to adopt the euro as official currency

Albania has officially begun drafting legislation to enable the euro to replace the lek as the national currency. The new draft law, titled “For the Bank of Albania”, includes a dedicated chapter outlining the central bank’s role once the country joins the Eurozone, and it sets out the legal framework for issuing euro banknotes and coins, managing euro reserves and designing national euro coinage.

The legislation stipulates that the euro will become the official unit of the Republic of Albania only after full accession to the European Union, followed by integration into the European Central Bank system and meeting Eurozone criteria. Experts estimate that, even under the most optimistic scenario, the transition could take about seven years after EU membership, with a possible range of ten to twelve years depending on how the process unfolds.