Prime Minister Edi Rama was today in Brussels and attended the meeting of the group “Friends of Albania” held among foreign ministers. The meeting confirmed the willingness to support the Commission’s positive recommendation for the opening of negotiations for EU membership.

The participating countries underlined the great progress that is reflected in the Commission’s Report, the impressive progress of reforms, a special respect for Albania’s regional policy, immediate need to implement the Vetting Law as a premise for the progress of this historical process.

Foreign Minister of Italy Paolo Gentiloni, one of the initiators of the meeting, praised the reforms and the progress made by Albania, noting that the same opinion is shared also by other participating countries. “We are very pleased to promote this initiative by Austria and Italy, friends of Albania. The aim is to have in December a decision by the European Council on the start of negotiations for EU membership. I think that a lot of reforms and progress have been made. The progress of reforms in Albania was the common conclusion in the table of EU Member States. So this is good news for the process.”

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz noted the positive and constructive role of Albania in the region: “The region is still in a difficult situation, and we are grateful to the Prime Minister and to the Albanian government for all the reforms made in Albania. We are grateful to Albania for the positive and constructive role it is playing in the region, because it is important not only for Albania and the region, but also for all of us.”

Prime Minister Rama held also meetings with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Affairs Federica Mogherini, and European Commissioner Johannes Hahn.

Statement of Prime Minister Edi Rama at the conclusion of the meeting:

“With much pleasure, and why not, with pride, we heard many good words on a progress report that is a voluminous document, and a very positive one for the country. We saw the readiness of all countries to support the recommendation of the committee in the European Council in December. This is an irreversible process. Albania will launch negotiations, and both we and the Commission need a preparatory period, and this is what we discussed about. An assessment process, while we definitely need to start the vetting law enforcement which, let’s say, is an understood premise or the only condition for Albania. We did not hear anything about what is being propagated in vain and constantly to people in Albania by the cauldron of nonsense that is simmering every day.

It is very clear that not only the Vetting, but the entire package of implementation of the judicial reform is the negotiation process itself. What was said here is that our reform is deep and applauded universally, and imagine that countries that are already negotiating, like Montenegro or Serbia, need to do in the Justice chapters some of the things that we have already done in terms of legislation.

Of course, implementation is a multi-year process, and it is not about ‘Do it today so you can receive something tomorrow”. I am convinced that negotiations have begun, in the sense that the Council will take a positive recommendation, will adopt it and will begin preparations. When preparations will be completed by us and by the Commission – because the Commission has a preparation process, as it has done with other countries before us – negotiation chapters will be opened. So it is an irreversible process that has already started.