Joint press conference of Prime Minister Rama and President of the EC, Jean-Claude Juncker, in Brussels:
President Juncker: Ladies and gentlemen, it’s my great pleasure to welcome my great friend Edi back to Brussels at this crucial time for Albania’s EU journey.
Tomorrow we mark exactly 13 years since Albania and the European Union signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement to deepen Albania and provide Albania with a tangible European perspective. Thirteen years on, you, Albanians have made tangible progress along this road. This is a testament to the strength and determination of the Albanian people and personal commitment of the Prime Minister. It is a collective effort driven on by the will of the people.
A recent European Union survey showed that 88% of Albanians have a positive feeling about the European Union and about 92% shared the common goal of EU membership. That makes Albania one of the countries of Europe most trusting in our Union, leaving behind some of the Bloc’s actual members.
The Commission’s assessment published last month shows that you have delivered deep and meaningful reforms in the judiciary system. There has also been progress in the fight against corruption and organized crime and the reform of territorial administration. I have to tell our Albanian friends that the fight against corruption and organized crime is of paramount importance to the member states of the European Union. The vetting of judges and prosecutors is yielding tangible results with 140 cases now completed. Almost 80% of the Albanians support this reform and the majority of them believe that it will bring positive results to their own lives and to their own country. Ultimately, this is what it is about. Reforms are not made for the benefit of the European institutions, or to fool the criteria. The reforms are done for the people of Albania to live in a just society, where the rule of law is respected and justice system is trusted. There could be no more important reason than this to continue this impressive progress.
As I have always said, any decision on opening the accession negotiations is based on merit and tangible results in the necessary areas. For the European Commission, based on an objective assessment, Albania is ready for the next step. This is why we have repeatedly proposed to the Council to open the accession talks. However, there are some obstacles to overcome. But I have to restate here that we had formulated requests in the direction of the Albanian authorities. The Albanian authorities have delivered. The European Union would appear as a weak body on this continent if we are to request from this country do this and do that and if this country is delivering then we no right to say no to the European aspirations of this country. And I will not say “no” to the aspirations of Albania to become a member, to open the negotiations with the EU. I am in favour of opening the negotiations with Albania, because Albania has delivered.
But it is not a secret that some member states have expressed some concerns over certain areas. I assured the Prime Minister and my friend that I am ready to explain and defend every line of our assessment on the reform progress to support the process. But the Prime Minister knows better than anyone that the work doesn’t stop in June, regardless what the decision of the Council of Ministers will be, because you need to maintain the reform momentum and continue the fight against corruption and organized crime.
The progress made with the European support in countering the cannabis production and trafficking is an example of what can be achieved.
I also want to stress, although this is a difficult issue, the importance of the political unity in reaching the goals of this great nation. All political parties should constructively engage in the democratic institutions. Elections have been foreseen for the end of June and people should not be prevented from exercising their democratic rights. You cannot block the expression of the willingness of the people of Albania and so I do think that, without interfering in this internal domestic debate, I think that these elections should take place. If not, it would postpone the European prospective of Albania.
So I am happy to listen to the Prime Minister and I am happy that what have agreed upon when I was visiting Albania back in March 2018, he has delivered on what he has promised to me, so I am in favour of opening the negotiations with Albania as soon as possible in summer time or in beginning of autumn.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Thank you very much Mr. President and dear Jean Claude!
I am very grateful for what we have done together with the Commission and with you in a not easy path of reforms and having attained as recognized by the European Commission’s report, a critical basis of results in implementing the targeted transforming reforms and the five key priorities. And as we agreed, the renewed recommendation of the Commission to the Council to open the accession negotiations with Albania really represents an objective view on acknowledgment of the tangible results and at the same time the comprehensive and thorough justice reform that Albania has undertaken and the achievements in the fight against corruption and organized crime as well.
Now, I know, as you frankly and bluntly stated that not everybody is so determined as you are and as most of the EU member states are, but at the same time I think, as you said, that it is time for Europe to do what we expect after having delivered. We expect them to recognize our merit and give the green light for the accession talks, which of course is not the end, but just the beginning of a new chapter, which will take a lot of efforts and which will also take time and patience.
At the same time, I want to also publicly say that we don’t do reforms because we are asked by Brussels or other European capitals, but we do it for the sake of our country and for the sake of our children and for the sake of the common vision of how a country should look like and what Albania should be for the next generations.
At the same time, I am very happy to reaffirm that we count on your support, we count on your loyalty and friendship and also we count that until the moment when a decision will be made, everyone will be on board to give Albanians nothing more and nothing less, but what they deserve.
I would also like to thank you for your very clear position about the situation in Albania, which is an internal matter and which has to be solved by the Albanian institutions, but surely also about the European Albania, about our path towards European integration that the elections should happen on time and that nobody should be prevented from participating in the elections, as everyone on the other hand is free not to do so.
–Mr. President, you mentioned the June 30 local elections. I would like to ask what is your opinion about the attempts of the Albanian President to cancel this election?
President Juncker: I don’t want to interfere in this domestic debate between the President and the government, but I’ve always shared my own view. If the elections have to happen, nobody should be prevented from expressing democratic and political opinion. Without interfering in this ongoing process, I think these elections should take place. If not, it would harm Albania’s European perspective.
–In your opinion, is it a mission impossible now for the Commission to convince those member states which are reluctant to start the accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia in June, considering that four member states: Germany, the Netherlands, France and Denmark, which are opting for a decision to be taken in October rather than June?
President Juncker: It is not a mission impossible. We have to explain to those who are reluctant, mainly for domestic reasons rather than continental ones, why we do think that it would be worth of thinking that the negotiations with Albania should open in the coming months. I am not focusing on June, because our Parliament has to approve but there are no sessions in June, and therefore it could be later, but my conviction is that we have to make it crystal clear that moment has come to open the accession negotiations with Albania.
PM Rama: I am sorry, but I have to make the best use of my time since I am here with the President of the Commission. So, I have no time now to answer about the President of the country. We have all the time to do so once I finish my mission here and thank the Commission and then fly back home.
-Beside focus on North Macedonia and Albania, this time you and your Commission will have the legacy on Prishtina and Belgrade dialogue. Do you think it is possible in this time for this Commission to move forward with this process and do you see any kind of possibility for Prishtina to revoke the taxes so that the dialogue resumes?
–And for Prime Minister Rama, you are mentioning on and off some kind of unification between Albania and Kosovo. Is this a kind of strategy, or a kind of pressure on Prishtina and Belgrade, or the EU itself?
President Juncker: I have always been in favour of a constructive dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo. I am unhappy about the fact that this process is not moving in the right direction and I am urging the two of them to be more comprehensive about the position of the other. If this dispute between Serbia and Kosovo is not resolved, there will be no chance of whatsoever both for Serbia and Kosovo to become members of the European Union. We don’t want to import instability in the European Union, we want to export stability to these two and other countries.
The second question you addressed to my friend was about a different thing. I do think that it doesn’t make any sense to envisage what happens in the region is envisaged also for Albania and North Macedonia. This is a no go and it would harm the unification of the continent.
Prime Minister Rama: I have always dreamed about something greater, but that’s not greater Albania, but a greater Europe with Albanians, Serbs, North Macedonians and everyone else inside this Union “de jure”, because I am sure that the majority of the people even in some parliaments of the EU member states that talk with scepticism about the Western Balkans and about us, they don’t know that the Western Balkans are within the European borders. We are surrounded by European borders, we are organ of the body, but not in its place in the EU. So you have to make a choice, what would you do with this organ? Would you let it bleed out or get it in? Would you let it bleed out and also create problems to the body itself, or make it part of the body with everyone be in their own place. So yes, I dream about something much greater than Albania, but that is a greater Europe. Thank you!
President Juncker: In fact, this is not a game. It is not a game. In this highly complicated, could I say strategic region of the European continent, we don’t have the right to play games. I am still in favour of the European perspective of the Western Balkan states. It is difficult because they have problems among themselves, but we have to assure those living in that region that the European perspective is a real one. So, I think that opening the accession talks with Albania is part of that strategy. Indeed, it is not a strategy, but a taking into account of the merits of the Albanian people. So, I would not step away from the decision that the Commission has taken last week. North Macedonia and Albania have their place in the European Union, so we have to open the accession negotiations with the two of them without separating them.
