Prime Minister Edi Rama: Good afternoon everyone!

It was a pleasure to begin this day today with the European Union’s Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Commissioner and the first thing I would like to say, neither for the protocol’s sake, nor for formal courtesy, but for the sake of a very simple truth, is the expression of gratitude to the Commissioner, who, first critical moment following the earthquake that inflicted a tragedy on our life, he was personally and constantly engaged and directly interested in both receiving real-time information from me and from us on the situation, as well as in sensitizing everyone else regarding Albania’s great need for support.

Likewise, it was exactly the Commissioner who immediately also activated the disbursement mechanism of an initial funding to deal with and overcome the major emergency, while today we continued our discussion on hosting the donors’ conference due to take place on Feb 17 in Brussels, to which the Commissioner, together with the European Commission President and everyone else are totally committed.

I am saying all these, because we actually have had the opportunity to appreciate our country’s true friends in the difficult times we went through and I am very pleased we welcome today the Commissioner here as a true friend of Albania and Albanians.

Once again, thank you very for everything you have done and you are doing in this regard!

Of course, we also discussed the other aspect, that of the further progress in the integration process and we shared views about what happened at the end of last year and what we can expect this year in terms of EU integration.

But most importantly, Albania will continue to deliver and do the same things we would do if the accession negotiations were to open at the end of last year and we will do it even more decisively because this is for us it is the only way, regardless of whether a consensus is reached or not within the European Council to make the formal decision on opening the negotiations.

I informed the Commissioner primarily on the progress of all processes as part of the justice reform, as well as on the new initiative we will launch in the coming days.

We are about to conclude the discussions with the international expertise to launch an exemplary offensive against organized crime and the exponents of the organized crime, as well as against those judges and prosecutors, who – just like it was the case most recently, two days ago only – belong the organization “catch what you can” and are taking advantage of their authority in this transitional phase between an old system that is collapsing and the new system that is being built under the justice reform – to openly and shamelessly collaborate with the crime.

For more, I would give the floor to the Commissioner, once again thanking him for the visit, for his double commitment to the rebuilding process in the aftermath of the Nov 26 tragedy, as well as to the EU integration process after taking office in the new Commission. I once again welcome you and the floor is yours!

EU’s Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi: Thank you very much, Prime Minister! Thank you very much for having me today in Albania!

Indeed, this is the second stop in my first trip outside the European Union member states and for me, it was a priority to come here very early on in the mandate to reinforce our support for Albania and also to reinforce the geopolitical nature of this new Commission.

As you know, for us, enlargement and the Western Balkans is a priority.

We want to increase our presence here and we want to have more influence here. We want to be an even more important partner for this region and for this I will be working very hard and tirelessly with the Prime Minister to make this happen.

We still consider the report of the previous Commission on Albania to be valid. So we still consider Albania to be ready to open accession negotiations and we would be working to make this a reality still before the Zagreb summit of May 2020. The Commission will come with a set of new proposals based on three pillars.

The first will come already this month, this is going to be a new methodology when it comes to the handling of the EU accession negotiations.

We have to understand that the failure in October to open the accession negotiations was also related to concerns from some Member and we have to look very carefully into these concerns. And we are ready to work together with our friends here and also our Member States to find a solution that will create a new opportunity for us to move forward with the enlargement process.

In the methodology we will try to come up with a new approach that will be based on four principles, four principles that should be working both for the accession countries but also for the Member States. First of all, the process would have to be more credible. It has to be more politically driven as well and it has to be more predictable. And for me, it is also a priority to make it more dynamic. So we are putting together a proposal that will deliver that.

The second pillar is to be able to start the accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia this year, still before the Zagreb summit. We are working on this with the Prime Minister, but also with the Member States.

And then the third pillar will be the Zagreb summit, where we hope to come forward with an economic development plan for the whole region to be able to speed up the building of a solid and resilient economy and bring these countries much faster, much closer to our own standards.

In this context, of course, it is crucial to continue with the reforms that are ongoing already in Albania. Today, the Prime Minister announced a new element, which I welcome very much, and it is an absolute necessity not only to continue the reforms, but once we have opened the negotiations, you will see that even more dynamic reforms are going to be necessary so that you can reap the benefits of a more dynamic negotiation methodology. Therefore, I welcome the government’s commitment in that regard.

We need all political parties in Albania to help us turn this into reality. It is clear that without the support of all parties in the Albanian politics it is not going to be possible to make progress. And I will be reaching out today also to the opposition to help us make it a success and to use this opportunity once the accession negotiations have started.

I also welcome the considerable progress that has been achieved in the justice reform. I think that the vetting process has shown a major commitment, not only that, but the determination to implement the reform that was decided. I also very much welcome the agreement of yesterday on the electoral reform, this is a very important milestone as well. These are all very good news.

However, we of course still have challenges ahead of us. We still need to do a lot to fight organised crime, corruption. We need to ensure and improve the state of the rule of law. We need to work on this together and I hope to count on the cooperation of all political parties in that regard.

I have also some good news, which is that given the very good performance of Albania in relation to the use of pre-accession funds. I have been able to request from the European Parliament, which is the budgetary authority, to release 28 million euros as a so-called performance reward, which should be with you very soon. I have positive news from the Parliament side, still they need to run their own processes to be able to approve that but the proposal is already with them and it should be coming soon.

Lastly, but most importantly, let me talk a bit about the earthquake and the donors’ conference.

First of all, let me present my condolences to those who have lost family and friends. Let me reassure you that we are standing by Albania and we will continue to help in whatever way we can. We will organise a donors’ conference in February together with the Prime Minister on the 17 February in Brussels.

Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, will be hosting and opening the conference and we attach great importance to the conference and expect very good outcomes. We will be reaching out to all EU members, but also all the international financial institutions and international organisations to come and contribute. And we plan to contribute with a significant contribution ourselves. We talked with the Prime Minister about our announcement of 15 million euros that this Commission has presented already at its first college meeting. I understand that the implementation of that contribution has really started. And we will see to it that it will be there very quickly on the ground and helping people on the ground instantly.

From here, we are going with the Prime Minister to do Durrës to visit the sites so that I also get my personal impressions of what has happened and we will then continue today with meetings with the President of the Republic, as well as with members of the opposition, so I am reaching out to Albania with these messages.

Prime Minister, once again, thank you very much for having me! Thank you very much for inviting me!

 

-Do you think that the Commission’s opinion is purely technical and it does not take into account the social and political economic reality in Albania and North Macedonia, as President Macron has said. Have you received any formal or informal signals that France may be ready to lift its veto over accession negotiations?

EU’s Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi: As I already said, I will be reaching out and talk with all EU member states and try convince them that with the new methodology, we are going to start using, I believe we can all agree on opening the negotiations and I am also giving the good news about the further progress from both countries, which is why it is so important for both North Macedonia and Albania to keep up the momentum of reforms so that an agreement on opening the accession talks is reached ahead of the Zagreb Summit.

Prime Minister Edi Rama: You all know quite well this is not an issue that has directly to do with Albania or North Macedonia, but it is an issue related to an internal discussion in the EU regarding the enlargement methodology.

What constitutes a reason to feel encouraged is the Commissioner’s approach to the need, but also to the conditions, to adopt and accept together a more appropriate methodology as a result of which to think reasonable and to involve France in continuing the process.

But this is of course an internal process about which the Commissioner’s word is what matters most of the two answers you received.

-I would like to know what do you concretely expect to happen until March when a decision on opening the accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia is expected to be made, because you say it may happen ahead of the Zagreb summit. What will specifically should happen that did not happen in October when the two countries’ bid to open the membership talks was refused, in addition to the reforms you say should continue? Is there a concrete thing and is there a concrete plan besides the methodology for these two countries?

EU’s Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi: Perhaps you already know that I visited Paris last week. I have also had talks with Dutch authorities. These two countries have voiced their concerns last October. We have discussed these concerns expressed by the two member states. I’m actually talking with both countries that actually influenced the October summit, and what I’m doing is that I am trying to see the progress that has been already achieved and what can be accomplished during this period.

Actually, I am fully confident that with the new methodology, the new approach that will rebalance and equilibrate, if I may put it that way, the accession negotiations, not only for the countries aspiring to become member states, but also for the EU member states, and with the continued progress in Albania and North Macedonia we will be able to alter the political climate.

So I’m very hopeful and I’m very positive. I have actually had quite positive discussions in Paris and also with the Dutch authorities. We are working hard to make this happen.

Prime Minister Edi Rama: I would like to reiterate what I would reiterate tirelessly. We will do everything in our power to guarantee the further progress of reforms, as required by the EU. We will do this for the future of the country and of our children, because if there was to be a major reason for us to be totally involved in this process and carry out all these tasks, this reason is the full compliance of these objectives set in the European integration process. Therefore, whatever the decision the European Council is going to make, we will continue to do the same, progress as quickly as possible and achieve as much results as possible in building a European Albania. Thank you!

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Prime Minister Edi Rama today received the European Union’s Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi to discuss the next steps ahead of the Donors’ Conference on Rebuilding, as well as Albania’s further progress in the European integration process. PM Edi Rama and EU Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi appeared at a joint press conference following the meeting.

PM Edi Rama and the EU Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi then visited the hardest-hit areas by the Nov 26 earthquake in Durres.