Joint press conference of Prime Minister Edi Rama and EP President, Martin Schultz:
EP President, Martin Schultz:
“Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon!
I want to express my thanks to Edi Rama for the visit. We had an exchange of views much longer than foreseen and I must tell you that I’m really impressed about our discussion, about the explanation of the Prime Minister concerning the political situation in the region, the relationship between the European Union and Albania about the view of the Albanian Prime Minister to the situation of the European Union, of the role that the European Parliament could or should play, we had a very intensive exchange about the internal situation in the country, the economic development, about the relations with the neighbors and we spoke about the international situation worldwide and the role of the European Union in that regard. Edi Rama and I are friends since a very long time and we know each other since long time, and therefore our exchange was friendly and open-minded and I want to underline here that we agree about most of the items on the agenda. The European Union should keep the door open for our neighborhood, this is what we have as a common position, and therefore I accepted the invitation of the Prime Minister to visit the country, in my capacity as President of the European Parliament. Very soon I will visit the country and I want to thank you Prime Minister for the invitation. I think, for the time being it is necessary that European leaders give to our neighbors the signal that our dialogue continues on the basis of mutual trust and the deepest possible cooperation in the times ahead. Therefore, thank you once more for your visit and thank you very much for our constructive dialogue.
Prime Minister Edi Rama:
“Thank you very much!
I am very pleased that with our colleagues we could have this time with you and this very intense and very open exchange of views on the what to do in both sides, and also on the very high importance that we pay to the European parliament and to its role for our region and our people. And I am very happy to listen that you finally will come to Albania. Our Parliament Chairman has already extended the invitation by written and I hope now that it’s the right time as newly elected President of the Parliament to come and to address our parliament and our people. And as for the rest I am absolutely convinced that Albania will continue to build an example in all the directions that you want to see from here: rule of law, fight against organized crime and corruption and, first and foremost I would say, modernization of all directions. I have always believed that the integration process is a unique tool for modernization and that’s why we want to use it at large. And to conclude, I would just underline that we want to intensify our relations with the European parliament also in terms of expertise and in terms of exchanges in terms of exchanges in the level of MPs for different purposes, because we have had a little help from this Parliament and we will continue to seek help and to improve our parliamentary life.”
Mr. Schulz, I would like to know, how far is Albania from the opening of negotiations for EU accession and how important is for the five steps of integration the boycott of the opposition? And to Prime Minister Rama, having in mind that one of the main concerns of the opposition is the decriminalization of parliament, was this issue part of your discussion with the President of the European Parliament and did you ask for legal expertise by the European parliament on this issue? Thank you!
EP President, Martin Schultz: “I expressed at the beginning of my statement that we have to keep our neighborhood as near as possible to the European Union, but the way of Albania to Europe concretely includes that as soon as possible they open chapters in the frame of the negotiations. Concerning the Parliament, you and I discussed in previous times about Edi Rama not going to the Parliament, and you remember very well that I said that parliamentarians are elected to go to the parliament. They are not elected by their votes to stay outside. This is the duty of a parliamentarian, even if he disagrees with the rules, the procedure, the structure. In my Parliament, as president every day I’m confronted with people who are participating in the Parliament but who disagree with the majority, with the rules of procedure, with the resolution or whatever. The place of a parliamentarian is within the parliament, not outside. That’s what I said when Edi Rama was the opposition leader, and I urged him to get back to the parliament what he did by the way at the end. I have not changed my opinion and therefore my advice is that as parliamentary elected all parliamentarians work in the parliament.”
Prime Minister Edi Rama: “Thank you for your question! No, we didn’t enter in details. For sure our discussion was focused on the future and on the different levels of cooperation between Albania and the European Parliament and also between our region and the European Union, and I want to thank heartily the President for the full commitment to help and support the region as such to not lose any hope but to continue and work hard to get near to the Union. And as far as the opposition in Albania is concerned, you know I never speak about the opposition in English, but I want to underline that we are waiting for them to come back and we have fulfilled all the pretend to be legitimate requests, and in the same time, for everything that they want to propose, we are open and we will immediately sit down and discuss to find the best solution, without becoming the same party of course, because this is not something that we take as an option.”
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On the second day of his visit in Brussels, Prime Minister Rama addressed to the Summit “2015-2020 EU-Western Balkans Agenda” organized by Friends of Europe.
The Prime Minister noted in his speech that the best way to address problems encountered in the EU today is the generation of a strategic Europe, and that Europe should welcome a union with the Balkans by supporting accelerated integration processes in the respective countries. “The Union is more and more tactical and less and less and less strategic. I think that dealing with the problems we face today, the way out is not by performing a tactical Europe but by engendering a strategic Europe. What you see today as a big success story in the Balkans can turn into a nightmare if Europe does not realize that it’s time to catch up with the Balkans. For sure we can’t avoid the homework, but in the same time for sure we can’t nourish the hope and dreams of people about Europe with chapters of integration. People would not be really ready to go on year after year and being told, we succeeded in chapter 23, now it is chapter 24 and then next year is chapter 36.”
The Prime Minister invited the EU institutions to cooperate in parallel, in terms of the integration of the Western Balkan countries in the European Union, as the need for rapprochement between Europe and the Balkans is mutual.
While MEP Kukan expressed his commitment to working together towards the integration of the Balkan countries, noting that these countries should bear in mind the three main areas that are the rule of law, judiciary and economy. “First, we can strengthen when we deliver, both of us, countries in the region and us in the European Union. We cannot back down from our commitment. We should be serious and in the Western Balkans there are three fields which are the most important: rule of law, judiciary and economics.”
