“Work and Live Where Your Heart Is” – Prime Minister Edi Rama’s speech with the businesses participating in the fair:

Thank you very much! I am extremely happy to be here today with 120 Albanian companies to bring to Athens the Albania of work and to show firsthand to our brothers and sisters in Greece, who came here in search of honest work and to build their family economy.

Albania is developing and expanding its economy. It is becoming increasingly competitive and better for those who want to live through hard work. For all of you who live here and are connected to the country, and who try to keep up with what’s happening there, I’m sure you often feel more disappointed than happy when you hear the news from our media. But I want to tell you that if you look at the real economic and social picture of our country today, there’s no comparison with a decade ago, when we began this journey. Those who claim Albania’s economy is in bad shape are either intentionally misrepresenting the situation or, due to a lack of information, are spreading these claims. But there’s one very simple fact:

When we took office, there were 117,000 businesses; today, there are 250,000. That’s more than double, meaning the economy has expanded, and opportunities to do business have increased, not decreased. On the other hand, when we took office, Albania’s GDP was less than 10 billion euros; today, it’s almost 25 billion euros—two and a half times more. When we took office, Albania’s income per capita was around 4,000 euros; today, it’s around 10,000 euros.

When we took office, no one had the courage to imagine that today the average salary in the public sector would be 930 euros, that today the average salary for teachers would be 950 euros, or that the average salary for doctors would be well over 1,000 euros. And on the other hand, the 120 companies here today, spanning sectors from tourism to construction, pharmaceuticals to technology, have come here to establish a tradition. I want to tell you that this first fair in Athens will be followed by a second one in the fall. We will return, and we will be persistent because all 120 companies here today offer better wages and job opportunities than those in the same positions here in Greece.

Not to mention construction, where, for the sake of accuracy, Albania is building projects that you won’t find in Greece. I’m talking about investments in Tirana, about skyscrapers designed by the world’s best architects, about hotels and seaside resorts built by top global designers, and about Albanian companies that no longer build only in Albania but now need highly skilled labor, which can certainly be found here.

At the same time, we are very ambitious for the future, and I am confident that the best is yet to come for us and for Albania. We’ve gone through a long journey, similar to the one each of you experienced when you came to Greece in the ‘90s or later. You started from nothing, facing enormous prejudice and situations that could have knocked even an elephant down, but not an Albanian. An Albanian does not fall.

We have a timeline that we’ve agreed upon with them, to complete the entire negotiation process by 2027. This is the fastest timeline ever given to any country in the history of negotiations, not only because we have been doing and continue to do our part every day, but also because they want Albania to be part of the European Union. However, this moment won’t last forever, and we must seize it now because circumstances may change. We will be equal members, with the same rights in the European Union, and sit at the same table as you do today, alongside our Greek neighbors. They will no longer look down on you, nor will they mockingly call you “Alvanos.” On the contrary, we will sit together with Greece, side by side, as two neighboring countries, as two partner countries, as two equal countries—not just by tradition, but by law. Not only with emotion, but with the official seal. And just like us, Greece will stand proudly under the yellow stars of the European Union flag. This is the moment. It’s a historic moment. It’s the second raising of the Albanian flag. It was raised in 1912 to break away from an empire that collapsed and to move from a vassal state to an independent one, as declared in the Declaration of Independence. But for all these years of internal sovereignty, we didn’t have external sovereignty. We were seen and treated as inferior—‘inferior’ is a mild word, but I’ll use it—partly because of our own mistakes. We did harm to ourselves. But today, by raising the Albanian flag, we are giving this sovereignty a new dimension—the dimension of guaranteed individual freedom for every Albanian in the European space and within their own country, equality before the law for all Albanians, and, of course, the guaranteed standards for coexistence.

Today, everything has changed completely because, with full awareness, we have entrusted justice with the responsibility of removing corruption. At the same time, we have made our organization available for any case where justice sees the need to intervene to remove one tumor or another. Only in this way can we seriously fight corruption, and only in this way can we become equal to those who still see us as insignificant, from a distance, and who sit at the table of the European Union. We have no other path. Naturally, there will be times when things may seem unfair or when things aren’t done as they should be. But this is a very short period to judge, because justice in Albania has no tradition of independence, and traditions take time to build. However, we are absolutely determined not to undermine the independence of justice.

We are committed to enduring all the unjust hardships, no matter what, because we have taken on the mission of leading Albania. We didn’t take on the government to simply create a few jobs. Our government has a mission: to lead Albania. If the goal is simply to find jobs, then there are fairs, and at fairs, you can find jobs. But our work is not like any other job. Our work is a mission, and those who take on leadership take on the responsibility of bearing the costs, enduring the pains, and staying focused on the objective.

All these challenges will be forgotten; they will pass. However, what will never be forgotten and will remain forever marked in our history is that we raised our national flag for the second time, and we raised it from a place where, for a long time, we were looked at from above. No more looking down on us. We will become fully equal.

I thank you all deeply and assure you that the best for Albanians is still ahead. Today, we hold our own destiny in our hands. Until yesterday, our destiny was not in our hands; others held it, and what we had in our hands only caused harm. But today, we hold our fate because others no longer see us as second-class citizens. They have realized that we are serious, and that with us, there is one condition we will never negotiate: respect for respect. We give respect, and we demand respect. Otherwise, there is no moving forward with us if respect is missing. This is what we have secured today, and to turn it into a permanent and indisputable relationship, we need that flag to be raised. We must seal this moment once and for all by achieving EU membership status.

I am truly grateful that you all came here today. Thank you so much!