Prime Minister Edi Rama’s speech at the National Council for European Integration
Thank you for reminding!
What you just reminded me of is really important and I assure you that I will have it in my mind throughout continued work, because I am convinced that without what you reminded me of, everything else definitely becomes more difficult and the process itself becomes a more complex one.
However, I believe that today we can openly state we are now at a new stage, as long as what gathers us here, in this Forum, – dictated also by the half real and half virtual time we spend, just like this process itself – is the negotiating framework, the action plan for negotiation. Which means that 11 years since the application and 6 years after receiving the candidate country status, we are ready to open this new page, which like the whole very voluminous book of the EU integration process is a page containing many tasks, more challenges and definitely requires even more energies and cooperation among us.
But, there is one thing I believe can be said convincingly and without hesitation that when we look at the process through a forward-looking approach we still far from achieving the major national goal of full-fledged membership with the European Union, but if we are to look back we see it without much difficulty that we are now much closer than we were even a year ago, let alone 5 or 11 years ago.
This is a process we need just like humans need light and water to make Albania a country, a state that fulfils the European Union standards. It is not a process that we are doing just because Brussels, Berlin, Paris or the whole world wants us to do, but it is a process that we do because it is required for the future of our children and our children’s children. And it is not unquestionable that this is a state- building and state-formation process, in view of establishing the institutions and the whole system of the institutional body, which corresponds to the EU values, principles and laws.
In this process, we are still in an intermediate phase, a transition period, so to say, something in between a country 11 years ago applied in a bid and ambition to become an EU member and an EU member state. We face a number of permanent challenges, but which comprise key priorities and a string of ongoing reforms, starting with the reform of the reforms, which is the justice reform and which is definitely about a complex operation, a long-lasting and tough operation with its own complications and where it is completely obvious that whatever we do today in this process definitely represents another step towards its successful completion to build an independent justice system, a professional justice system that guaranties equality of everyone before the law.
It is a challenge that will haunt us till the end, till the day when we become EU members and if we are to look at other countries’ experience, even once we become EU members, perhaps this will remain a challenge in the future, even though, with the new methodology, it looks like the member states have addressed precisely the need to win and complete these challenges well before the countries take their seat in the common table of the family of the EU member states.
On the other hand, crime and corruption are part of another equally important challenge and, as it is the case with the justice reform, results in this aspect speak for themselves. Always taking notice of what I said at the very beginning, if we are to look forward to our objective, we are still far behind and a lot of work remains to be done, but if we are to look at where we started from, we are today definitely closer than we were 1, 6 or 11 years ago.
We are now in a current situation, with all nations around the world and not the EU member states only, having faced and facing a tremendous challenge of the fight against a pandemic, which I believe clearly showed that we have today a functioning system of the state institutions and what perhaps six years ago, when we just had been decreed the EU candidate country status, so to say, or 11 years ago when we applied to join this process, it would have been much more difficult, perhaps impossible with the system of 6 years ago, with that of 11 years ago, the fight against this pandemic would have been much more difficult, more complicated and definitely less successful for us, because our today’s institutions are much more prepared, because our today’s front of the direct battle against the disease is much readier and because we today can afford making available an entire digital interaction system with the citizens, which significantly eased the process of the authorizations and permits for immediate needs and vital needs under a total lockdown situation.
I would like to also add another element that six or 11 years ago we wouldn’t have been able to provide online alternative schooling to children who were forced to stay at home, even though the online schooling can by no means fully or 100% replace the normal teaching process. However, it provided for continued contact with pupils and students via digitalization.
Digitalisation today is at a stage where a large part of the public services, which are also elements of the corruption chain, bribery and the heavy burden of injustice on citizens, have now transitioned to an entirely automatic, transparent process, without direct contacts. The most recent example is the case of immovable property registration services, with services now being delivered to everyone in a few minutes’ time.
All these are not say we have done any miracles, but to show we encouraged by what we have done and of course we are confident that, if we do things right, it is in our hands to speed up the process with the new methodology in place.
It is here the right place to state that all of those who in one way or another – also under the effect of various overall influences, not merely malign influences, but also benign ones, if you will, coming from the member states themselves via the social networks and news stories – temporarily incited a sense of scepticism about the EU, they were met with two consecutive and spectacular answers about the reason why EU membership, in addition to being a path that modernizes and irreversibly transforms like never before the Albanian state itself due to the mechanisms it offers, it is also a space of solidarity. Solidarity manifested in an exemplary way by all EU member states, the European Commission itself in the wake of the earthquake in Nov 26 last year. Solidarity, thanks to which, we have today the needed financial means to successfully carry out a transforming reconstruction process already underway. The EU itself is directly involved, not only financially, but also with its whole expertise to build a significant part of the entire chain of the dilapidated school buildings. Also, many member states, some of which are represented by their envoys here in Tirana, are involved. Which has served a lot, I believe, to give all citizens a real, concrete sense of the big “why” of this dream and a little “why” this dream is different and without any alternative.
Of course, the second blow we dealt out after the devastating earthquake because of the pandemic- turned Covid-19 outbreak, the EU was again there to help. It was present despite the incredible perplexing and troublesome situation the EU member states went through and the tremendous confusion that prevailed with the EU, it didn’t turn its back on us, but, quite the contrary, it offered us solidarity and extended a hand of support that once again confirms how valuable is this great project and how inalienable is this dream we inherit as a relay and that we will pass to our descendants, to Mrs. Hajdari and the new generation of politics.
We can make a 360-degree turn of our gaze and in all that circle of issues, challenges, problems, we can find full of reason to say whether it is white or black, but none of us can avoid a black hole, which we unfortunately have in this space and, yes, unfortunately, compared to EU member states and considering the experiences of all countries that have gone through this process prior to us, we are really incomparable and unique in our chronic inability to dialogue among ourselves, reach understanding with each other, find solutions to the issues which are randomly politically-related issues, be them either legitimate or not, be them either significant or non-significant excuses, but still excuses that by no means can compete both in size and weight with the size and the weight of the national goal, which fortunately is shared by all parties and social stakeholders in Albania. In perhaps a unique case, there is no political party or relevant social force to predict another way but that of the membership with the European Union, predict other alternative alliances except the strategic alliance with the United States and the European Union, predict thesis and approaches that lead to conflicts. All this great purpose, we all share together, makes the fact that we are still unable to communicate in Albanian with each other without a translator even more problematic.
The most recent case, which was hailed during this meeting, is a flagrant one. The representatives of the main political parties in the country gathered in an embassy locked themselves for days and nights there just to leave things as they are and basically figure out that we won’t do what is needed to be done, but instead leave things as they are.
Seeing such a conclusion, one would naturally think: “This is something we could have done ourselves?”
Why should we seek refuge in a very friendly and very important embassy in this country, and why the interaction and communication among us has to take place in several languages and texts be approved in several translations?
I am sorry, but I personally think this will be the last time for it to happen. Our friends and precious partners should never be felt in such an awkward position, just like I believe that people and the voters themselves should no longer stare at the embassies’ doors just because the sides and the political parties here are unable to discern what is to be divided and what is to be shared. It is not a secret that we have several pending issues with the President of the Republic, but we could have certainly met each other and we can still meet each other at the President’s office, at the Parliament Speaker’s office, we could even meet each other at the seat of Tirana’s chief mufti, Father Mondi, or at the seat of the Catholic community leader, at the protestants, or at place religiously unbiased, but it is no longer possible and we will no longer engage in dialogue and reach agreements at embassies. This should be the last time to happen and as for me personally, this will be the last.
I want to let all Albanians and all our international friends know that when it comes to issues we have to solve ourselves, if we are really serious and if we are really sincere in our commitment to make Albania an EU member, we can no longer act as if we are not the same when it comes to resolving issues jointly. If this is called the National Integration Council, it is really positive that all the heads of institutions are here, but the opposition should definitely be here. If this is called the National Council for European Integration, it is really positive that this meeting has brought together all heads of institutions, but the opposition had to be definitely present. The today’s opposition is the tomorrow’s alternative and the tomorrow’s government, because, as we have already witnessed, it was for a good reason that at the very beginning I stated that the application for EU membership was submitted 11 years ago and it was done by the previous government and it was six years ago when we were granted the candidate country status under another government, whereas today we are preparing the negotiating framework under another government in office. When the day for us to join the EU comes there will certainly be another government in office.
At the end of the day, the EU is not an institution of the consensus in the sense that all member states agree on everything, but what makes EU a family of high-level democracy, high-level standards, high-level quality of coexistence among people and political parties and that characterizes all those countries showing up on this screen via their ambassadors, it is not how much we agree with each others, but how we manage our disagreement. A disagreement administered through dialogue, communication, citizenship and understanding is one thing, and disagreement administered through strife, smearing and fire is another. Both can be called expressions of freedom and democracy, but that is the reason what makes the two differ.
