Press statement by Prime Minister Edi Rama and the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany, Heiko Maas:
PM Edi Rama: Greetings!
It is indeed a pleasure we welcome today Minister Mass and it’s a good chance for us to express once again whole respect and gratitude for the commitment and attention the Federal Government places on Albania and the Western Balkans as a whole, as well as for the Germany’s continued support for the region’s integration into the European Union and in terms of strengthening the interaction and the regional cooperation.
We attach particular importance to relations with the Federal Republic of Germany and, on the other hand, we consider of historic importance the commitment of the federal government and the German Chancellor herself to initiate what it already came to be internationally known as the Berlin Process. But it is not only that. We are deeply grateful to the federal government and to the Chancellor for the important role in supporting one of the most fundamental state building reforms in European Albania, judicial reform, and definitely all the other reforms directly related to the progress in European Union integration process.
I am also pleased to happy that we have been and remain committed to maintaining a coherent line in our foreign policy, which has been clearly underlined by the European Commission itself in its annual progress reports and has been continuously affirmed in Albania’s position in the international arena.
We will keep on talking with the Minister and I would reiterate our request that the federal government supports Albania’s candidacy to chair the OSCE. We are convinced this would contribute to our region’s dynamics themselves, the region’s integration process and it would be an incentive for Albania and the whole region.
Once again, thank you very much for the visit and also for the fact you have chosen to spend lunch in Albania instead of Macedonia or Greece.
It is a very wise choice. Thank you!
Federal Minister Heiko Mass: Thank you dear Edi Rama! Thank you wholeheartedly for the warm welcome!
We have travelled through the city and by doing so we had the chance to first-hand see the traces you have left in Tirana as mayor. Much has been done first and foremost both Christians and Muslims co-exist peacefully and in respectful relationships with each other in Tirana and it is here we can clearly observe and see how peaceful coexistence can be guaranteed through diversity and tolerance, radiating hope to the whole world.
Dear Edi Rama,
Being courageous in politics has proved successful. The fact you have launched far-reaching and deep reforms, like the justice reform and everybody here, in the region, Berlin or the EU already know how crucial this reform is for Albania’s European perspective. Therefore, it is crucially important for the government to further continue on the path it has already embarked on.
We have supported this path from the very beginning, but you of course are also a very important partner for us within international bodies, first and foremost in NATO. Albania is a country that can be considered an anchor of stability and sustainability in the region.
In June, the European Union decided for the EU accession negotiations with Albania to start in 2019, but the reform processes should continue. Of course there is objection or resistance so to say to these processes, which will have to be met in a way to secure a European perspective and everyone should have known how to deal with these issues.
However, Albania can always count on Germany’s support. Albania’s European perspective is not merely a word on our part and should you continue further on this path, just like we have witnessed over the past few years, and should you fulfil the required criteria, then the path to the EU will continue further and you have our full support on that.
