Speech of Prime Minister Edi Rama at the Regional Security Summit against violent extremism held in Tirana:

Hello everyone!

It is a special pleasure to welcome you in Tirana on behalf of the Albanian government. We all know that last year, which coincided with the 100^th anniversary of the First World War that broke out in the Balkans, was also the first year in our common history in which we could sit together, as we did, around a common table, not to talk about the past or to question our borders, but to talk about the future and about the extraordinary peace which the Balkans have never lived before, in view of regional cooperation and interaction which is in the interest of everybody in the region.

We are aware that this peace is the fruit of a remote attempt of our big strategic partners, the United Sates on the one hand, who led an historic effort to free the Balkans from the dictatorship of the ghosts of the past, and of the European Union on the other hand, which is for all of us a sufficiently powerful aspiration, a unique opportunity to build a stable, prosperous and democratic coexistence.

We are aware that the time to keep looking back has been replace by the time to start looking at the future together. But we are also increasingly aware that regional cooperation and the active contribution of each of us for strengthening this cooperation is a big challenge. It is a challenge which, none of us, peoples and countries of the Balkans, can face without the support of the European Union, first of all as a destination but also as our partner in the effort to integrate into the European Family.

We have seen and we still see in our daily life how this peace is threatened by the complexity of the world we live in, by threats coming from conflicts that go on close to Europe’s borders, by violence and terrorism that are always a concerning factor for our societies. We live in a world were nothing happens far from us any longer, where everything we watch on TV as something that happens far away from us can happen in our home the very next moment. Therefore, I believe that this summit has a special importance because it is the expression of a joint will, but it is mostly awareness of the fact that this is not a local challenge, this is not a national challenge, but this is a regional challenge, as it is a global one.

Strengthening cooperation among us, in view of strengthening security and intensifying regional cooperation, is of fundamental importance for the future of our aspirations and common objective, which is becoming part of the big European Family; of a family that is founded on some values and principles for which our peoples have basically supported peace, have supported leaders handshake across the region, and supported every effort in view of this objective.

A 2003 study by the Balkan Observatory tells that the Balkan countries are closer to the EU than they are to themselves. This is an observation made 12 years ago, but I believe it applies still to this day. Truth is that we are all closer to Brussels than we are to each other. This is our common problem, which I believe we can and must solve by intensifying the regional cooperation that started with the Thessaloniki agenda in 2003, and by intensifying interaction in every area.

The Stability Pact was an incentive that took the region beyond crisis and violent conflicts, promoted regional cooperation and pushed us all towards a strategy of peace consolidation and of joint prevention of crisis.

We strongly believe that an historical turning point was marked by last year Berlin Process, which laid a foundation stone not only of Germany’s readiness, but also of the European Commission as a whole, as the presence at that meeting of the EC President confirmed, to accelerate the integration of the Balkans in the European Union.

On the other hand, I want to recall that in September 2014, more or less in the same period of the Berlin Process, President Obama called upon UN member countries to put more effort in dealing with violent extremism in respective regions. Although the Balkans were not mentioned in President Obama’s call, as were not mentioned other regions, we know very well that if we can talk today about regions where violent extremism is an ongoing threat, one of these regions is undoubtedly our region.

International terrorism continues to be a threat to this region, as it is to the global peace and security. I hope that this meeting will not confirm only our readiness, but also our determination to defeat terrorism when it stands opposite us, as well as the ideology, the spirit and mechanisms that support it in every country and that make it a surprising threat.

We are convinced that this is not just our effort or the effort of any other country as it is not just an effort of the United States who lead this battle, but it is an effort of all of us together. This is an effort where the importance, the dimension and the burden of countries is of relative importance, while interaction among countries, regardless of their dimensions, is of absolute importance.

It is for the reasons I just mentioned, that in the Wales NATO Summit Albania supported strongly the need to include as soon as possible every Balkan country in the integration process. Montenegro in particular, concerning which we have been for a long time of the idea that it should be part of NATO, is a country whose destination is the European Union. Despite of its dimensions, it is a country that has a key role in guaranteeing stability in the region face to the threats we are discussing.

Then there is Kosovo, which we see without any doubt as an indivisible part of this process and as a space that should not be voided of the very strong aspirations for peace, regional cooperation and joint battle against terrorism of the Albanians of Kosovo.  And here, of course, the encouragement to push the approximation process for Kosovo’s integration in NATO even further applies as much as the call for European Union, so that citizens of Kosovo will finally and as soon as possible have the opportunity to not feel trapped in an absurd quarantine, because they are the only country of today’s Europe whose citizens cannot travel freely unless they have applied for a visa. This is something they weren’t required even in dictatorship. This is a dramatic paradox because of which Kosovo runs the risk of being voided of a big aspiration, and which does not help the process we have all committed to and are concerned about. On the contrary, as we say in Albania, it takes water to the enemy’s mill.

Inevitably Macedonia, concerning which we have always had a clear and supportive approach, but towards which we have also been compelled to ask in the Wales Summit that the Ohrid Agreement was respected thoroughly, as it was decided in the Summit’s conclusions.

It would be simply impossible for me to not spend here, in this moment, a few words on Macedonia and on the tragedy of Kumanovo where, unfortunately, the words “terrorism” and “Albanian” became one in a dangerous attempt to add to terrorism an ethnic suffix and to ethnicity a prejudicial prefix. This would be unacceptable, not only for us but for the very interest of Macedonia. It must be very clear to Macedonian authorities that Albanians have been, are and will be an important constituent, inalienable, indispensable and indisputable factor for the integrity of the Macedonian state.

Nothing more wrong and more dangerous could happen to us all in this joint battle against terrorism than that of referring to the word “terrorism” while treating issues that are not related to terrorism, but rather to democracy and to phenomena that are not terrorist threats, but that deal with the loaded problem of degradation of democracy. In this view, it is intolerable to refer to the word “terrorism” while dealing with the tragedy of Kumanovo, as it will be intolerable for the Albanian state and government the delay, and even worse, the lack of transparency and justice. Justice for the innocent citizens of Kumaovo who suffered terror and serious damages.

Albania and all of us want a stable and livable Macedonia; a democratic Macedonia that everybody says must be part of NATO, but that cannot be part of NATO if it does not guarantee the values and principles that make NATO, not a military club, but an alley of peoples and democratic countries defending peace and the right of every people to live in freedom and to be safe from the extraordinary threat of terrorism. This means also that Macedonia cannot be part of NATO, if it does not guarantee the Ohrid Agreement, if it is not a country where freedoms and human rights comply with the declared aspiration of Macedonia to be part of the European Union and NATO.

This year, during the SEECP conference led by Albania, we adopted a joint statement against terrorism. The statement evidences our commitment to further implement reforms in order to strengthen the rule of law, to embrace cooperation among young people and economic growth. So, if we are willing to adopt unequivocal statements in order to be an inseparable barrier against a big evil that threatens our region, we must also be determined to embody what we declare in the daily life of our citizens and communities, regardless of religions, ethnicities and borders.

We have increased the level of information exchange with Europe and the Interpol, among police authorities of EU countries and the region. Cooperation has been expanded also in relation to experiences and joint investigations with police counterparts of the regions and the EU. The results are in front of our eyes. They are not everything, but they are encouraging enough to persuade us that this is the right path, and to understand that the more we cooperate with each other in view of security, the stronger each of our countries and societies will become.

In January 2015 we established a joint working group with Italy with the purpose of combating terrorism, mainly religious one. Albania is proud to be an example which, during his visit to Tirana, Pope Francis did not call an example of religious harmony, but rather an example of religious brotherhood. We are aware that not only we have to transmit this radiant example, but we have also to keep it safe and defend it with great determination because we know very well that threat coming from religious extremism is never too far and never sufficiently under control. We believe that we can create the same harmony within the Balkan diversity of nations, ethnic groups, religions, cultures and believes that make it a space as special for the intrinsic complexity and challenges, as unique in the whole map of the big project of United Europe.

If Europe is facing today big economic, political and also cultural challenges, and racism, nationalism and xenophobia are becoming increasingly eager, the Balkans have the opportunity to transform their complexity in this regard in a very strong advantage to convince the European Union about a very simple truth. If 10 years ago the Balkans had a very alarming need for Europe and Europe could succeed without the Balkans, this is impossible today. Today, the European Union needs the Balkans as much as the Balkans need the European Union, and together we must do anything so that it won’t be too late tomorrow.

We are aware of the fact that the European Union is increasingly a reacting power that deals with the consequences rather than with the causes of events. We have the chance, even in this regard, to set an example but our example as a region would be impossible, if the example of each of our countries weren’t convincing enough towards the respect of human freedoms and rights, and towards all those values and principles that make the European Union our sole and inalienable destination, our only and indisputable alternative.

On the other hand, we strongly believe that our experience can teach us that education and fight against religious extremism go in parallel, and the more we work in this direction and the more we interact with each other, by providing the young people more and more opportunities to be properly educated, the more we are on the right direction in view of long-term objectives, in order to make our region immune from the terrible epidemic of the extremism barbarity.

Obviously, this is an issue that cannot be separated from organized crime and illegal trafficking which are a big reason of concern for the European Union, and which have found and still find room in this region. However, all together we can shrink this room.

Our challenge today, in Albania and in the region, is to change something in relation to the past, which is the culture of legal order, as an order of coexistence that should not differentiate us form the European Union. We are aware that this culture is still incomplete and it still differentiates us, in a negative sense, from the European Family where we aspire to integrate.

There is no doubt that the good neighborly relations that go in parallel, as they have, with an increased regional security as a vital instrument of prosperity and stability, are something to which we can and should hold on in order to provide, through interaction, enhanced culture of law and enhanced culture of order law, and together restrict increasingly the scope of organized crime and the roads of illegal trafficking.

The need of Europe and of each other makes us walk faster in the right direction, in order to turn a new page in history and to write it together. Today, the Balkans have an historic chance which I modestly consider in view of relations between Albanians and Serbs. Albanians, altogether, and Serbs can do for the Balkans what France and Germany did for Europe after World War II, taking obviously into account the modesty of scale. This is totally possible, and in my view not only is this possible but this is the only way to provide, not through the example of power but through the power of example, the determination of the one-way road, in the name of the aspirations of our peoples which have been crucial for having the peace we have.

Finally, I want to say that Albania has a legend concerning the construction of Rozafa castle which would be built during the day and demolished during the night. Now, I don’t want to enter into the Balkan debate of which country this legend belongs, since all of us have known this legend. It seems often as the synthesis of the very history of the Balkans, where what is built during the day is destroyed during the night. I believe that fate, time and history have given us a chance to be in the right place to overcome the curse of this legend, which seems to be written throughout a long legacy of skepticism that we can get along with our neighbors.

I believe that today we are better than we were yesterday, and we will be better tomorrow if we understand properly every reason why today we are better than yesterday. This is the only way for our friends of the European Union to understand that without us, without the Balkans, the big project of the European Union is not only threatened but it is seriously endangered.