Speech of Prime Minister Rama at the joint press conference with Prime Minister Vučić:
Hello everyone!
Dear Prime Minister Vučić!
One day following the celebration across Europe of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, is it coincidental that the national flag of Albania is hoisted in Belgrade, that we honor the anthems of both countries that we meet after 68 years at the quality of the Prime Ministers of our two countries.
We have shared so many histories together, without ever being close to each-other, while our future depends hugely on what we can do together in the road to joining Europe, a road that will be even more difficult for each of us in the Balkans if we take it separately.
We need a vision, but yet not a grander euro us vision than the one which transformed Europe itself. We need courage, but yet not much more courage than the one which built the new road of the European peace and prosperity, after rivers of blood shed amongst the greatest countries of Europe.
We need mutual trust, but yet we will not be alone if we don’t allow history to undermine our relations, and, consequently Europe’s attitude on us.
We, the Balkans, need the United Europe, but, the United Europe needs the Balkans — us, the Albanians, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Bosnians, Croatians as never before.
The vision of the United Europe has finally gathered us together on the road of peace with one-another, while peace will give all of us the courage to depart from the old road of a history that continues to feed mistrust between us.
We, the Albanians, share this vision and this courage. We have all the good will it takes to feed mutual trust with you, the Serbs, and reach out to you for a collaboration which is as sincere as our conviction that our children must not suffer because of our troubled past.
We see a real opportunity in enhancing the relationship with you, on a completely different level, working together for Europe, in the framework of a joint regional active interaction and by creating new conditions favorable for the development of our economies and societies.
These are not European Union’s best days. The United Europe of hope has increasingly been replaced by the United Europe of fear. And, there is no doubt that the enlargement fatigue threatens our societies with the patience fatigue.
Also, as for the United Europe there is no alternative enlargement project, for us, there is no alternative EU integrationproject.
Hence, there is no doubt that the hard reality of Europe, on the one hand, and internal challenges of the Balkans, on the other hand, will continue to test our economic and political imagination, while we, in Albania, Serbia or elsewhere in the region, all strive for reformist policies and new funding.
That is why, we shall do the undoable to constantly communicate in order for us to learn from each-other and to cooperate intensively to jointly and efficiently use our developing skills and resources to produce regional solutions to national problems.
Our economies are small for our great ambitions, but our economy as a region is nolonger a small economy for the European ambitions of the Balkans.
Our budgets are small for a modern regional infrastructure, but, together we are no longer small for being heard and supported by the EU, or by big strategic partners for us and for our region.
Our energy potential is such that it can turn the Balkans into a power hub of considerable importance for Europe itself, besides guaranteeing everlasting energy security for the region.
It is clear to us, as daylight, that the success of any of our countries on the path to European integration and our economic and social development is closely linked to the success of the region as a whole. And this will be increasingly so in the years to come. To preach otherwise would mean living on the easy rhetoric of the Balkans, past which there is future.
I believe that being governed by a new generation, is a chance for our countries. I want to believe that the new generation ruling Serbia today will see and respect Albanians of the Presevo Valley as a bridge of strategic importance for the connection our European fates. Enjoyment of all rights stipulated in the conventions, European and international norms, is not only a desire, but also a constitutional obligation, which we shallconstantly seek from the Government and institutions of Serbia.
We want the Albanians of the Presevo Valley to enjoy all the attention of official Belgrade, be it for their deserved representation in local and central structures, but also for their social and economic development. I believe that the Serbian authorities know that Albanians of the Presevo Valley are involved in and encourage Serbia’s integration process into the European Union, serving not only as an opportunity of Serbia’s modernization and Europeanization, but also as a safe way to ensure social equality, be part of the central decision-making, especially when it comes to their fates. The model that we appreciate and suggest to be followed in this regard is the one of the Serb minorities in Kosovo.
As for Kosovo, we share two completely different views, but the reality is one and invariable. Independent Kosovo recognized so far by 108 different countries across the world and supported by the International Court of Justice, is an undeniable and inalienable regional and European reality. It must be respected and should become part, as it is becoming, of the European and the Euro-Atlantic integration. I would like to repeat here, openly and honestly, what I have already pointed out at the last NATO Summit;
The recognition of Kosovo by the European countries whichhave not yet recognizeditis first and foremost an issue of European security. Let us be honest to the end — Kosovo’s independence has grown the Balkans into a more stable region; it has attached more clarity to the European perspective of the region and has turned relations between Albanians in general and Serbs in particular into a strategic cooperation. Any new perception of Serbia towards this reality is more than welcome from us. We appreciate, protect and promote the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, as a meaningful incarnation of a new area of peace and European consciousness in our region. This dialogue is a European success, driven and supported by legal instruments and international organizations, but, the dialogue is,first and foremost, a value created by the leadership of the two countries, while its successful finalization will be, without a doubt, one of the works of historic significance benefitting our peoples, a reality which only politics has the power to enable.
On the 28th of August of the last year, I was lucky enough to experience the extraordinary moment of the meeting in Berlinof all the leaders of our region, who, for the first time ever, sat together, not to dispute over borders, but to discuss a common future. At that meeting where I had the chance to meet Prime Minister Vučić in person, Chancellor Angela Merkel, the initiator of this very hopeful process of bringing the Balkans closer to the European Union through the rapprochement of the countries of our region with one-another, underlinedparticularly the project of youth exchanges between our countries. The visionary program of student and youth exchanges, founded by Charles de Gaulle and Chancellor Adenauer initially to facilitate overcoming of the bitter history between France and Germany, serves as an encouraging model,showing the power the youth can have for a rapid progress in the cooperation between countries, if it is given a role to play. Opportunities to approach our young people, Albanians and Serbs, and building bridges of cooperation between them through exchange programs involving schools, universities, local communities, and through cultural and sports activities are certainly a whole new field to be used to explore relations between our countries. We want to explore this field together and without delay.
In conclusion, let me express the will and determination of the Albanian Government and ofmyself for an intensive communication between Albania and Serbia, starting, first, with giving life to and modernizing our bilateral relations, overcoming and leaving behind the past as a legacy of permanent conflicts and extreme division, second, with sharing experiences and interacting in view of the European integration process by establishing contacts at every level, as well as closely cooperating in specific sectors, and, third, with supporting and promoting the Berlin processproactively, in view of economic and regional political interaction, positive that the road of each of us towards Europe is a shared lane of the European road of the Balkan, in a challenge to affirm the United Europe of hope, and to become a fully integrated part of Europe as soon as possible.
Let us not forget that 100 years after the World War I, today, in 2014, we finally live in a region with many new and great opportunities generated by peace. And peace finally made its way, not because we became angels, but because we naturally ended in a road led by the ambition to become a united and equal part of Europe. Let us nourish this ambition by fueling peace, in the specific content of a collaboration that would make peace between us a peace that is worth living.
Thank you for your hospitality Prime Minister Vučić! I hope you will be my guest in Tirana next year, where you will be received with all the good will for friendship between Albanians and Serbs to foster.
Thank you!
Answers of Prime Minister Rama in the joint press conference:
Mr. Rama, you referred to the Albanian anthem and flag unfolded here in Belgrade, allegorically, reminding us of how this flag and this anthem were humiliated just a month ago at the “Partizan” stadium in Belgrade, in a match Albania lost 3 points on the table. Can you tell us what did you get today from Prime Minister Vučić on the table? And since you talked for 50 minutes, did you convey him the regards of Olsi Rama?
I believe that state politics is not born, neither developed nor dictated by a football pitch. I believe that what happened at the Stadium of Belgrade is only an indication of the extraordinary fragility of a new relationship, which we aim to establish and which, I repeat, the Government of Albania and I as its Prime Minister are fully willing to promote through a joint and concrete effort, so that our peoples, Serbs and Albanians, our children, Serbs and Albanians, can get the maximum benefit from a fantastic and finally achieved peace potential.
We are not enemies to one – another, but we have common enemies. Our common enemies are poverty, unemployment, lack of prospects for young people, public debt, deficit, and of course, anything inherited throughout the years. And, at the same time, our common challenge is to join efforts and talk to Europe in one language. For just as we need Europe, Europe need the Balkans more than ever.
And with regard to Kosovo, I believe that reality remains unchanged despite different perceptions and the fact that we don’t agree between us as far as this reality is concerned. But, on the one hand, this cannot prevent us to say to each-other’s face what we think, just as it cannot impede us to cooperate, because the path each of us, Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia, has taken, is a shared lane on the road to European integration. The more serious we are in this cooperation, the more seriously Europe we will take us. And it is, ultimately, a common challenge among us!
Mr. Rama, you talked about collaboration and a possible visit, but while you were saying this, your counterpart didn’t have the earphones on, and probably a more accurate answer is required. Is a visit of the Head of the Serbian Government expected to take place in Tirana, or isn’t it?
Aleksandar, I assure you that we will not feel provoked in Tirana if you keep sharing the same position on Kosovo, but we will simply feel sorry. For, it is a renowned reality by more than half of the United Nations and the sooner we recognize this reality, the sooner we can move forward, in all directions and meanings.
I repeat that hospitality would not only be mutual, but I assure you that you will feel much better in Tirana and in no way, no word spoken by you will be considered a provocation, although it may be completely different from what we would expect for a topic or another one.
And saying this, I want to repeat that: Yes, I invited the Prime Minister of Serbia to visit Albania in an appropriate time next year. Believing that we will not wait 68 years for another meeting and convinced that we should not expect the next conference on the Balkans, which will be held in the aftermath of the Berlin’s conference, in Austria, to repeat the same things and to hear the same things, but will instead go there with a list of common works, some of which were mentioned here today, and persist with the seriousness we can and should give to this cooperation showing Brussels that the Balkans of prejudice belongs to the past as a new generation governing in Serbia, Albania, Kosovo and beyond looks towards the future.
For Prime Minister Rama: The Prime Minister of Serbia will be welcome in Tirana, but what will happen to the football team of Serbia after what happened here in Belgrade? How did you feel when you saw the drone with the flag of Greater Albania, did you see it as a provocative act, or just as an act to support Albanian footballers?
Al Jazeera wants to talk about football even when it is not always a football place.
However, I prefer to talk about basketball. I would highly appreciate if we had a match in Tirana, between our national team of veterans and the national team of Serbia. I would be very happy to play with Serbia and, if Aleksandar was happy to play with Albania, it would be a fantastic friendly match. And the result will for sure be that Serbia will win. Not only because of them, but also because I would play with them.
I am very happy that the Albanian flag and Serb flag stand together today, here, as an expression of a good will to look forward and not to mix / confound football and folklore with our future and the future of our children.
Thank you very much!
