A branch of the College of Europe will open its doors tomorrow with its first campus outside the European Union, clearing also the way towards high world-class education for Albanian students.

Ahead of the Summit of the Berlin Process leaders, due on Monday in the Albanian capital of Tirana, a ceremony marking the launch of applications for the academic year for an initial group of 31 students took place at the House of Europe in Tirana. In her remarks at the ceremony, the Rector of the College of Europe, Federica Mogherini, also announced the launch of online applications for the next academic year for students who will attend the post-graduate institute of European studies in its campus in Tirana.

Prime Minister Edi Rama attended the ceremony together with the President of the European Commission Ursula Von Der Leyen.

 

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Prime Minister Edi Rama: “It is understandable that we are extremely happy today. It is really encouraging to see the European Union walk the talk so fast, which is not very usual. It is encouraging and I must say that this is something that we have experienced in recent years thanks to the special commitment of the EC President, who has supported us in moments of darkness, for example when the devastating earthquake hit Albania and it goes without saying that our journey to recover and build back stronger and better would have been impossible.

Having said that, I also want to underline the importance of this initiative that comes to life today in such a short time. We tend to think that Europe is about the economy, about financing, about more access to the single market, and all these are all true. But I firmly believe that Europe for us, more than all these together, is about knowledge. It is about learning how to solve all the problems we have inherited and how to find the right way to build our institutions. How to transform what is most important for a new country grappling with challenges like ours, the knowhow and the state.

I have always thought how blessed we are to live in this country and how blessed we are to be surrounded by the EU. When I look back on our past, there is not much reason to be inspired or to believe in a bright future, and if there is one reason why other countries emerging from a difficult past cannot find a way out is because they are not in Europe, it is Europe itself. No one can guide countries in other parts of the world, which want to move forward, which want to transform their lives by transforming their states, by having accountable institutions, the EU is the best at doing that.

No one can help a country to emerge from its past and ensure a democratic and functioning state for its future, as the EU does. It’s not easy at all, there is no such a nerve-wracking tutor like the EU is. The college is at the vanguard of this, but there is no other way.

That’s why I strongly believe that this college offers more than a university here and abroad. It becomes part of our system to provide more opportunities for a higher quality education, higher skills for our young people. In addition, it offers an insightful lesson for the EU itself and the journey towards it. For all this, I think we have every right to be happy today. Many more than 31 young Albanians want to be part of it for sure. Of course, the plan is for the number to increase in the following years, but the number will never equate to the demand to enrol, which means that the competition will be more and more challenging.

I don’t want to prolong this speech, since I actually didn’t want to address the event at all and instead let the three ladies speak as they are the real power behind this project, butt Ambassador Luigi wants me to talks, since he thinks that the event wouldn’t be sufficiently powerful if I were not to address it. Therefore, I would like to cut it short saying that one should be grateful and say “thank you” even when he doesn’t really feel that way, but saying “thank you” to Ursula is a heartfelt thing and it is pretty significant, because she really took over and made everything smooth and simple for this project to happen. And trust me, I have happened to see and attend so many summits, but not everyone of them deliver and yield results in such a short period of time and there could be no better way to start the Berlin Process Summit than being here and launching this activity.

It is the first time that such a Summit takes place outside the EU borders and we will do our best to make it unforgettable for every guest.

And, by the way, I don’t think it is that difficult to make it unforgettable, because they have hosted so many summits and sometimes they feel tired and not every gathering is an unforgettable experience when it comes to hospitality, because it is merely a European standard, but hospitality here is of a completely different level.

We have learned a lot from you, yet you can’t learn from us and this is not because you can’t do so, but simply because you don’t need to. Everyone attends your summits. And at your summits one would be provided just water as the universal right not to die of thirst, and they can live without the rest of things. This won’t be the case here. Be prepared to return back to your European Union with some few kilos more, because Albania to date is not the place for you to be on a diet.

Thank you so much Ursula! Thank you Federica!

Launching the College and bringing Federica back is a double pleasure, because we all know that Federica has been a tremendous supporter of the entire Western Balkans and of course, she is Italian after all. So thank you, Federica.

Thank you everyone else in Ursula’s and Federica’s teams for not sabotaging it.

It’s really great and let me conclude right now by telling something I happened to come across a few days ago from a former prime minister in the former South-Eastern Europe, the former prime minister of a new EU member state. He told me many things, but he also told me that people from his country now work on behalf of the European Union by checking and overseeing the procedures and everything happening there. When I told him that we are going to open the College of Europe here, he said: “Oh God, you will be training the very people who will be your worst nightmare tomorrow.”

So thank you for that. We’ve been through terrible nightmares and we’ll get through this one too.

Thank you!