Prime Minister Edi Rama is on a two-day tour to the Western Balkan capitals to meet leaders of the states in the region. Skopje was Rama’s first stop, where he met with the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovačevski, and the two appeared at a joint press conference after bilateral talks.

Prime Minister Edi Rama will then travel to Kosovo. On the second day of his Western Balkan tour, PM Rama will head to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia, where he will hold talks with leaders of these countries.

***

Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovačevski: Dear Edi,

dear delegations of Albania and North Macedonia,

honorable media, honorable citizens,

Today, the fellow ministers and I had the honor to host again my dear colleague and friend Edi Rama, with whom we always share a large number of topics to discuss that affect our two countries, but also the region.

North Macedonia and Albania are expanding a traditional friendship and partnership that is an example in the region, as our two countries share common cooperation in many areas, but also common European values.

This is because the European path, from which neither we nor Albania deviate, is a strategic goal of both countries. On the European path, we both bilaterally and as a region take steps towards Europeanization of our societies as we seek to meet European standards in every aspect, both systemically and legally, regarding living standards of our citizens.

The Berlin Process was precisely such a step, with Western Balkan countries having signed three very important regional mobility agreements at the Berlin Summit last year during, namely recognition of higher education qualifications between the Western Balkan countries, mutual recognition of higher education qualifications for doctors, dentistry and architects, as well as freedom of movement with ID cards in the Western Balkans.

This year’s Summit will take place in Tirana and, as I told Edi and his colleagues at the meeting we had, Albania as this year’s chairman, and he as Prime Minister, enjoy our full support in that process, because we know that all this is a great recognition for the achievements of the country, but also of the region as a whole.

Thank you!

 

Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama: Thank you Dimitar!

Thank you dear Prime Minister,

We had a very useful discussion, considering that Albania will host the Berlin Process Summit in Tirana and the goal is that the upcoming Summit marks concrete, tangible and significant progress and, to this end, we are closely working with the Chancellery in Berlin, discussing concurrently also with the European Commission in Brussels.

It is a moment, when it is very clear to everyone, and we fully agree on this matter, not just in principle, and this is complete accordance stemming from the daily reality of our work, of our citizens and of this entire neighborhood called the Western Balkans in the heart of Europe, that the gap between the EU member states and our countries, in terms of the financial support from the European Union, is  incomparable to our need and the necessity for Europe as a whole to be more compact.

This is the reason why for some time now, precisely since we started the accession negotiations with the European Union, we have embarked pushing in this direction by proactively cooperating with each other, in particular with North Macedonia, where the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Osmani, the Prime Minister’s personnel are very active in their effort to advance this common goal to provide our partners with concrete arguments, figures and concrete data from this reality.

Moreover, the experiences we have been through prevent us from behaving as if nothing has happened and from delivering at least on what we are tasked with doing, and I am referring to the COVID pandemic, when we felt like a fish out of water in the initial response phase to COVID and when we all were forced to ask for COVID vaccines from the countries that the European Union terms as third countries, but I am also referring to a later phase to underline how important it was when the European Union became involved and when were provided support from the European Union.

And this is not the only one, if we are to talk about it. There is a series of common challenges that, at certain moments, require not only a common political stance, but also require a common approach to citizens who cannot be first-class citizens and second-class citizens and, in this regard, what other European Union member states, what our neighbors in the EU receive from the EU is incomparable to what we can make available to citizens from our internal resources, no matter how much we increase them.

I would like to add one more thing regarding this issue; Albania and North Macedonia have both a very significant track record in their relation with the European Union, not only in terms of the reforms we delivered to have the EU accession talks opened, but also in terms of the complete, 100% alignment with the EU foreign policy and this is a value that we embody in this joint community of countries and nations in the region and it is a value that not everyone fully embodies.

The good news is that the Commission, as the European Commission President von der Leyen has already announced, is working on the support package for the region. Another informal meeting will be held in Tirana, where I expect everyone to attend. The meeting will also be attended by EU friends to discuss the plan in concrete terms.

We need this support plan and we deserve it as countries in the heart of Europe so that we are not considered as countries that should merely deliver on homework, but also as countries that contribute, and today more than ever, in my view, it is clear that the European Union needs us as much as we need the European Union.

We also discussed the next NATO Summit. Albania, North Macedonia and Montenegro are NATO members. We are absolutely aligned with the NATO leadership and this is indisputable, but we are three NATO members in a troubled region and we need to understand each other and exchange with each other and with the non-NATO members so that we speak with one voice as an entire region. This is also thanks to Dimitar who responded promptly and arranged this visit in a short notice. Thank you for the hospitality!

I would like to thank all the cabinet members, journalists from North Macedonia, who, as far as I can see, are happy to attend press conferences anytime I visit North Macedonia as they recall Bulgaria.