Prime Minister Edi Rama was honoured today by the French president with the insignia of Commander to the Legion of Honour, France’s highest decoration. The awarding ceremony, out of the blue, took place under no condition of reciprocity, which is a rare occurrence for the protocol of French Presidency that in the case of state dignitaries gives it in recognition of distinguished merits. It is in recognition of his special merits in strengthening French-Albanian relations and in regional politics, but also as a personal encouragement for the Albanian Prime Minister to press on with the Euro-integration dynamics of Albania and follow the right track set out 4 years ago, that President of France has decided to honour the chief of Albanian executive with the highest order. As of today Prime Minister Edi Rama holds the highest honour in the Legion of Honour alongside the renowned writer Ismail Kadare. Edi Rama is the first Albanian Prime Minister to be honoured with this order since the 30s, and the only one to be awarded under no condition of reciprocity at the initiative of the French President himself. The same practice of no reciprocity applied a few months ago to Secretary of State, John Kerry, who was given France’s highest honour.

It was his French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve who presented Prime Minister Rama with the highest decoration.

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Address of French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve on the occasion of the ceremony of awarding the medal Commander to the Legion of Honour to the Albanian Prime Minister, Mr Edi Rama:

 

Mr Prime Minister,

Dear Ministers,

Dear Ambassadors,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our meeting today is a milestone in the relations between Albania and France, given that the Strategic Partnership Agreement that we have just signed, covers all areas of our bilateral cooperation.

I would like to take this opportunity to convey to you Mr Prime Minister, on behalf of the President of the Republic and on my own behalf, our highest appreciation and profound gratitude for your role in strengthening the relations between France and Albania.

Everyone remembers your presence in the manifestation of 11 January 2015, by the side of the French people, waving in homage to the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists killed a few days earlier “your blue, white and red-coloured pens.” Through this symbol, you displayed the dual vocation of an artist and of a committed politician, as well as the personal relationship that connects you to our country, language and culture.

As an artist of visual arts, you have studied fine arts for many years and have become part of the Parisian art scene. Upon return to Albania, you have been engaged in politics and have been able to unite happily these two dimensions of your commitment. In 2004, as your first term as mayor of Tirana was about to end, you were awarded the “Mayor of the World” award by the association “Internet City Mayors” for your work in the modernization of the Albanian capital. Your friend, artist Anri Sala, who represented France at that time at the Venice Biennale, displayed to the world your visionary project for colouring the buildings in Tirana, through a film where you state: “Colour is what brings unity.”

And I am being told that when you became Prime Minister a few years later, you restructured the Hall of Maps at the seat of your government, and adorned with red rectangles the magnificent ancient maps of Albania and the wooden Italian armours of the pre-war, thus giving the hall a brushstroke of modernity.

From your stay in Paris, you have retained the taste of our language which you master excellently. During a visit I paid to Tirana, I noticed that you speak French during the official visits of French or French-speaking personalities to your country.

You’re a dearest friend of France. Convinced of the necessity of strengthening our bilateral relations, you have always supported economic and cultural projects that have contributed to this approach. I know that they are already numerous, starting with the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, this major infrastructure project, the implementation of which was entrusted last year to a French enterprise.

But also France is grateful to you for the active role you play in favour of peace and cooperation in the Balkans. You are the first head of the Albanian Government to have embarked, with courage, your country on the path to reconciliation with Serbia; and especially, in agreement with your Serbian counterpart, you have succeeded in setting up a Regional Youth Office that brings together six Western Balkan countries. I would like to congratulate you on this beautiful initiative that is founded on the model of the Franco-German Youth Office launched back then by General de Gaulle and Chancellor Adenauer.

In welcoming you today within the National Order of the Legion of Honour, the Republic honours in this way a statesman, a dearest friend of France and a convinced European who works tirelessly to give Albania the place it deserves in the bosom of Europe, which we also wish to see strong, prosperous and peaceful.

Prime Minister Edi Rama:

I’m trying hard to pull myself together because I did not expect such a thing. Of course it is more than welcome. I thank you and also Mr President with all my heart. I do not know if I deserve it, but it is undoubtedly a tremendous honour for someone who arrived in France as an artist who had never thought that one day we would reach the salons of the French politicians and prominent people. And receiving this medal is really a dream. A dream, actually, I had never dreamt of.

Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve:

President Hollande is on an official visit to Indonesia, but I had a telephone conversation with him shortly before, and he asked me to convey you the message that it is a great pride for him to decorate today a great Albanian prime minister and a great French artist.