Prime Minister Edi Rama met with Germany’s Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Federal Chancellery building in Berlin on Monday afternoon.

During the bilateral meeting, Prime Minister Rama and the German Chancellor Scholz affirmed the excellent ties between the two countries and voiced commitment to further deepen cooperation in the future.

A number of important topics were on the agenda of the two heads of government, including Albania’s integration into the European Union, a process during which Germany has been and remains a supporter of Albania’s accomplishments and progress in delivering on main benchmarks. German Chancellor Scholz praised Albania’s progressive steps towards consolidating democracy, the rule of law, and creating bodies to decisively and effectively act against corruption and organized crime.

Talks also focused on the recent situation in Ukraine following Russian aggression and the unanimous condemnation of the war crimes and atrocities being committed there. PM Rama affirmed that Albania fully supports the EU’s decisions in the common foreign and security policy and Albania stands firm on the EU line regarding the Russian aggression on Ukraine and supports any decisions that would generate peace and stability.

Prime Minister Edi Rama and Germany’s Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a joint press conference after their bilateral talks.

PM Edi Rama: I am very encouraged by the talks with the Chancellor as I found the Chancellor’s and Germany’s extremely encouraging readiness to push more resolutely forward the process of European integration of the Western Balkans, certainly starting from the fulfilment of a phase of process regarding Albania and North Macedonia, which we hope will take place at the next Council meeting in June.

Secondly, we are absolutely 100% in line with the Chancellor, just like not only Albania or Germany, but the whole European Union has adopted the same position relative to the Russian aggression on Ukraine. We unanimously condemn the cruel crimes being committed there and unanimously call for a ceasefire as soon as possible and negotiations as genuine as possible to lead to the end of this nightmare that is destroying the lives of millions of people.

Third, I am convinced that the Chancellor’s readiness to give a fresh impetus to the Berlin Process will definitely be welcomed by everyone in the whole Western Balkans. The Berlin Process is an extremely important vision for our region and it is a process that more than ever now needs a fresh impetus due to a slowdown, so to say, in the channels of the Brussels bureaucracy.

On the other hand, I also informed the Chancellor about the Open Balkans, which is nothing more than an attempt to revitalize the Berlin Process to life.

Finally, as far as bilateral relations are concerned, our bilateral ties are absolutely excellent, as the Chancellor also underlined, and I very much hope that Germany will not only do its part in fulfilling this process, namely that the European Council will unanimously accept Albania to sit down at the table to start the accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia and support the visa liberalization for Kosovo.