Press statement by Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Edi Rama regarding meeting at Federal Chancellery in Berlin:

Chancellor Angela Merkel: Honorable ladies and gentlemen!

I welcome you to the press meeting with the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. I am pleased that we have the opportunity to speak bilaterally today at the beginning of the year.

I welcome Prime Minister, Mr. Edi Rama. I am pleased to be given the opportunity to talk about bilateral relations at the today’s meeting. In view of this meeting, we will also have the opportunity to remember the earthquake that hit Albania on November 26. Many people have lost their homes. More than 50 people lost their lives. I am pleased that the European Commission has already sent invitations for a donors’ conference and Germany will take part in this conference. The cooperation and aid in the region was really impressive. Nevertheless, this has been a severe blow to Albania.

We will be talking about a number of topics, including bilateral ties, economic relations and the reform course of Albania.

I would like to clearly state that a lot has already been achieved, particularly with regard to the judicial reform. This reform must now continue so that it can complete. This judicial reform is of central importance to Albania’s future.

For the German government, I want to state that we are clearly stick to the EU perspective of Albania and the entire Western Balkans. We want these countries to align with the European Union. Most importantly, we want that an agreement on opening the accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia is reached at the upcoming European Council meeting in March. Both countries have achieved significant successes that have been recorded by the European Council and we are now working hard to achieve the results we want in March.

I believe that the future of these two Western Balkan countries is in the European Union. This is also in our interest. He who looks at the map and knows the geopolitical context, also knows that it is good for everyone if the Western Balkan countries too one day become EU member states. The new European Commission is seeking to highlight the geopolitical commission and that’s why there are more than fewer reasons to take this process forward decisively.

Prime Minister Edi Rama: Thank you very much, Federal Chancellor!

I am really grateful to you for having found time for this meeting, where I came to talk primarily about the Donors’ Conference and Albania’s great need to gain support from all of its friends and partners in the difficult process of rebuilding, which, based on the damage assessment report drafted in collaboration with the European Union, the United States of America and the World Bank, contains an amount that is beyond our opportunities to cover it on our own.

I would like to gratefully thank you for the solidarity you have demonstrated in the early moments after the disaster and for your interest, as well as for the participation of all search and rescue teams from Germany, countries in the region and beyond. This assistance was a great relief for the Albanian people.

I am also very pleased that we will be also talking about Albania’s European integration perspective and regional integration, where Germany’s and your personal role have been an extraordinary support in opening a whole new chapter of cooperation under the Berlin Process that needs to progress further.

Last but not least, I would like to express once again my appreciation for the way the new European Commission has started its work and I think that what you already emphasized is very important, a clearer geopolitical dimension in addition to traditional technical dimension in the Commission’s work. That would help Albania and the whole region a lot.

Thank you very much!