Speech by Prime Minister Edi Rama on taking over the 2020 OSCE Chairmanship during event in Bratislava, Slovakia:
Isn’t it really amazing? Albania will formally take on 1st of January the OSCE Chairmanship, exactly 45 years after the OSCE foundation. And guess what. 45 years ago, Albania, through the voice of its communist dictator Enver Hoxha, was the only European state to not only refuse to be part of the OSCE, but also to denounce its birth as follows:
The only hope of all satellites of the Soviets is to strengthen their friendship with the United States and the West, seek investments from them in the form of loans without any restrictions, to allow the Church occupy its former place and further deepen moral degeneration and so on and on.
I was just 11 at that time, a pioneer as kids were labelled in the then old Albania. And today I am the 55-year-old Prime Minister of new Albania, which is a proud member of the OSCE and which is preparing to chair this organization of 57 countries and more than a billion people from Vancouver to Vladivostok. Isn’t it amazing?
Honourable Mr. Lajcak and dear Miro!
First and foremost, thank you for your warm hospitality!
Thank you for your ten commandments, you handed me over before entering this room. Thank you also for your remark to me that, after all, the OSCE is about people. And they are not really few, but more than one billion.
Dear Secretary General!
Esteemed colleagues!
Ladies and gentlemen!
Gathering here in Bratislava, we found consensus on many important decisions. That gives me confidence that despite our differences, achievements are possible, if we are patient, perseverant and ready to create the necessary diplomatic space.
In particular, we applaud the decision on the future Swedish and Polish chairmanships, improving our ability to give strategic direction to the OSCE in the coming years. And I hope that our initiative to change the name of the contact groups with the Asian and Mediterranean partners will be approved. On the other hand, we regret that there are several key decisions on which we haven’t reach an agreement. There are still deep fractures on key political and security issues, where participating states around this table feel that no compromise is acceptable or that the OSCE commitments are being violated.
It falls on the upcoming Albanian chairperson in office to look ahead to the upcoming year.
For Albania, this is a historic moment. Albania is a country with a rich and diverse history, strong traditions and an inspirational vision for the future. After enduring many challenges in the 20th century, our people now aspire a lasting prosperity, security and peace. All of which depend on the good relations with our neighbours and partners further away.
Religious harmony and hospitality are easy recognizable among Albanians. Pope Francis paid his first official visit abroad to Albania, to praise what he called religious fraternity among Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox Christians and others. Furthermore, we were the only country with a larger number of Jewish people after the World War II compared to when the war started and with a record of no single Jew having been handed to the Nazis.
But one doesn’t need to get so back in time to recognize our hospitality. In 1999, a country of no more than three million people, we welcomed and housed more than 500 000 Albanians from Kosovo, in what now should serve everyone as a reminder of what does not need to be repeated ever again.
From a nation under a cruel regime that opposed the Helsinki spirit we are now honoured to have your confidence and lead our organization. Chairing the OSCE marks the highlight of such significant transformation.
Our vision for the Albanian Chairmanship for 2020 is guided by three important standpoints; first, we intend to focus on the basis, implementing together in good faith the encompassing set of our political commitments. This essentially for the credibility of the OSCE as the largest regional security organization and for all of us, its participating states. The Helsinki recipe for peace in Europe is simple yet effective: respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. If we want security and peace and Europe, then we all have to take responsibility for fully implementing our commitments.
Second, the OSCE has proven its ability to deploy quickly and sometimes where nobody else can. This is a huge asset, making the difference on the ground, be it to prevent escalation of a conflict, election observation, or supporting reforms, improving security and prosperity of our citizens. This is a unique advantage of our organization and the Albanian chairmanship will promote the work of the OSCE where it is closest to the people.
Third, inspired by the third anniversary of the Charter of Paris, Albania will continue to strengthen dialogue as the only way to build trust between us. Promoting confidence-building measures and making full use of structured dialogue are critical to this endeavour.
Our detailed program of priorities for 2020 will be distributed at the start of the year. But I would like to take this opportunity to mention some key issues that will feature in our agenda;
The crisis in and around Ukraine remains the most pressing challenge in Europe. It is unacceptable that protracted conflicts in our region continue to claim human lives. Therefore, conflict resolution efforts will be on top of the agenda of the Albanian Chairmanship.
Women continue to suffer most from instability and conflict. They are also unjustly excluded from peace talks. That’s why we will focus both on combating violence against women and on promoting women’s role in peace and security. We will do our part by appointing more women to positions of responsibility in the OSCE. I also call upon you, as several positions will be vacant next year, please nominate as many qualified female candidates as possible. On this topic, we are proud to bring here a positive legacy as a country which is ranking among top five in the world for the women participation in the government and the quite high position world-wide for the women’s participation in public affairs.
Corruption erodes the fundaments of our democracies and has an adverse impact on the prosperity and security of our region, along with other transnational threats of course. Building on the momentum created by the previous chairmanships, we will enhance the work of the OSCE in combating corruption and promoting good governance.
Trafficking in human beings is both a serious human rights violation and a security risk. The OSCE is now a global leader in combating human trafficking and in 2020 we will continue to champion the OSCE activity in this area.
Last, intolerance and hate speech are spreading in Europe. We must redouble efforts to counter discrimination and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms. Anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim behaviour and attitude, in our view, are both totally unacceptable and we have and should fight them together. I believe we have crafted a realistic and balanced programme following extensive consultations with the capitals and in Vienna.
Throughout next year, Albania will be an open and inclusive chair. I want to guarantee you that the voices of each participating state will be heard with respect and the decision will be taken in a fully transparent manner. However, a chair cannot successfully steer the OSCE if there is no political will to compromise. If our mind-set is a joining consensus is not possible until concessions are extracted, if we only bring red lines to the negotiating table, what I ask from you is to engage constructively in the life of our organization, bring flexibility and open mind and to not possibly forget; it is all about people, our people.
By sharing the responsibility towards the OSCE, let us ensure its functionality and let’s start by adopting a timely and balanced budget by the end of this year. We will build upon the achievements and experience of the previous chairmanships and together, with the expertise of our partners, we will make next year, I am sure, a success. Our success will be the success of 57 states. We have our responsibility here, not for just a bunch of people, but for more than a billion people.
Thank you very much!
