Prime Minister Edi Rama and the EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, at meeting with cabinet members and public administration officials to launch the preparatory stage for opening the accession negotiations:
PM Edi Rama: Good afternoon everyone!
I would like to welcome you and first and foremost appreciate the Commissioner Hahn for his visit, which today is a special visit as he takes part in this government meeting which also sees the participation of all of those who will involve in the major process for the country’s future, starting with the evaluation phase of domestic legislation aiming at aligning it with the EU legislation and turning these 12 months ahead of the formal opening of negotiations into a period of intensive work and therefore make sure that once the formal process is launched Albania gains significant time in advance.
The June European Council’s decision back in June marks a crucial moment which ultimately consolidates Albania’s European perspective and determines the irreversibility of the EU accession path, paving the way for start of negotiations between Albania and the European Union next year.
I believe that the decision, made at an extremely complex moment for the European Union and at an incredibly intensive process, which, as everyone already know, it took extraordinary efforts due to the internal dynamics of certain EU member states. Starting with the Commissioner, whom I have appreciated earlier publicly, but not in his presence, and I would like to express him deep gratitude in person today, as well as to all his team, together with the EU’s diplomacy chief, Federica Mogherini , the President of the European Commission, because by making a positive and unconditional recommendation for Albania and by insisting until the last second to ensure that Albania’s merit set forth in the EC’s recommendation was recognized they helped towards a quite positive solution. A solution which frees and sets the process in motion and by setting a clear deadline it makes our responsibility not only complete, just it has always been.
The launch of the screening process and the preparatory work under a clear and detailed action plan in collaboration with the European Union will not be easy at all. The start of the preparatory phase represents a major yet a difficult step and requires a solemn and everyday commitment and engagement by all relevant state structures, as well as a fast-paced work in order to deliver on all objectives set for this stage. Until next spring from today, we have to make a maximum time efficiency use and ensure a high level of coordination and interaction, not only to deepen reforms in vital areas, not just to press ahead with all the processes already underway and to achieve other results, which are not Brussels demands, but an obligation to the country and to the future of our country, but also to progressively strengthen and renew all coordinating units in the accession negotiations process with the European Union.
We have perused and thoroughly analysed each line set forth either in the EC recommendation or in the European Council’s conclusions and I believe we are all very clear about the tasks these conclusions set out. Just as we are well aware that as long as we managed to receive a positive unconditional recommendation in recognition of our work and performance, nothing will stop us doing the great work over these next 12 months.
It is necessary that each of the elements included in the Council conclusions be translated into intermediate measures. Given the importance of this process, the completion and implementation of these measures will be monitored by the Council of Ministers and will be periodically reported to the European Commission. As we have constantly discussed with the top Commission representatives a qualitative increase in our planning work is needed, including, I repeat, an enhanced coordination between the institutions so that our position in relation to the European Union and the European Council as a body with a final say on the decision on formal opening of negotiations further strengthens.
I believe we are equally all aware that building and strengthening the institutional capacities for coordination, reporting and implementation of the negotiation process-related measures is another evidence we should provide as a testimony to our power and capabilities to modernize the state, transform the Albanian public administration and ensure adequate functioning of all structures and units of our administration.
I want to single out three aspects of this preparatory process we will work on until next Spring.
Firstly, it is crucially important for the accession negotiation process to continue and build on the process of implementation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement.
In order for this synergy to be reflected, the head of the state delegation for closer and further interaction under the accession negotiations with the European Union will be the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
In parallel with this, in order to ensure the technical coordination of the process and the harmonization of entire preparatory work for formal opening of the negotiations, the government will name the deputy minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs to serve as its technical co-ordinator. The technical coordinator’s work will be based and will largely depend on two parallel processes; First, the existing coordination unit of the European integration process at the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs will further strengthen to become the next Secretariat, which will ensure timely and quality institutional interaction and monitoring of the process.
Secondly, strengthening the existing coordinating and relevant structures at two key ministries in particular, namely the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Interior, which share the bulk of this preparatory process for chapters 23, 24 – chapters which coincide with the priority policies in the areas of our internal reform agenda on strengthening the rule of law – is an immediate indispensability. Given the need for this progressive empowerment of the coordinating structures for the negotiations process, we have already established the priority list of all legal and sub-legal acts, which should be forwarded for approval to the Council of Ministers in the first half of September.
The second aspect is about improving the communication with the Delegation of the European Union in Tirana, the EU member states along with the internal capacity building work. Until next Spring from today we take all the necessary administrative and financial measures in order to expand our diplomatic mission in Brussels to include representatives from other institutions in accordance to the existing legal framework. Against this backdrop the enhanced cooperation with the EU Delegation to Albania, not only in view of the political dialogue, but also in terms of prioritizing the technical assistance and the performance of the relevant institutions in implementing the measures under the last June European Council conclusions, is of great importance.
The third aspect is about the fundamental importance for both technical and political process interact more resiliently. To this end, the respective institutions as well as other non-executive branches, including the Assembly of Albania, but also the independent institutions should become aware of the nature and the steps and tasks everyone should carry out under this process.
We will periodically elaborate on this discussion platform on the European integration issues we are launching in the presence of the Commissioner Hahn today in order to ensure that we collectively address any problems which may rise during the process.
We are pretty confident that the preparatory process will conclude within this framework. I would like to emphasize that completing the preparatory process within this deadline is by no means an easy task and the timelines will be strict and short.
Meanwhile, I would also like to emphasize that the mood among the EU member states on the bloc’s enlargement and the accession of new member states to the Union won’t improve, for the coming months at least, considering the next European Parliament elections. However, it doesn’t mean we should remain hostage to such a mood as, just the European Council clearly showed, despite a strong wind even within the Council itself, both Albania and Macedonia succeeded in overcoming the momentous huge tide and whatever be the case it all depends on us and on us only to keep on delivering on reforms and deepening the transforming reforms we have launched with the aim of strengthening the rule of law, capacity building and functioning of our state administration.
This whole process and this new stage would have not been seen so enthusiastically we see it today without the support from the European Commission and all people involved in this process on behalf of the Commission making available their experience and deep expertise to assist Albania. This is an element we who closely monitor the process have noticed more than once and it is an element that motivates us to carry out this work with highest quality.
As I have also expressed to the Commissioner, there was a special relief and motivation that in that 72-hour vigil of the European Council meeting, Albania had many friends. Friends who showed real determination, and I am not speaking diplomatically or just for the sake of appreciating those who supported us, but I am speaking owing to the fact that starting with the foreign ministers of the neighbouring countries, two countries of strategic importance to Albania, namely the Foreign Minister of Italy and the Foreign Minister of Greece, as well as foreign ministers of a large number of members states fought for our right and for our merit to be recognized just like we would have done ourselves. Let alone the fact that 25 countries sided decisively with Albania and either France or the Netherlands, in spite of their own internal difficulties they cited during meetings with the President, the Prime Minister and Foreign Ministers, finally they offered a positive compromise solution.
Just as we highly appreciate the fact that afterwards our relations with the Commission, and indisputably with the countries that have supported us, but with France and the Netherlands too, have strengthened and intensified. At the recent Brussel meetings, both the President of France and the Prime Minister of the Netherlands have demonstrated a very positive willingness to assist the process closely and make their experience and support available with the great desire for Albania to succeed and with the reciprocal conviction of all countries that next June will mark the formal start of the accession negotiations.
I would like to express to the Commissioner and the entire team accompanying him the gratitude for what they have done, voicing at the same time the confidence that we will succeed in carrying this large volume of work within this tight timeframe also thanks to the support and the Commission’s critical spirit regarding each step of this process.
The outcomes of a vetting process speak for themselves for the rightness of the path towards judicial reform, although nothing is perfect or irremediable. Overhauling the country’s justice system is an irreversible process and ousting one by one from the palace of justice certain figures who kept justice hostage is a significant evidence of the will but also the rightness of all that jointly conceived work, the European Union Justice Mission, the US Justice Mission, and the Commission. Today, we can see the future of the justice system with much more optimism despite a still long way to go until the full functioning of the justice system.
Many thanks once again and I will give the floor to you dear Commissioner, being confident that you will fill the gaps in my speech since we are speaking about Albania’s challenges for a long time now.
Thank you!
Commissioner Johannes Hahn: Thank you very much Prime Minister!
Honourable ministers, ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, thank you very much for the friendly words, especially when it comes to my team, not only for those who are present but also for those in Brussels who have been quite engaged with the team here in Tirana because there are many more people than those sitting around this table today – and by the way, I have never sat at any more fantastic table than this. I hope it will serve as a model to others. This table, its design is really beautiful. Thank you for providing us the opportunity to learn something new, but first and foremost it should be seen as a platform to discuss the latest developments in the relations between the EU and Albania and, of course, the Prime Minister too cited several tasks and challenges we face.
It is also important to share from our point of view what are the steps ahead of us. As the Prime Minister said the latest General Affairs Council in June set an important target for Albania, which was also adopted by the Council several days later, and in the meantime introduced the path leading to the opening of accession negotiations but not only.
The EU and the member states have clearly stated their strong commitment to the enlargement policy as the Union’s key successful policy. I do always utter this sentence: Either we export stability, or we import instability, and I think this is best description in a short sentence for what the reason is, but not just that. When it comes to the Western Balkans, I always say that it would be the completion of something that, as far as I know, began back in 1989 since the fall of the Iron Curtain and when Europe began to re-unite. This reunion, according to me, will complete only when the countries of the Western Balkans, including of course Albania, will join the EU.
The member states, and it was mentioned by the Prime Minister as well, decided, and allow me to quote, that the enlargement is an investment in peace, democracy, prosperity, security and stability in Europe.
Honourable colleagues,
I would say from this point of view we are almost business partners when it comes to this kind of investment and my presence today in Tirana means in particular the inauguration of the screening exercise which is the first step of the accession negotiation process which lies ahead of us. Following the General Affairs Council’s decision I thought it would be useful and important to signal as soon as possible and be here in Tirana to share this process in order not to waste time and not to wait until autumn, but it is also very important for the citizens to show our strong commitment that we are zealous and do not want to miss a day for this effort because analytical evaluation and here I’m especially addressing to colleagues from the administration, not just ministers, is a rather comprehensive and detailed exercise that will enable the administration to further familiarize with the EU acquis. It will also allow the Commission to assess your readiness and plans to further align the national legislation with that of the EU.
Together we are entering a new phase, which will be very challenging to both sides. In the coming months, probably starting from September, meetings will take place in Brussels to discuss each chapter, with a strong focus on Chapter 23 and 24.
My services are compiling a calendar that we will share with you so that your administration can make all the necessary preparations. In the coming period, it will be essential to allocate sufficient resources both in human and financial resources in order to effectively deal with this technical and detailed process. Actually, I see the Minister of Finance, but it is not only him, but every relevant ministry needs to employ sufficient and experienced staff who will negotiate with us because it is not something we can rely on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Prime Minister only. It is indispensable to employ people with the right knowledge in all of your ministries because it is not only us you will negotiate with. We will always be there when negotiating with the Commission’s specialized Directorate and therefore it is important for both sides to involve experienced people in order to carry out such an important procedure.
In parallel, crucial that the efforts continue even intensify on the priorities of the reform agenda by maintaining the momentum and the progress achieved so far and by intensifying the efforts.
I am actually sure that everyone here is aware that the path leading to the recent General Affairs Council decision was not an easy one. The launch of the screening process does not mean that we are pressing the start button, which means that we are starting from the beginning and everything that has been done so far has been completed. That’s not the case. All reforms that have been already launched should continue and the member states will of course carefully monitor this, but, as we have already said this and the Prime Minister was quite straightforward and open as for the support and, so to say, a small hesitation by some member states, it is important to note that 25 member states were strongly in favour of starting the negotiations immediately.
Essentially I would also like to tell you that although the language would be different, the procedures are the same and in some way we match the procedures with the language.
As you know the politics is much about managing the expectations. So the analytical or screening process is something that has to be done with every country aspiring to become a EU member. In any case, this stage must be fulfilled and ideally we will hopefully start the negotiations after a year. This is our common goal. We can start the first chapters by the end of next year.
This will be our focus and the task that lies ahead of you for the coming months is to continue to deliver results in order to overcome any remaining doubt that Albania deserves, or to ensure that these talks will formally start next year.
The main area as we all know, the rule of law is carefully monitored by the EU member states and the European Commission too. Vetting process should continue hand in hand with the expected institutional overhauling of the judiciary as well as the creation of new justice bodies under the 2016 constitutional reform. In fact, let me stress out that thanks to the success of the vetting process to date it is important that the decisions on the reform implementation should be carefully observed, and the Parliament in particular should amend the law on the status of prosecutors and judges so that the School of Magistrates increases the number of recruited and trained students. It is crucially important to complete the High Judiciary Council nomination process. It is a common responsibility of both the government and the opposition to quickly implement judicial reform and, it is somehow I would say a strange situation that as a result of a successful vetting process the country faces a shortage of competent judges. This would indeed be a disaster as a result of this very successful process. So I would like to urge all political parties as an invigorated majority in Parliament is needed to decide on this matter. Personally I was surprised but I should have known that you also need a qualified majority to increase the number of students in an educational institution. However, we must respect legal provisions.
As for the operational part, delivering results in the fight against corruption and organized crime should continue and possibly intensify. There are also other well-known issues which are under the radar of our member states, including the efforts to combat the negative phenomenon of unfounded asylum claims in the Schengen area by the Albanian citizens. The country should also finalize the electoral reform and address the ODIHR recommendations ahead of the next polls which coincide with this timeframe until next June.
Actually the agenda is clear and it does not introduce new conditions, detours or surprises in this respect. I want to affirm that the Commission will accompany Albania and your efforts throughout the process. However, the ball is clearly in your court. You should make continued efforts to maintain contact with the member states and endorse progress on various sensitive issues. Let me say here that the Foreign Minister is very active, but the Interior Minister may join you too, if it has not already happened, because I think you can refer to a fairly good story, but it rather seems some must be convinced that this is reality and not just something written on paper.
Let me conclude this panorama by providing some final comments;
We expect you to enhance collective work over the coming months and onward. This will be key to success when the negotiations start. Indeed, the rather hardest part of the negotiations is not the actual engagement with the Commission. After all, the Commission is here to facilitate your work in the efforts to align the national legislation with the acquis communautaire of the European Union, which is non-negotiable. But the most delicate part is finding cohesion and create virtuous synergies between your teams and various reform policy areas.
An ongoing dialogue with the opposition should be established, strengthening at the same time the involvement of the stakeholders and the civil society. I wish you a successful journey and I count on your engagement and commitment to make Albania a success story of EU membership.
I understand it’s raining outside, but hopefully it is tears of happiness pouring down for the country’s accomplishments. I wish you a successful journey, reminding that as long as we remain committed we can accomplish a lot and much faster than people may expect.
PM Edi Rama: We can approximate our legislation and totally unite with the European Union, but we can’t find the English equivalent to the word “bereqet” (fruit). There is an Albanian saying that goes something like: “Rain brings bountiful harvest.” Most probably we will introduce the word “bereqet” to the European Union’s vocabulary once we become EU member. But it is positive. The fact that it started raining as soon as we started the meeting is a good sign. The Commissioner called it ‘tears of joy”, while we pragmatically call it “bereqet” (fruit or result).
I want to add something after the Commissioner’s remarks.
Firstly, it is crucially important for all to understand the essence of this moment, which has to do exactly with what the Commissioner explained as a harmonization of the language of the Council’s conclusions, on the one hand, a timespan has been set prior to the formal opening but on the other hand it is has been granted the opportunity to start this preparatory stage we are launching today and that traditionally begins after the formal opening of the negotiations. Which means that we do not have 12 months to wait, but we have 12 months to work intensively and with the formal opening of negotiations we will be in an advanced position in relation to the endless tasks that lies further ahead.
Secondly, it is equally important to underline that we are well aware of the indispensability of a politically harmonized process. I know that in today’s context of Albania and political excitement it may sound a bit too optimistic, but I can confidently say that it is imperative for us to create another common and cross-party table under this process, bringing together all parties that can continue the political battle, but also come together around this table, because if we are to refer to the guidelines set forth on the Council’s conclusions, we need to conclude a necessary electoral reform in accordance to the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations. The recommendations are very clear. There is no room for equivocation or misunderstanding we create all the time. The Commission and other stakeholders will accompany us throughout the process and this represents a good opportunity for us and the opposition to reach an outcome of the electoral reform within a short time since our legislation also stipulates that for an electoral reform to be applicable in the upcoming elections it should be in place at least six months prior to the election date.
This is a good opportunity, just like as is a good opportunity what the Commissioner also said about the necessity to unblock the process for Magistrate School student recruitments. It is not an instrument for blocking policies. Blocking policy does not take you far, but it harms us all together. However, these are the topics we are preparing to address together with the opposition. We will soon table a platform for proposals for cooperation with the opposition. We will seek the opposition’s engagement, without asking and without pretending for the opposition to put aside its political struggle, but hoping to leave aside the narrow political interest in this process.
I think I won’t be exaggerating if again I was to thank the friends coming from Skopje, where the same process was launched earlier today and we are very pleased for having provided our contribution for the process to be launched in Skopje and will we are constantly aware of other aspects related to the political climate, not only in the country but also in the region. We are in an advanced process of negotiations with Greece. Today we have reached a stage where we are being accused of being betrayers both here and in Greece. So both sides are betraying their own homeland, but quite the opposite, the truth is that both sides are doing their best and if both sides are accused of surrendering their homeland to the other party, this actually means that everyone is handing over nothing to the other side. But this is something that will emerge clearly at the conclusion of the negotiations, which are another important step of maturity in relation to the process of EU membership, since the European Union has made it clear not only to us, but to all countries undergoing this process that border and maritime delimitation conflicts between countries will not be transferred to the European Union but should be resolved before they join the Union. I believe this is a very positive impetus, although we are doing the integration process and the process of negotiations with Greece not for Brussels but because it is part of our task to guarantee a better Albania for the coming generations.
Thank you very much!
