Prime Minister Edi Rama: Let me say a few words without making another long speech. First of all, I want to thank Ilir and Martin for this generous invitation. And I want to also give a warm welcome, as part of the Albanian community here, to a dear friend who is not part of our community but who has the burden to deal with our community: Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Mickoski

And I want also to express my pleasure for sharing this moment tonight with Glauk and Perparim the, dear Rama Mayor of Pristina.

But I apologise to everyone that will feel somehow neglected, but I have to say that the best thing could happen to me tonight is to be sitting close to the godfather of the Albanian community mr. Sal Rusi and his family, and the pleasure of meeting here with them, this makes me also suffer—makes me suffer an absence.

The absence of someone who was always with me, invited under the roof. His name is Hashim Thachi. He’s not here with us tonight. He can’t be here with us tonight because this country betrayed him; because Joe Biden, who named him George Washington of Kosovo, betrayed him; because, although General Clark and some great American friends did their best, this country did not do its best for Hashim Thachi, the George Washington of Kosovo, and this feels not good, and I have to share it with you. And I stop here because I don’t want to say more.

 

Nobody should take me wrong because, when I say “betrayed,” I mean we were—we are all too small. Even together, we are not big. But we always cherish and will always cherish the fact that we are Albanians, friends with the biggest and the strongest in the United States of America. And that’s why I feel betrayed, because I’m sure that this country could have done more, and first and foremost by not allowing that charade to even start. Thank you.

Well, General, I’m sorry. And I’m thankful to you for everything you have done in your personal life, title. And I remember the last time we met before tonight: it was in The Hague, in restaurants. You were there. I was there. And we meet again tonight, but we both failed a great friend, a great leader.

 

Well, let me change the subject and let me go to what Martin tried to say about myself. But it’s not about myself; it’s about our country, our homeland. It’s about how much it has changed all these years. It’s about how much we now have to face very simple facts: that nobody forgives you for your success.

 

And yes, it’s now for the fifth or sixth year that we have the biggest airports in the region, by far—bigger in terms of not relative numbers, like the highest-growing airport in Europe for many years, but also in absolute numbers: more passengers than the airport that has always been the airport of the region, Belgrade. I will continue—will continue—because it’s only the beginning.

But of course, this is not very easy for everyone to deal with, because who are we, who is Albania, to be able to—and to be able to show such a capacity of change? So, for sure, there are forces that don’t like to see us like that. And I’m not trying to say that we don’t have flaws. I’m not trying to say that we don’t have problems.

Martin couldn’t avoid, in his opening remarks, mentioning corruption. But it depends very much on how you look at it. And, strangely enough, what we Albanians look as a problem, our European friends and partners look as a success. Because the question is: can a country have more corruption if corruption is fought every day? And is it true that, in a country where corruption is everywhere, the fight against corruption happens every day? It’s not.

 

There was a time in Albania when corruption was everywhere, and the fight against it was nowhere. Today, we are seeing something totally different. And guess what? We are seeing it because the system, the democratic system of Albania, has started to create its own immunity. And it’s not anymore about just a leader or about just the government. It’s about a system of independent powers. Let’s work with all their flaws, with all their problems, and with all their need to mature and to grow more, but showing every day it’s not anymore the place where you could get along with corruption without consequences. And this is a great success.

As it is a great success that, in a country where 10 years ago, words, animals were massacred by thousands and thousands of European hunters crossing our border to just have their orgies, in a free ride, with no rules, with no control, and to kill left and right and leave behind piles of dead birds that became the shame of our country in the pages of National Geographic, today the country protests about biodiversity.

Only 10 years later, after we banned hunting, after we increased the protected areas, after we banned exploitation of forests, after we increased threefold the number of birds and animals in our country, after we increased by far, like never before, the surface of recovered forestry, we now have a new sense, or a new Albania. People want more. The Albania where people used to live with the idea that it’s okay because it can be worse is no longer there. Today is not okay because it can be better. And this is a great success.

 

It is for sure a great success that we are much closer than we were before with the Albanian diaspora. And we are preparing now to make another step forward. We’re preparing the diaspora bonds to finally get in another level of involvement of the diaspora in terms of participating in the country’s growth.

 

Sali mocked me when he heard that our GDP is 30 billion dollars. It’s maybe what Sali has. We started with 12 billion. It’s only 10 years. It has increased 2.5 times, and it will increase more. But how? By bringing in more investments. And we are preparing to pour billions into the country, not only with the infamous but also the amazing Kushner Project, but also with other big projects we have in our pipeline.

 

So, it’s a moment in time for Albania when the choice is very clear. After having overcome an era of humiliation, when we were the pariah of Europe, when to say “I’m Albanian” was “I’m trying to admit,” when whoever wanted to win elections in some European countries had an easy time in black shipping the Albanians, and now having come to a point where everything can be better, we have to choose dreaming bigger without being afraid, of understanding that to make our GDP as big as Sali—not laugh anymore—we need to do much more with much more courage, without excluding, in a nonsensical ideological battle, development from environmental protection, and without blaming the foreigners for coming and getting our land.

 

I have heard, in the last months, the most abhorrent, shameful slogan getting traction in Albania: “Albania belongs to Albanians.” But if the same would have been true for the countries where Albanians went, and Albanians thrived, all of us would not have been able to do anything but to stay home. So imagine for a moment if America belonged to Americans and all Albanians went home; Italy belonged to Italians and all the foreigners go home; Greece belonged to Greeks and all the foreigners go home. Where are we? We are, you know, Neo Nazi 4.0 time. No.

Albania belonged to God and to its guests, as the house of the Albanian belonged to God and to its guests. And of course, in the House of the Albanians—but in the house of the Albanians should be placed for everyone who comes, both for asking shelter and for offering help.

 

In concluding my speech, which risks becoming as long as Martin’s, I want to say one more thing. Because Martin went from peace to peace, from Albania to Kosovo, to the Albanian community, North Macedonia, to the little community of Albanians in Montenegro, and he said, “Divided, divided, divided.” Yes. Is America united, Martin? Is Europe united? Do you know any democratic country today united? They have never been more divided. I’ve never seen the United States more divided. I’ve never seen France more divided. I’ve never seen Germany more divided. Nursing anyone.

Let me say this: in division, we have always been the best. But now we are not alone anymore. We are in a big club. Everyone is divided. And there is worse.

 

Our youngsters are even more divided than our countries. And these were—the brains of our kids are divided because, in the meantime that we are trying to—I—make sense of how to protect our countries, how to protect our democracies, how to protect our dear NATO club from the missiles of the enemies, how to build Iron domes, how to build golden domes, how to have shields that make us safe in a future imaginary, where we have left all the brains of our children unshield it. So the enemies of our countries don’t need to come after us with missiles. They are after us, missing the brains of our young people every hour through smartphones, through social media.

I know. God bless the First Amendment, but if it is the First Amendment to allow any type of trash on the table, we are no longer leaving our civilisation, where the best education, where the best manners, where the best ways to communicate among humans have been elaborated. We are living in barbarisation. And guess what? We cannot do the same to our enemies because they have shielded their own people. We cannot go and mess with the brains of the Chinese kids because they are shielded. And I’m not advocating that we should shut down social media. I’m not advocating that we should go after freedom of speech. I’m advocating that the truth has never been more—more neglected, more abused, more consumed in the name of the lie, in the name of the manipulation, and in the name of evil.

 

So, let me conclude for good by saying: yes, we are divided. But our division at the end can do harm to just us. And we Albanians have grown by doing harm to ourselves for centuries. But another division is harming the world. And this division in the big countries that are supposed to show the way is a division in the big countries that are supposed to keep the light on. So, it’s up to them to choose what they want to do. But let us not, at least as Albanians, fool ourselves by thinking that this is something that we can solve on our own. We can’t.                                                   So, we are Albanians and will always be Albanians. And guess what? When the world will collapse and the humanity will end, will be one Albanian alive to witness what we told you.

 

Thank you.