Prime Minister Edi Rama’s press statement in Slovenia, where he is attending the 17th Bled Strategic Forum 2022:
PM Edi Rama: The word pleasure is not the right one to be used, but anyhow we are certainly pleased that this impasse has been finally resolved and both Albania and North Macedonia are now launching the forma process of the EU accession talks.
– Do you think that after the Kosovo-Serbia deal to ease tensions that ran high in the end of July and with today’s signals from German Chancellor Scholz the EU membership process will be able accelerated?
PM Edi Rama: Frankly speaking, I am not sure whether the process would be accelerated, mostly because of the geopolitical reasons, but I wish to believe and hope that precisely because of the geopolitical reasons, the new political community proposed by (President) Macron and elaborated by Charles Michel, about which we are also working together with the Dutch government and the Prime Minister Rutte, will speed up the process, because it is a very important idea with a huge potential.
On the other hand, as far as Serbia and Kosovo are concerned, I think it is really shameful that Kosovo citizens cannot travel freely without visas, while they used to do so when under a barbaric regime. That’s why I think that their liberators are holding them hostage and this is a grave and shameful paradox. As to the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, I am convinced- as I have always been – that it is useless to further waste so much time and energy instead of sitting down and resolve the problems, as they actually did most recently.
–Is there a growing discordance between Albania and Kosovo authorities when it comes to the relations with Belgrade?
PM Edi Rama: There is no such a definition of Kosovo and Albanian authorities, but there are Albanians of Albania and Kosovo Albanians as state authorities. There is no discordance. We certainly differ on certain issues, which is normal as it is about two different states and we fully support Kosovo and Kosovo authorities when it comes to their persisting demand for broader recognition, but we have somehow different views on how to deliver on that. We much more in favour of cooperation and step by step building, capitalizing on the example of other countries that produced incredibly successful histories from conflict and bloodshed. Thank you!
