Prime Minister Edi Rama attended the “Antalya Diplomacy Forum” in Turkey, a high-level gathering of professionals who deal with diplomacy such as political leaders, diplomats, opinion makers or academics and it presents an excellent platform for regional and global actors to exchange ideas and address international challenges through various panel discussions, round-table discussions and bilateral talks.
Prime Minister Edi Rama attended the panel discussion on Regional and Global Pathways to Peace and Prosperity hosted by journalist Maria Ramos, mainly focusing on the impact of Russian-Ukrainian conflict on Europe and on the Western Balkans in particular, the importance of maintaining peace and security in the region, the impact of current situation on the progress of Albania’s EU membership process, etc. PM Rama answered several questions regarding the abovementioned issues.
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Maria Ramos: The subject today is the pathways to peace and prosperity, both regionally and globally, and right now as we all look and hear about the pain our world is in, we all may be asking what are all these pathways to peace and prosperity and are even they possible? There is so much to ask and wonder right now as we look at the conflict in Ukraine and conflicts elsewhere around the world. Let’s remember that too. So there are so many things to discuss and let’s begin.
How concerned are you about a spill over effect of the conflict we are seeing right now in Ukraine into the European countries and into the neighbouring countries?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: By now doubt what happened with invasion of Ukraine is not about just Ukraine. The resistance of Ukrainians is more than resisting for their own country, but it is about resisting for the values and the way of life that is ours too.
The Western Balkans where we live are certainly vulnerable part of the whole body of Europe, because it is a mix between the NATO and non-NATO countries, and not only that, but it is also a mix between countries with different histories in terms of their alliances.
It is of course concerning and I just concluded a meeting with President Erdogan, where we were exactly discussing the need to preserve peace in the Western Balkans; the need to work closely among us in the Western Balkans and the need to do everything we can in order to prevent whatever influence or whatever idea from having any effect and whatever actions in the Western Balkans do not find space there.
And I believe that what we have already launched as a process of opening the Balkans and bringing the countries together for a better future and implementing in our countries and between our countries the four freedoms of Europe, was actually quite the right step to take while we see each other now in this situation. So it is very important to work hard and preserve what we have achieved and of course to move forward without falling prey of provocations, without falling prey of actions that might be not the right ones in the right time and without really forgetting that at the end of the day we are there at the heart of Europe, our future is in Europe and for sure with three NATO countries in the Western Balkans, including Albania, it is very important what we do and then if we clearly know what we are doing the rest is less worrisome. This is my humble view.
Maria Ramos: Prime Minister, you mentioned the word vulnerable. How vulnerable is your country right now?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: The Western Balkans are vulnerable for a number of reasons. First of all, this is because we have had a different history than the history of other nations that have already joined the European Union. If I were to talk about Albania I would say that Albania had a completely different history than anyone else, because, yes we had a communist regime, but we had a kind of communism that was incomparable with the rest of the communist empire in Europe. Albania was Europe’s North Korea. We didn’t have missiles, but one could end up in jail because of Elton John.
We emerged from this very dark past and here we are struggling to become part of the European Union in a struggle that is becoming increasingly complicated because of the EU itself and at the same time having to deal with the third actors’ influence, including Russia, not in Albania precisely, because we had them before in Albania and we no longer fall for this kind of friendship, but this is the case in other countries. And this makes the Western Balkans vulnerable also because of the difference in economic terms with the rest of Europe. That’s why I think we need to understand that our destiny is first and foremost in our own hands and we need to work to make the region more and more focused on a common future and to make sure that every neighbour and every neighbourly relation becomes so important so that no external factor can disrupt it. This is more or less what I had in mind when I spoke about vulnerability.
Maria Ramos: Mr. Prime Minister, you mentioned the EU, the way everything is right now it is really a struggle. Why do you feel that struggle to get the EU membership?
PM Edi Rama: Listen, I hope that what is happening nowadays will serve in some ways to bring some light and to bring some sense of awareness for among the EU Member States and the EU big countries in particular, which haven’t seen a war in their lifetime. I mean the current generation leading the European Union today hasn’t seen a war. In the meantime, it has become more and more difficult for them to deal with the public opinion in their countries and it has become a growing challenge to face waves of populism of the far rightist parties than moving forward with the European project. What the founding fathers imagined and drafted as a common house has somehow been lost in the translation of the never ending paragraphs of the EU bureaucracy and as far as Albania is concerned and as far as I am personally concerned, I believe we have to keep going and delivering on reforms and we have to keep pushing to make our country a European state based on the same principles and values and a country operating in line with the same EU standards, not because people in Brussels, Paris or Berlin as asking us to do so, but because this is what we owe to our children.
On the other hand, it is not up to us to decide the time when the European Union will formalize this process and frankly by following their own pledges, by following their own written commitments, we were prepared for this supposed wedding several times, but the bride never showed up. But we are no longer going to prepare for this wedding and instead we are going to work and we will be waiting there. And once they would like to marry us we will be there ready to marry and this marriage wouldn’t take any moment of hesitation on our side. However, we will no longer make preparations with the orchestra, sweets and speeches, because they are unable to deliver on their promises. This is very clear. May be the crisis at the heart of Europe now with this military aggression on a democratic country that nobody would have imagined just a few weeks ago will somehow wake them up and will give them some sense of the need to forge peace every day without taking it for granted and hopefully their geopolitics will somehow become more sensitive and more sensible by understanding that it would be much better for the Western Balkans to be inside rather than being left in the outskirts of Europe. It is an area where a World War once started; it is an area where, as we already noted, there are vulnerabilities; it is an area where third actors are seeking to take their own space and disrupt the European project, but it is also an area where there is a huge support for the European Union project. Albanians are the most pro-European people in the region and may be they are more pro-European than French.
However, if this is not enough for the EU, it is not a big deal for us. We will continue to do our work and, as I already said, we will instead largely focus on the region, we will take much more care of our own region, because it is there where we need to keep and preserve as much as we can whatever we have achieved to date and make more progress in achieving peace a final and lasting peace among all the countries, so that all the six Western Balkan countries be recognized, be respected and be in the place they deserve. The rest is not up to us, frankly. If this war won’t be enough then I don’t know what should happen next to really pass the message to the big guys in Europe that make decisions and that they can no longer go in this way by just promising and then not delivering; promising and not delivering. This is because the world is becoming increasingly complicated and the lack of leadership, the lack of a strategy, the lack of courage to further work and build upon the project of the founding fathers can turn out to be very pricey and I wish this won’t be the case.
Maria Ramos: Thank you so much! I like the analogy you used over the wedding and a bride not turning up.
PM Edi Rama: Have you ever experienced waiting to get married while the groom doesn’t show up? Believe me, it is frustrating.
Maria Ramos: I can imagine. The food prices are going up, fuel prices are going up too and this is actually hitting people and your citizens hard as everywhere else around the world. What do you tell them? Do they believe there is really a pathway to peace and prosperity as they come out of what has been two or three very difficult years because of the pandemic?
PM Edi Rama: First of all, we are living in times when being a politician you have to say things and even if you say, I don’t know, let’s say it is “six o’clock” and it is indeed six o’clock, people would tend to be suspicious, thinking maybe it is not six o’clock. So, it is a time when even the obvious has become too difficult to be accepted as such, let alone when we face of the very early consequences of a war.
And this is a real war and not a Netflix documentary. This is not a movie, but a real war. And as we speak about that war here, there are thousands and tens of thousands of women and children, who are on the move to get out of their cities that are being shelled, they are desperately trying to flee their homeland, while man and boys have to stay to fight and put their lives in line.
We have decided to be part of it. NATO has decided to be part of it and non-NATO countries too have decided to be part of it by joining the sanctions. Even very distant countries have decided to be part of it are actually feeling the heat and are feeling the first consequences in the form of higher commodity prices.
It would be very defining for this war the limit of patience of the people on that side which is supporting Ukraine, but which is not directly involved and that is following the war, but still on the screen and don’t feel the noise of the bombs and don’t feel the pain of destruction. How much would this people be able to endure the pain from the rising prices and of an economy that would definitely not be in its best, if I were to say it euphemistically?
And when our friend from Africa was speaking about the immediate effect taking hold of all African countries or in a completely different continent with the prices going up since the start of the war, again you realize that the world has become very small and there is nothing happing somewhere that doesn’t affect another country.
Like the pandemic, we are now going through this war and apart from this war we are facing yet another pandemic, which is the energy crisis and we are very far from seeing the end of it, with or without the war, because let me remind you of the fact that the energy crisis actually started earlier. So the symptoms of the energy crisis were seen and experienced months before the war. Of course, Russia’s direct involvement in the war as an aggressor took the crisis to a whole new level. But the energy crisis was there in the form of the lack of supply. What’s next would be very difficult to live with and there is not much to say but simply try and get the facts right.
We may differ in our opinions, but we can’t be divided when it comes to the facts and this is another problem of our time; that many parties or groups, even countries or people offer different facts and that’s why it is difficult to find a common ground. The fact is that we are part of the war; the fact is that war is affecting us and the fact is that even if want our values, our principles, our standards and our way of life to prevail we must be ready to pay our share of the cost. It is impossible for us that on one hand we want each and every one of these to prevail, not just Ukraine but what Ukraine itself represents, while on the other hand we can’t endure the pain.
Of course, it is a totally different pain and a far more acceptable than the pain Ukrainians are being through, yet it is something painful. In the wake of the pandemic, as you already noted, we and the whole world were seeing recovery, a significant jump forward and now we are goinf back to something that in some respects is even gloomier than the pandemic itself. I think this is a test. This is to test our own character, our own beliefs and our capacity to stand regardless of the cost. So, everybody has to understand and we have to explain that this is not just about the countries that have been involved or just the countries that have imposed sanctions.
Everyone, with or without sanctions, faces now a problem and we are seeing again the same thing we actually experienced during the pandemic, how countries ran away and closed themselves.
You commented on the COVID-19 vaccination in Africa. I am not an African. I happened to be white and I can say it: It is racism. It is just racism and there is not much to say about it. It is pure racism. It was of course in a very implicit form, but how would you explain it otherwise? How would you explain what is happening with the poor Nigerians on the border while seeking to flee the country? We just wrote to the Nigerian authorities and we said “let them come to Albania.” We did so because it is offensive to our own self, it is offensive to our own tradition and to our own children to see such segregations. What about Afghanistan? What about those people who were told: “we are coming to Afghanistan to bring you democracy, peace and prosperity, to bring you Rock & Roll,” but all of a sudden we left them worst than they were 20 years ago, because this time we left them totally exposed like collaborators of the invader and they have to deal now with life and death. And I really feel ashamed when people say “Albania did so great. You opened the door and did something amazing.” This is terrible. If this was to be amazing, it actually means this is terrible, because this should actually be the norm.
This shouldn’t be fascinating, but it should be what every country has to do. Anyhow, the great thing about leading a country like Albania is that at the end you can speak your mind as you are not someone who has to make big decisions. And nobody cares what the others think. The truth is very important and we need to deal with the truth and only the truth. We can’t simply hide ourselves behind some complicated stuff. 10% vaccination? This is because it is racism. That’s it. There is no other explanation.
Maria Ramos: Thank you so much for being so truthful and for speaking so clearly and so bluntly. It is refreshing. It really is. Thank you!
