On Europe Day, a symbol of peace, cooperation and unity among the nations of Europe, Albania reaffirms its European belonging and its unwavering European aspiration.

At a time of challenges for the continent itself, May 9 comes as a powerful reminder of the values upon which united Europe was built and of the no-return path Albania has chosen towards the European Union.

In this context, Prime Minister Edi Rama took part in the event organised by the Delegation of the European Union in Albania, under the “Open Space” logo, within the framework of Europe Week, where he emphasised the historical and political importance of the European project for Albania and the Albanian people.

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Dear friends present here, representatives of the diplomatic corps and, together, all friends of Europe!

There is something symbolic in the fact that Europe Day in Albania opens like the curtain raiser of a long cultural week and not at all by coincidence among people who see the world not only as it is, but also as it can be because, ultimately, Europe itself was born precisely from a powerful act of imagination and from the ability to believe that even after the bloodiest wars and beyond the most insurmountable mountains raised through sacrifices among nations, there can exist not simply hope, but a shared future in peace for sworn enemies towards one another. To imagine and to find the ability to build, upon the sea of blood of the Second World War, a geographical space without interstate borders, where peoples would no longer live against one another but together with one another, hand in hand, not through imperial imposition, but through a vision and a will nourished by the supreme value of freedom and human dignity, required the strength of an extraordinary belief in the European self of the peacemakers, who were unwavering patriots, but also steadfast Europeans.

Several dates in history are open windows through which the fate of nations can be seen as a triptych where the past, the present and the future appear with fascinating clarity.

Europe’s May 9 is precisely one of those dates. A day born from the ashes of a destructive fire and transformed into the most powerful symbol of political courage.

May 9 does not celebrate the most extraordinary creation in the history of politics, which is the European Union, but celebrates Europe itself as a cradle of cultures and histories transformed into the source of a century-long peace among different peoples who coexist, cooperate and journey together as equals, accepting as self-evident the fact that freedom and human dignity are non-negotiable.

Naturally, what we are living through is not a good time for Europe, nor for the world. It is a gloomy time, just like today’s weather, when the temptation to shut oneself within the walls of one’s home is strong, when fear of storms shrinks optimism and increases insecurity and when the sun seems to have no intention of returning.

But at the same time, this is the moment when, more than ever before, the book of Europe’s history is there to help anyone who wishes to remember first and foremost what must not be done.

Closing oneself within walls, fear and pessimism, the loss of faith in the magnificent project of a United Europe and in its foundational values, are bad omens not simply for Europe and the European Union, but for every European people and every European state tomorrow.

For us Albanians, Europe remains, even in these gloomy times, what it was even when it was unreachable except through those weak waves that illegal antennas brought from outside Albania onto the small black and white screens of the not so numerous television sets.

For us, Europe remains a dream, a promised land, an inalienable national testament and an unchanging political mission, not because we are naive, nor because we have illusions, but because we know very well, and let me say it, we know better than anyone else on this continent what it means to live isolated and surrounded by walls to be protected from Europe.

Nowhere else in today’s Europe can it happen that a political party campaigns with the EU flag, asks for votes with the promise of uniting with Europe and wins a qualified majority in order to implement without wasting time all the obligations arising from the accession negotiations with the EU.

This can happen only in Albania, and I repeat, not because we are naive or because we have illusions, but because we feel to the bone the priceless value of Europe, of being European and, on the other hand, of having the opportunity to live in the EU.

Yesterday, we had a landmark event for Albania, something that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago, the prelude to the World Law Congress, which will be held next year, precisely in Albania. A platform that stems from an extraordinarily beautiful and meaningful history, written by people of the law, who have come together and, through this platform, give voice to the fundamental need for the rule of law.

The World Law Congress is coming to Albania precisely because Albania has become a point of reference based on the expression of an iron will to place itself under the rule of law, by carrying out a justice reform unlike any other in our region and which is the most meaningful expression of our commitment to make Albania not a country that simply goes to the EU, but a country where the EU becomes an inseparable part. And it would have been absolutely impossible for us to undertake, let alone advance and implement step by step, with all the understandable difficulties, such a reform, had we not had Europe as a dream and as a promised land, as an inalienable testament and as an irreplaceable mission and, on the other hand, had we not had the EU as an inseparable partner on this road where the EU’s knowledge, transferred to us regarding the way a country can become an architecture of institutions and how it can build an independent judiciary, is something that can neither be bought, nor replaced, nor imagined outside the perimeter of Europe.

So if today we are confident about the progress of this process and if today Albanians have a fundamental reason to believe that this process is irreversible, this is connected precisely with walking hand in hand with the European Union. The European Union and being part of it is at the same time a guarantee in itself.

Many portray the EU as an obstacle, portray the EU as a burden, portray the EU as a perimeter that does not allow you to breathe freely, but nothing could be further from the truth and nothing could be more wrong because, in fact, the European Union guarantees the perimeter of the rule of law and the rule of law cannot be negotiated, but only respected when you have it and built when you do not.

So, on this Europe Day, on this day that celebrates not simply the EU, but Europe as a cradle of cultures and wills, I want to strongly underline that Albanians are in their finest day, but at the same time are today in a period when the blessing of being close to a united Europe is simultaneously a guarantee of being on a road of no return.

Naturally, this road has its uphill climbs, its downhill slopes, its better moments and its more difficult moments, but this is a road with no turning back and for this I want today to honour all those who imagined and then gave life to the EU project and I also want to honour all those who here in Albania work every day to bring Albania closer to the dream which is no longer a distant horizon, but a summit visible and we are in the final steps of a centuries long story to finally anchor ourselves where we belong and where our national renaissance figures dreamed Albania would be, leaving us the motto: “for us, the sun rises where it sets.”

Thank you very much, and I want to conclude by bringing to your attention that we began 

Europe Day today with a meaningful performance by a group of children and young people, very young people, compared to Silvio and me, and tonight we will close it with the sounds of a great European, Ennio Morricone, who will come to Skanderbeg Square through the orchestra of the Albanian Radio Television and under the direction of his son. So all of you are invited, without fear of the weather and with the guarantee that it will be an absolutely unforgettable evening, not simply for those who understand music more deeply, but for everyone who loves Europe.

Thank you very much!