Speech of Prime Minister Edi Rama at the reception organized for ambassadors accredited in our country, on the occasion of the holiday season:

 

Welcome and Happy New Year 2015 and Merry Christmas to any of you who expects presents from Santa Claus!

Dear Excellencies Ambassadors,

It was my pleasure to invite you to this reception at the end of the year. Because, on the one hand, you deserve sincere thanks for everything we have done together during this first year of our government and on the other hand, I feel really full of enthusiasm, because after this year Albania’s relations with the region, Europe and the world have been special.

I ask your permission to thank today Minister Bushati, who has had a crucial role in implementing the new dynamics we are committed to give Albania’s foreign policy. I want to thank also here, our Minister of Integration who has proven this year with her contribution that passion, wisdom and will are above experience on values scale of a government member.

Undoubtedly, it would have been much more difficult for both ministers without the stubborn facts of the good governance produced by the effort of other ministers in the battle for the fulfillment of the key priorities of integration.

Candidate status for Albania, the beautiful achievement of this first year of government, is undoubtedly an achievement that comes after a multiyear journey. But there is also no doubt that without the driving power of ambition, determination and results of this new team, Albania would not be today, officially, a European Union candidate country.

Informal thanks to the Members of the Foreign Committee and of the Integration of the Assembly, who have guaranteed us their support on real time and have encouraged us with their criticism and remarks.

Fortunately, I am addressing this speech to you after the odyssey of the formation of the new government in Kosovo just ended, and take the opportunity to greet the two leaders of the great governing coalition, wishing them success and prosperity.

The experience of this year gives me the opportunity to assure the Prime Minister Mustafa and the Deputy Prime Minister Thaçi, that for us, the Albanians, who have often been delayed or stumbled in big or small curves of history, because we have never agreed on who the leader would be, this two-headed management can become the most sure guarantee or success in their government.

I look forward to meeting with the new Prime Minister of Kosovo, to continue together the path started in Prizren last January, and to carry forward without delay the process of synergy on the way of economic growth, education of the next generation, tourism development, creation of common institutions of culture and science, the customs and European union of our two countries.

Albania and Kosovo are now facing the big challenge of a new era of a region that has finally found peace after 100 years, since First World I. The more we live this challenge as a common challenge of Albanians, not only in Albania and Kosovo, but also in Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro and the more we turn the strategic axis of cooperation Albania-Kosovo in an example for promoting regional cooperation, the more we will approach the old dream of national unity with the new way of European integration.

In 2015, Serbia becomes the first country in the region that takes the chairmanship of the OSCE. Albania will unreservedly support Serbia in this very important task for our region. We hope to see progress under the leadership of neighbors and I wish that this progress can also be observed in an obvious increase of standards of freedom and rights of Albanians in the Presevo Valley.

This new time in the Balkan that has finally brought peace among Albanians wherever they live, makes it necessary not only for our country to keep up as a nation with the European challenge in the region, but also to keep up the flag of peace and dialogue with Serbia. Serbia is no longer our enemy, but a neighbor to be turned into real partner in order to build the path of the European future of the Balkans. The inspiring example to believe in the possibility and potential of this extraordinary partnership comes from the new European history of the relations between Germany and France. Of course it is easier to think about it and a little harder to say it and very difficult for Albanians and Serbs to implant in the body of the Balkans, the Franco-German heart that gave life to the United Europe. However I believe that we will make it because we are not alone. On the contrary, in this effort we have the firmly declared support of Germany and Chancellor Angela Merkel personally.

Perhaps, no one can understand better than us, the Albanians, the difficulty of Serbian neighbors to accept the big, irreversible overturn of history in their traditional relations with Albanians. But on the other hand, no one can understand better than us that it is unforgivable for us if we do not go beyond the old history, by repulsing and leaving behind any nationalist temptation and being open, and determined, but patient in this relationship which as difficult as strategic to our national interest.

This year wouldn’t have been so encouraging without the Berlin Summit, which opened the road of a new definition of coexistence among countries in the region, but also between the region and the European Union. Chancellor Merkel has all our gratitude for the invitation and for the impressive hospitality, as well as for the very open conversation in Berlin last April 1. That day opened a new page in the cooperation between Albania and Germany and was followed by the invitation and welcoming of all the prime ministers of the region in the chancellery, where the German will for opening a new page in relations between the Balkans and the EU was clearly expressed.

It is seen, heard, understood and known better every day that this new time of the Balkan, to which Chancellor dedicated a new initiative to make the Balkans be closer to itself and the EU in a short time, does not correspond to a good time for Europe.

Facing challenges from outside and from inside, United Europe seems more and more a great idea implement increasingly in the wrong way; an extraordinary project, hampered more and more by a common politics that does not see further than the next election; an irreplaceable force, created by the need for peace and prosperity, which seems losing memory constantly.

Although we are too young to be able to influence the course of the EU, we are in the right position to tell that today the EU needs the Balkans as much as the Balkans need the EU; that Europe needs Albanians as much as they need Europe; and that if “enlargement fatigue” prevails in the EU, it is not surprising that “patience fatigue” prevails in the Western Balkans and between Albanians as well.

It was an extraordinary moment for Albanians, for Albania in particular, but also for Europe, the visit of Pope Francis in Tirana as his first stop of his official journey in Europe. Extraordinary was also the speech Pope Francis addressed at the European Parliament. We can’t help but fully support that speech, which tried to address Europe all the sensations of malaise that Europe conveys us, while we are trying very hard and are very committed to join Europe.

We do not want any favor. We only want that, while every country in the region does its homework on the path towards membership, the EU does its homework towards the peoples of this region in the heart of Europe. These people have found peace not because they became angels, but because they want to join Europe.

 

And the task of the EU, as it was emphasized at the Summit in Berlin, is not to allow frustration that can make the Balkans regress, but support major projects of development and regional cooperation that our countries can never do without European support.

Dwelling on this topic tempts me all the time, more and more on these days, but I want to stop and emphasize that we are waiting with curiosity and concern for next August to see in Austria what the German initiative produced at proper time.

We strongly believe in Austria, not only because of the excellent relations we have with it and the relations that Austria has with the entire region, but also because Austria has always been an ally for enlargement. Therefore, not only Albanians, but the whole Balkans rejoiced when Chancellor Merkel told us that the next summit will be held in Austria. So hope very much to see appropriate developments. Meanwhile, I am pleased to share with you that yesterday we received confirmation to start the work in order to have in Tirana, next May, before the summit, a special session of the Vienna Economic Forum.

Dear friends,

“In the early 90s, the world we knew, both in the East and in the West, exploded into thousands of sparkles. The lava of post-communist surprises was made of tens of social, cultural, ethnic, economic and geostrategic conflicts. “We are all looking for something else. We are planting seeds of a world which we can admire in the future.” These are words that Vaclav Havel wrote in 1992. Surely, no one among us knows today, twenty-some years later, when geopolitical, cultural and economic redefinitions are part of a chain reaction process that continues to hold the whole world involved, how much we must believe that we will admire the world that will come out form this process.

But certainly, we have no reason not to continue to believe that the future in this part of the world, not only is in our hands, but that we are fortunate to be part of the European Union, considering the terrible events going on, such as the birth of a monstrous project of the so-called Islamic State, or the project already completed of the forcible annexation of Crimea. As we are lucky to be part of the world organized under the military auspices of the NATO, as well as, obviously, to have a great partner and strategic ally, such as the United States.

Let me share with you dear guests, the extraordinary feeling I had when the US Senate published the report on the not very commendable investigations conducted by CIA during the so-called War against Terror. The United States once again showed us what it means to be a democracy and wanting to remain a democracy, regardless of the costs that this has. I do not know how many countries in the world would be able to show their strength internationally by displaying their weakness, but I know once again that Albanians got proof that we are on the right side of history by staying faithfully on the side of the United States. And for us, it means undoubtedly loyalty to any international commitment to peace or against the enemies of humanity, but also loyalty to the values and principles of democracy that make the free people lucky to live in this part of the world.

I am proud that this year, Albania has not only improved its image in the region, but also its role in the NATO, as the only non EU member in the region, after Croatia’s full integration into the European Union. Our voice in NATO has been and will continue to be clearly in favor of open-door policy for the aspirations of our neighbors in the region associated with the Alliance. We will strongly support a fast membership of Montenegro in NATO, and the membership of Macedonia as well. But we will also seek through NATO that our Macedonian neighbors and friends progress faster and more qualitatively, in a more reliable way in the implementation of the Ohrid Agreement.

By reiterating the will to carry forward the strategic partnership between Albania and Italy, Greece and Turkey, as well as hurtfully thanking again today our precious and irreplaceable Italian neighbors and friends, together with our Greek neighbors and all others here present, for their support to our country in the decision on being granted the status of candidate country, I want to express satisfaction for a significant achievement during this year of communication with China. We want to do even more in this direction, to concretize interesting projects that are already under discussion and to enhance economic cooperation of mutual interest, whether of Albania or Chinese investors. We want to see the same thing in relations with the countries of the Gulf, where I note with pleasure the restoration of the relationship, interrupted for several years, with the Kuwait Fund for Development.

President Aliyev will visit Albania at the beginning of the next year. This is expression of a new dynamic in the relations with Azerbaijan, not only as part of the strategic agreement with TAP, but also in view of bilateral economic cooperation to which we are very interested.

I was impressed with the answer of the well-known Alain Juppé addressed to a prestigious magazine of the Foreign Policy, which asked the experienced chief of French diplomacy how he saw the world in 2030, how he wanted it to be.

At the beginning he says that leaders should put aside imagination and deal with immediate choices that shape the world as they wish.

But then he recalls philosopher and sociologist Karl Mannheim who says: “The disappearance of utopia opens the road to indifference, paralyzes the changes and creates a situation where the human being is not but an object.” Therefore, he concludes, my wish for the world of 2030 is political Europe, strategic Europe, powerful Europe.

We heard almost the same wish here, in these premises, a few days ago, even by the legendary leader of the British Labour, Tony Blair, with whom our government has the privilege to collaborate on the project of reforms. We heard the same wish also by the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, whom we met in Brussels yesterday.

In fact Europe, to which we are strongly bounded by our dream of joining as Albania and Albanians, is political and not just financial, is strategic and not tactical, it is powerful and not insecure before each election tournament in each of the 28 member countries, as it happens today.

But in the meantime, we know very well that despite the fact that this Europe that we have today is far from Europe that nourishes us the union dream, we should do every integration hard homework one on one and at any price, not because Brussels asks them to, but because our children and Albania of the next generation are asking for them.

There is nothing better than the tasks we have to overcome to join Europe in order to build the Albania we want. The integration process, despite all the bureaucrats and bureaucracy that sometimes drive you crazy, is a unique and irreplaceable instrument that will enable us have the modern state of Albanians. The way to the European Union is the only one to merge Albania into a single body with legality; to reconcile finally our society with the rule of law; to build a functional democracy not only in politics, but also in the economy; to put the limit of freedom of anyone where the freedom of the other begins.

I can, but I will not hide today from you how proud I feel for what we could achieve in just a year and of the many sites of reforms, delayed for years, we could open just this year.

I am proud that we were granted the candidate status, for in nine months we did what was not done for years, the more so what seems would have never been done, such as the elimination from the face of the earth of the European Colombia of Lazarat. But I am also proud that we successfully reached the extremely tough targets of the program with the IMF and turned Albania on to the path of economic growth and debt reduction.

I am proud that we are up 40 places in the ranking of Doing Business, or many other in the ranking for the facility of tax payment, both based on the World Bank analyses.  I am also proud, that in the settlement of the hundreds of millions of dollars of inherited debts to the companies, the IMF international audit found no inaccuracy at all, not to speak of reason to doubt of corruption.

I am proud that we have made a reality the three fundamental reforms the country was in need of since long ago and every government has passed onto the other, to the detriment of the country, the society and the generation to come.

The Administrative-Territorial Reform, the Pensions’ Reform and the Power Reform.

But I am also proud to have profoundly reformed the police, the customs, the taxes and we are reforming education and health. I am equally proud of the 81 thousand and 352 new employees, registered in the social security records, as compared to the last year, or 78 thousand and 844 working places more than e year ago, extracted from the Questionnaire of the Labour Force by INSTAT.

I do not like to make a list of the jobs done or started from the foundations during this year, but I am proud that they are really numerous. This is not out of modesty, but for the sake of the truth, I would like to assure you that without the understanding, support and assistance of the speaker of the Parliament, Ilir Meta, and without the full compactness of the governing team of our coalition, this fair balance of the country’s modernization and Europeanization would not have been made possible.

Having said all these I would have not wanted in any way that someone thinks that everything was okay, or that there is not much to be done yet, in every realm without exception. I do not say this just for the sake of saying something, to grant credibility to what I said earlier, but because I am fully aware of the unmerited and continuous efforts and toil of citizens in the state counters. Just like it is fully clear to me that without making the reform earthquake circles reach under the feet of the system of justice, we have not guaranteed the foundations of the modern structure of the state we have started to build.

I also know that no matter what we, the majority think, the fact that the opposition is not in the parliament, does not hurt only  the opposition, but it  is hindering the country and undermining its credibility in the eyes of others. Honestly I do not know what we can do more to help them to return to their workplace, but I know for sure that we are ready to do anything, if they tell us what it is.

I am proud of the fact that this of the first year of our mandate,  is the government that has dealt  less with the opposition in the history of this country and I do not know now, should we be proud of, or should feel embarrassed in front of  the democratic world, used to parliamentary rules, that this is the majority is the first parliament in the history of this country, that when the minority  has been in the hall, it  has consumed more time in the podium than the majority.

Distinguished Excellencies,

I remember that last year I borrowed for the speech before you the characterization that the former Danish ambassador made to Albania’s relationship with Europe: “Tough Love”.

Even after a year, despite the changes our work has brought about, it remains a “Tough love”. But I believe that I am not wrong if I say that it is a Tough love with more trust. With more confidence, from you to us, I mean, because our faith in you is the same that has always been.

Thank you.