Prime Minister Edi Rama was invited by the Foundation “Friedrich Ebert” as speaker in “Eminent Lectures” in Berlin. In a speech built on the question, why we want the European Union at a time when Euro-scepticism has grown in Europe, the Prime Minister talked about the importance of European integration for Albania and the Balkans, as a modernization instrument and a force of peace and stability in the Balkans.

“We’re not in a hurry to membership, but are increasingly anxious not to lose the European perspective as the only horizon in the eyes of our people because it would be too late, if anti-European forces flourished in the region. You might ask, are you seriously pro-Europeans today, when everybody wants to leave and you want to get in? I believe this is less complicated and superficial than this. For us Europe has to do with something much more important, it has to do with the future, peace and security. For us it means building the future on the impossibility of the past.”

“Everybody is aware, – the Prime Minister underlined, – that you cannot be part of the EU, if you are not able to talk to your neighbour, if you cannot collaborate with your neighbour, if you cannot settle the issues of the past in the spirit of dialogue and understanding. In this sense, Europe is still in our region a strong driving force. You can say anything about Europe, but nobody can deny the power of the EU to keep peace tightly and to prevent conflicts.”

The European aspiration of the Balkans has changed the perspective of its people, but the region lives a few paradoxes still to this day.

“Dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia continues. Serbia is negotiating, while Kosovo is the only country in the continent the people of which cannot move freely because there is no visa liberalization regime. People rightly ask how it was possible, we could go to Germany without a visa, with a Yugoslav passport, when we were under dictatorship, and now we live in an independent country and we cannot go outside our borders?”

On the path of meeting the criteria and standards of integration, Albania has undertaken major Europeanising reforms, in particular the judicial reform. “We know, – the Prime Minister noted – our people know that we cannot be proud member of the EU, if we have a justice system that does not work.”

“The fight against corruption has to do with the modernization of the country, the building of institutions and mechanisms that make the country immune from the subjectivity of people. The part where there has been no progress so far, is part of the judiciary, impunity. So, in this regard we are still weak. But let me show you the other side of the coin. According to the European barometer, in 2013 the state police and the judiciary were the most discredited, corrupt and unreliable institutions in the public eyes in Albania. While according to the European barometer of last year, the police was the most trusted institution in the public eyes in Albania. Overall, it is important to understand that we need the European integration path precisely for this. Because the progress we have made has been associated with this path and with this pressure. I cannot imagine where we would go, if we didn’t have the path of integration. We have this fantastic opportunity of being in the middle of Europe, and we have this perspective and this instrument of modernization, which is the process of integration.”

Reforms in economy avoided the economic collapse. As a result salaries and pensions were increased, despite the present trend in many countries.

“Our economy is growing to 3.5% compared with 0 point something it was in 2013. Second, we have managed not to reduce salaries and pensions, as the IMF urged us to do, because public debt was getting out of control, whereas we had also a hidden debt of 720 million dollars, which we found out when we took office; a very great debt for Albania due to unpaid public works, services, contractors. Now, following the reforms, we have increased salaries and pensions, and if salaries of public administration in Albania were the lowest in the region, now the average wages have increased.”