Joint press release of Prime Minister Edi Rama and European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Füle, following the fourth meeting of the High Level Dialogue Albania – EU

Prime Minister Edi Rama:

“Hello!

Today is a special day. Not only because it is special is every day that engages us all in the High Level Dialogue, but also because this is the day in which Stefan Füle says farewell to Albania as Commissioner for Enlargement.

I want to thank the Commissioner for all these years of intense relationship, often strained between him and us, where sometimes we, the government of today and the opposition of yesterday, and some other times the opposition of today and the government of yesterday, have complained that Stefan was more inclined to the other side.

Actually, I believe that to be loved by both parties in Albania, you must be either the Pope of Rome or the Chancellor of Germany, so the Commissioner should be really happy with his work with us, not because he has been acclaimed by both parties, but because both parties have complained about him at different times.

It has not been an easy time for Albania the period during which Stefan Füle served as Commissioner for Enlargement. His service started immediately after the disputed elections of 2009, has continued between conflicts and achievements up to the free and uncontested political elections of June 2013, and peaked with the reception of candidate country status from Albania, last June.

Beyond sad memories, where January 21 is and will be an open wound until the day justice will do justice, the analysis of our joint work with Brussels, and specifically with Commissioner Füle, can be considered without the slightest doubt a very positive one.

This positive analysis would not have been such today, without the contribution, the efforts, the perseverance and above all the patient dedication of Stefan Füle to Albania and to the progress of our country on its path to European integration.

This is why I want to thank with gratitude the Commissioner for Enlargement for everything he has done to help and support us.

I wish him from the heart, health, luck and success in the new tasks and challenges ahead.

Returning to today’s session of the High Level Dialogue, the fourth in a row but the first after receiving the candidate status, I want to stress that this session primarily availed to meet with the opposition and to strongly reiterate our willingness to reforms.

We are very determined to make the reforms that have been delayed or missing for many years, and we are also very attentive to create the conditions for inclusion. I want to emphasize the latter, namely the inclusion, because even at a time when our country needs real political contributions and real reform, we are called as a ruling majority to not allow the repeat of the marginalization history of the opposition as a consequence of government’s fault. We have been and still are very sensitive to this obligation, which first of all we feel as an obligation to ourselves and to the voters of this country to whom we committed that everything was done to us, as a result of the injustices of power when were in opposition, none of that will be done to the opposition during our government. We have stayed and we stay faithful to ourselves and to voters on this point, believing that the facts speak for our reliability.

The opposition abandoned the Parliament shelved on the pretext that it was physically violated, after two members of the majority physically clashed with members of the minority. Like never before, – and here we are all witnesses, – not only did we morally condemned the act of both our MPs, but they received administrative sanctions by the Presidency of Parliament. Today, something that has never happened in the history of a parliament, where everything has happened, is that they are under criminal indictment by the prosecutor and will be heard in trial where they will defend themselves. Meanwhile, we have encouraged justice to do justice. We have distanced ourselves from any open action that interferes with the ethics of coexistence in the Parliament and political life in Albania.

We will go even further, and the revised document of operation rules of our parliamentary group which will be ready soon, will include sanctions previously unknown to any behaviour of this nature, and might lead also to the exclusion from the SP Parliamentary Group.

Let’s say truth as it is, all this would have been unimaginable at the time when we were in opposition and not only we used to be physically or verbally violated, not to mention the insults to our families and relatives, but we were never allowed to speak in  the Assembly. Whereas today, the minutes of the first session of the Assembly show the fact that the time consumed in pulpits of the assembly by the DP is much greater than the time consumed by the majority, if we consider that the DP is less than half our number. However, they still persist in the boycott as if they wanted to prove that say that goes “history develops as a drama and is later repeated as comedy”. Of course, it is the right of the DP to play the comic part of history by boycotting the assembly without any reason according to us, which can be considered sufficient for such a dramatic step.

However we will not repeat history at this point either. We will not accuse, as we have not accused the DP with the language used by the power of yesterday against the opposition, because we do not think that our opponents are anti-Albanians, Albanophobics and anti-Europeans or that they are involved in a conspiracy with the people in Brussels to block Albania. We just think that the largest party of the opposition is in a great trouble and is entitled to its own right to use the wrong medication.

However, today, we also used this reunion moment, thanks to the High-Level Dialogue to highlight that we are ready to respond to any reasonable claim of the Democratic Party to return to Parliament. We have heard that they swear they will not return without a deal. I do not know what this means, but I know only this: we are open to any request, provided that they do not ask us to not take decisions when they do not agree with us, because we cannot do this, because our contract for governing the country has been stipulated with Albanians. Today, we heard the request regarding investigative commissions. We are ready to vote any request for investigative commission of the Democratic Party starting from this Thursday. On Thursday.

We heard also another claim, perhaps a repeated one, which concerns the past of MPs or of people of the administration. In the legislation of the Republic of Albania there is a legal landmark, called the clearance certificate. We have referred to criminal records when we chose all our MPs. They all have clean criminal records. But I want to repeat here what I said before, I repeated it also in the session of the High Level Dialogue that, if the Democratic Party has a strategic vision on how can people be prevented from participating in the political and public life, or how can they be prevented from entering even into administration, if they ever had to do with justice, we are ready to sit down and see their version, provided that it is not in contradiction with the human freedoms and rights. Moreover, there are people among them who, although they have been in jail, participate in the High Level Dialogue and know very well the freedom to be elected from the sentence to be served.

All this said, I want to thank once again the Commissioner and I want to express the conviction that despite the problems that the enlargement encountered in the last European elections, without any doubt, Europe cannot breathe without the idea of expanding and we are ready to respond to the challenge; it depends on us. I want to believe also that with the Berlin Conference, the region entered a new phase, and it is up to us to transform it into a stage of faster approximation with the European Union.

And let me close by quoting the Commissioner who, during a speech given in 2004, said that enlargement is in the DNA of being European and is a fundamental policy of the European Union, and that only together with a united Europe we can face unwanted consequences of globalization.

Convinced that we have Europe in our DNA, and convinced that having Europe the enlargement in its DNA, Europe has in its DNA the need to have us become part of it. With gratitude and appreciation to the Commissioner and all his associates, I now leave him the floor for the last time as Commissioner in Albania, but not for the last time, I believe, as a friend of Albania and Albanians, Stefan Füle.

Thank you!

 

EU Commissioner for Enlargement, M. Füle:

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

Dear representatives of the media,

I would like to confirm what you just said and I would like also to thank you for your very clear position about this unpleasant incident.

This is the 4th round of the High Level Dialogue and my 8th visit to Albania. Actually, on every single occasion I have underlined three things:

First, our commitment to Albania’s European perspective;

Second, the need to continue with reforms in inclusive way and make them irreversible; Third, the importance of compromise and constructive political dialogue within democratic institutions.

I am repeating these messages again during this last visit in my current capacity as Commissioner, not because I cannot think of something new, but because they capture the most important elements you have to bear in mind on your way to the EU.

Today’s High Level Dialogue on Key Priorities is yet another confirmation of our commitment to working with Albania to ensure that the reform momentum continues and leads to the next stage in Albania’s integration process – opening of accession negotiations.

The granting of candidate status in June was recognition of progress made by Albania and encouragement for further reform efforts that are needed to move to that next stage. Today we have focused on Albania’s plans to implement the key priorities necessary for the opening of accession negotiations. We have taken stock of developments since June and we have paid particular attention to the rule of law, which remains a key issue. I welcome that Joint Working Groups on the key priorities have been established and that they already held their first meeting earlier this month. They will help Albania to focus on concrete results under each key priority and identify the relevant measures to be introduced.

I have on many occasions stressed that to succeed, EU integration needs to be an inclusive process. I know that there is a broad consensus here on Albania’s EU integration future but I call on the government and opposition to work together constructively in a spirit of compromise to make it happen.

I have encouraged the government and opposition to co-operate to establish the National Council for European Integration so that it can channel the energies of all stakeholders, including civil society, into the reform process.

Only a few days ago, the visit of Pope Francis saw Albania united around the cause of religious tolerance and inter-faith respect. This should set the example for political forces to look at the big picture and focus their efforts on the common objective of Albania’s European integration.  Because there will be only one winner at the end of that process – Albania and its people. I am very proud of Albania, I am proud of Albanians.

Thank you very much!

 

– Mr. Füle, right after meeting with the Speaker of Parliament, you posted on Twitter that in democratic countries the debate is done in institutions. Is this a statement that refers to the external attitude of the Albanian opposition? And, how would you comment the statement of the opposition leader who said that “every healthy European mind will understand that the opposition demands rest precisely on those demands that are the foundation of democracy and European identity”?

 

Obviously, I’ve posted on Twitter about the most important democratic institutions. And, of course, about the Albanian Parliament I posted that Albanian political forces should be represented in Parliament and work with moderation, in order to reach a compromise, by delivering results for inclusion and this very important principle that we share with Mr. Prime Minister.

Actually, I have heard the concerns of the opposition, not for the first time and I hope not for the last one. At the same time, I have made it clear that leaving the Parliament and making the battle on the streets is not the European way, and this doesn’t help bringing Albania closer to its European ambition. During today’s discussions, we saw an achievement. Bilaterally, but also in the context of the High Level Dialogue, I appealed the government and the opposition – because responsibility is on both sides – to use this opportunity for the opposition to return to Parliament, and for the government to guarantee that the opposition will have what they need for their important duty. To ensure, as I said in my statement, that the winner is not the political party or the other political party, but victorious, ultimately, is Albania and Albanians!

 

-Mr. Rama, did you discuss in this table judicial reform, which is also one of the key reforms? And have you received support from the EC to do this very important reform thoroughly, while the opposition is not participating in this initiative?

 

Yes, we discussed justice reform as well, and we discussed it in the same spirit. I want to stress once again that we are absolutely ready and open to welcome the opposition to become part of the judicial reform and any other reform. Let me tell you a very simple fact. We were ready; the Minister of Justice, the President of the Law Commission, as both inalienable parts of the process, had prepared the draft for the National Conference on Justice Reform and as soon as we learned about the President’s initiative, we immediately addressed to the President. We did not proceed with the Conference organized by the Government. We are waiting for the day established by the President to be part of the opening of this process, along with everyone else. This is an expression of how we want to do things. I repeat it once again – you know it, we have said it, and I have repeated it whenever the opportunity was given to me – we have only one task: Opposition should not experience for a single moment what we experienced when we were in opposition, because of the Government. Beyond that, it is not our duty and neither can we deal with the opposition. So, for the part that has to do with ensuring the rules of the game as far as the Government is concerned, we are at the service of the opposition. We have been and are at the service of the opposition! Of course, if the opposition claims that we agree with it at all costs, this is a promise we cannot fulfil. But as far as the rules of coexistence are concerned, we are entirely at the service of the opposition. I repeat it; if the opposition really abandoned Parliament for the reasons it is saying, – at least for what was said today, since I have never heard them exposed in a logical order – we are ready to vote for the Investigative Commission required by the Opposition, we are ready to discuss with the opposition every proposal it might have about legal investigation on the past of those people who are candidates to serve in public or political life or in the administration, provided that it is in accordance with the Constitution and human rights. There is not any problem here; it is not us who determine this. It just needs a minimal support of the Venice Commission. If these are the reasons, we invite the opposition to come on Thursday and we are ready for this. But if they come up with many other things, here we are to respond to whomever we can respond, and we won’t respond to whom we cannot. But please, nobody should ask us to babysit the opposition. We cannot do this! The opposition must grow and walk on its own feet.

Thank you!