Prime Minister Edi Rama: Good evening everyone! I am here alongside the honourable President of the European Commission, also a very precious friend and a supporter of Albania since the onset of her term in office as the Head of the European Commission, not in words only, but by being by our side throughout this long journey and I will never forget the fact and will never refrain from repeating as long as I serve in this position that she stood beside us at a very tragic moment for our country and people, when the devastating earthquake caused so much pain and damages, but we saw the EC President, we witnessed her direct commitment to immediately calling the donors conference in Brussels and calling for solidarity from everyone. We wouldn’t have succeeded as we already did to make sure that thousands of children who lost their schools to the earthquake attend lessons today at brand-new educational schools that meet the standards of best schools in the European Union.

But we are here today together with President Von der Leyen on the eve of another major Summit due in Tirana, this time the first ever Berlin Process Summit to take place outside the EU borders, which of course makes us proud and provides us with the opportunity to express our satisfaction as a host country, showing all the ardour of Albanian hospitality, which I think would aim to rank first if there was a European hospitality competition.

But, on the other hand, we are very aware that there are many other aspects we do not trail behind the top position and about which we still need to make a very tremendous effort to move closer to the perimeter of the EU life quality and standards. 

The EC President was the first of all leaders to arrive in Tirana and everyone else will arrive later tonight or tomorrow and she also launched this very important for us, clearing the way for all the Albanian girls and boys, but also their peers in the region who want to attend postgraduate European studies, which they will be able to do at the College of Europe in Tirana.

The Tirana campus of the College of Europe will be the second to open outside Belgium, after the campus that the then European Commission decided to open in Poland in order to support the then EU enlargement wave and help the capacity building process of the then candidate countries.

And I strongly believe that the College of Europe is being opened in Tirana also thanks to the will, the desire, and the ambition of the President and of today’s European Commission to push forward the process of further enlargement of the big united European family.

The President informed me about the screening process – I would use this terminology as I haven’t been informed about the equivalent word in Albanian, but when every other country calls it screening, screening it is – which provides a diagnostics of the situation in all sectors of the country that has received the endorsement to negotiate membership. I am glad that we heard good words from the President about the process and what Albania has done and the EC President isn’t indeed the only person to laud Albania’s process.

We certainly also talked about the situation in the region and the necessity of all countries of the region walking in tandem and leveraging all the capacities of the Berlin Process. We also talked about what, in my opinion, is the most important innovation in years, the Berlin Process summit, thanks to the President who did not come to Tirana simply to repeat the known things, but also to outline a New Plan that will greatly help the Western Balkans and our country to move faster along the pathway to the EU. However, the President will address the Summit about this issue tomorrow and I don’t know how much she will reveal in front of you. 

I would like to conclude by reiterating that Albania remains fully aligned with the EU regarding Russian aggression in Ukraine since day one and we talked about this issue. Albania is modest in size, it has a modest role, but within our size and our role, we have been and will remain fully aligned with the EU in relation to Ukraine, on a front that is not simply to support Ukraine, but to carry the flag of non-negotiable values and principles of this great united family of countries that believe in freedom, democracy, the unconditional right of every country to defend their territorial integrity.

Mrs. President,

Dear Ursula,

I would like to gratefully thank you for arriving first and allow me say that this is a very good omen for us because usually the most important, top leaders come last. The fact that you were the first to arrive in Albania, among other things, even though you have been trying to do the best for us over several years now, you have the same ambition and the same will as on the very first day.

President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen: Thank you very much! 

Prime Minister, dear Edi,

Indeed, I am always happy to be here in Tirana, especially on an important day like this one. As you have just said, we have opened registration for the first academic year of the new College of Europe campus in Tirana. It is going to be fascinating to see that students from all over Europe, studying right here, will be part of our effort to build a common European future step by step. 

So, your path is going towards the European Union and is taking shape. It is getting real.  And this is my first very clear message: Albania is on track to join the European Union. As you know, enlargement is at the top of our priorities. This is actually where it belongs, because we want our partners and neighbours to join and make our Union complete.

It is also in our own interest because it will give our Union the weight, the clout and the capacity to act. And it will make Europe stronger, bolder and larger in a rapidly changing world. Albania has already achieved so much. The screening process, as you said, is progressing smoothly. Many thanks to the negotiating teams on both sides. They are doing a fantastic job. Our shared objective is to open negotiations on the so-called fundamentals’ cluster as quickly as possible. Our aim is to have this done before the end of the year. 

My second message is: As we continue to work on the path towards accession, we are already building our common future. So, we should start doing this right away to make your country ready for membership but also to, already now, create new trade opportunities between us and to bring our economies closer. We have started this with the Economic and Investment Plan of EUR 30 billion. It is delivering fast, more than half of the financing is already mobilised after three years. 

In Albania, the plan has actually already mobilised EUR 1.4 billion. There are great projects like the Fierza hydropower plant, or the railway connection to the European Union via Montenegro, on Corridor X.

 Last year, we completed our Investment Plan with the Energy Support Package. This was during the energy crisis. It delivered very nicely. 90% are already mobilised. But what I wanted to focus on today is the new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, because here, we are moving towards a new phase of action. This plan has the potential, if we implement it correctly, to double the size of your economy still in this decade and to drive growth and convergence. The principle is that, in certain specific areas, you will have access to the Single Market. For this, reforms are necessary. And the reforms are accompanied by investment. So it opens the door to the Single Market for the Western Balkan countries. This will of course be then underpinned by the financial investment: So it is about the necessary investment and reforms.

My third message is that our investments will match your sustained reform efforts for Albania, for example to work on the improvement of the business environment to further equip people with the right skills – we did exactly this today by opening applications for the new campus of the College of Europe – and to diversify energy supplies, just to name a few topics. So it is very concrete.

I believe the Growth Plan is the right offer at the right time for the European Union and Albania to get closer. And it will play an important role in your path towards the European Union. You have consistently shown your dedication to this path. For example, and you said it, with your alignment with the EU’s response to Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. And dear Edi, I want to emphasise your personal role in this, in defending our rules-based multilateral order in the UN Security Council in an outstanding manner. And I would also like to emphasise your very clear position on the terrible terrorist attack by Hamas a week ago. So, we are getting ready. We are now on our way to welcoming Albania to the European Union. 

Thank you again for the hospitality. 

Thank you again for the excellent talks.

It is a pleasure to be here in Albania.

Thank you!