TIRANA, June 23 /ATA/ –By I. Vata/ – Prime Minister Edi Rama stated Wednesday that EU failed to deliver on its promises after the General Affairs Council of the EU failed to reach an agreement on starting EU accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia a day ago.
Speaking at a joint press conference with the Prime Minister of North Macedonia in Skopje on Wednesday, PM Rama said both countries are committed to press with reform efforts to grow economy, improve welfare and increase the sense of pride and dignity of the citizens.
“It is a coincidence that on the day when would be speaking about what didn’t actually happen in Brussels, we have come together in an important economic forum here. I believe this is an opportunity to state that no matter what happens or doesn’t happen in Brussels, we are determined to vigorously go on with our efforts to grow economy and welfare and increase the sense of pride and dignity of our people,” PM Rama said.
“The EU can set various tasks as part of the integration process, it may set deadlines for us to deliver on these tasks, but what EU can’t really determine is our location right at the heart of Europe, it cannot determine neither our culture nor our European identity, or the future of our people as European people in European family, European states with institutional, political and economic European standards,” the government head said.
The Premier went on saying that Albania has already made its choice since Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg era and it has reconfirmed this choice since the Albanian Renaissance era. “For Albanians the sun rises right where it sets and our future lies precisely where God has entitled us to have as our own land, right at the heart of Europe. To me – and this is actually where I and Zaev differ – nothing has happened, but the European Union has again failed to deliver on its promises, honour its commitment and adapt right approach. Life goes on and progress will go full steam ahead, as progress is not imposed externally, but internally. Regional cooperation will move full steam ahead with all Western Balkan countries, which are ready to move forward, as this region is surrounded by EU borders and if we are unable to alter the way how the European Union works with us, we can constantly change the way we work with each other. Merging the borders among us in order to transform our region into a space where four main freedoms of the EU are fully implemented – free movement of persons, free movement of goods, free movement of capital, freedom to establish and provide services – will go on unstoppably, as our economies are very small to build strong ones by working separately and otherwise we would become big enough if we together transform the region into a common economic space.
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