TIRANA, May 6/ATA/ The XVIII Conference of Speakers/Presidents of Parliaments of the Adriatic and Ionian Initiative is taking place in Tirana organized by the National Assembly of the Republic of Albania in the framework of Albania’s one-year AII Chairmanship (from June 2021 to May 2022).
The main topic of the Conference is: “European Integration: Western Balkans, an Added Value of the Adriatic and Ionian Region and of the European Union”.
Prime Minister Edi Rama told the conference today that, “For Albania, plan A, B and C, is only Europe”.
During the speech he delivered at the 18th Conference of the Speakers of Parliaments of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative countries, Rama said that, “We are all in the process of integration into the EU, which is not an easy process. For the time being, Albania finds itself in a very strange situation, hostage to a deadlock between our neighbor North Macedonia and Bulgaria. It is one of those situations that only the EU can create and there is no book to explain the way on how it can be handled. How can one remain hostage to a dispute between two other countries”.
“We must not lose patience. But, first of all we must not lose our passion for Europe. As our prominent writer has said, Europe is the only natural being of Albania. And this is not so only because a wise man, whether extremely prominent in Brussels or Paris, or in Rome tells us. It is our duty to do as much as possible so that to join Europe for our children”, stressed Rama.
“We consider Europe the same like its founding fathers, a genuine project of peace and security”, underlined Rama.
And, not only that, the head of government added, “but, Europe for us is our first free choice in history. We have passed through different moments and we have been under different Empires. But, it was not our choice. We were forced to live under that.”
“Europe is our first choice of our own free will. So that’s why we are stubbornly pushing forward. That’s why we do not think at all to give up our efforts. And we are not thinking about the so-called plan B or C. For Albania, plan A, B and C, is only Europe “, said Rama.
The Adriatic-Ionian Initiative brings together the Western Balkans countries and EU member countries and is one more opportunity to bring the region closer to the European Union, both through bilateral cooperation among the Initiative participating countries and the AII-WB cooperation. Therefore, this Conference is one more opportunity to discuss future cooperation and joint projects./j.p/p.s./
