TIRANA, April 19 /ATA/ – Prime Minister Edi Rama has emphasized the importance of the May 11 vote for Albania’s European Union integration, underlining that the voters will “choose between the interest of an entire country and the predicament of single man, the opposition leader.”
Speaking at a campaign meeting with local girls and women in the district of Korça on Saturday, PM Rama urged voters to set aside political affiliations and back his Socialist Party (SP) for a fourth consecutive term to advance Albania’s EU accession bid.
“May 11 is a choice between the interest of an entire country and the predicament of a single man; it is a choice between the common interest and the interest of a single family, between Albania in the EU and the marsh owl,” PM Rama said in a reference to the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) leader Sali Berisha.
He reiterated that Albania is in a window of opportunity, with the EU door open, and a working calendar aiming for negotiation completion by the end of 2027, warning against any setbacks that could jeopardize the negotiation process.
“This choice is quite obvious, because it is for the first time since the fall of the communist regime that EU doesn’t merely say that Albania will join the bloc one day, but it has opened the door asking us to complete the accession negotiations by 2027. For the first time we have jointly set a deadline,” Rama said.
According to the government head, Albania is fast-tracking its accession negotiations and setting an example for other EU candidate countries in the region.
“No other former communist state has completed the accession negotiations so quickly. We have the chance to wrap up the accession negotiations process in three years’ time and this is an opportunity we have been granted with, because the EU will enlarge further, with Albania and Montenegro being closer to the EU doorstep,” Rama said.
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