TIRANA, Nov 21 /ATA/ – Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Friday that prospective EU members should be ready to abandon “national egos” if Europe is to function better than it does today, arguing that enlargement should not be held hostage to demands for veto rights or top institutional posts.
Addressing the opening of the 2025-26 academic year of the College of Europe’s Tirana campus, Rama said a “united Europe is impossible to defeat,” and that Albania was continuing its reform efforts with “tested patience,” supported in particular by Germany and the Netherlands, two member states he said had pushed Albania the hardest during the accession process.
“We seek no privilege, only the honour, as Jean Monnet said, of serving Europe so that Europe may serve peace,” Rama told College of Europe students.
He argued that for the EU to function better, aspiring members should not insist on securing a commissioner, a veto or the right to block majority decisions. “Some ask how we can add more members and become 29, 33 or 35 when we are struggling to function with 27,” he said. “We need to leave our national egos behind and think as Europeans. The value lies in being part of this family; everything else is procedure.”
Rama said he favoured a simplified approach to enlargement. “No veto, no blocking vote, no commissioner and no special demands – only responsibility and contribution,” he said, adding that he expected the post-negotiation phase to be “easier.”
“What Europe will need more than weapons, artificial intelligence or money is courage,” he said.
The government headed that the next chapter of the EU would be shaped by a struggle between those who fear enlargement and those who understand that Europe is “stronger when no European is excluded,” calling it “a terrible idea” to leave the Western Balkans outside the European space.
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