“I am grateful to Mark for his serious and generous efforts to push the Western Balkans towards Europe and to further encourage Albania and North Macedonia on pathway to EU. While we have performed our tasks, Mark taught me that you can love Europe, but you have to prepare yourself for a tough love,” Prime Minister Rama said at a joint press conference with his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte.
Rama also commented on the strict stand taken by the Netherlands several years ago regarding the opening of the accession negotiations.

“As far as bilateral cooperation is concerned, I express genuine, informal gratitude to the Dutch government, for combining their strict stance, which was actually unnerving for a while until we realized what it was about. With their real support on the ground through a program called “Matra,” which has made a difference in moving ahead with our justice reform, which has strengthened our relationship as well, because we finally understood that the Netherlands was serious about its criticism. But even the Netherlands understood that we were serious about fulfilling our obligations,” said Rama.
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