In a livestreamed conversation with the citizens and the media, Rama said that, “we are 48 hours away from a landmark event. In my view, it is the most important event ever in the history of the country’s international relations, when the entire EU, all the leaders of the united Europe are due to arrive in Tirana, for the first time in a non-EU country to participate in a Summit that the European Council holds together with the leaders of the Western Balkans.”

Rama described the holding of this Summit in Tirana, “as a strategic assessment by the hosts to move precisely in Tirana this station of a journey that, for reasons that we have told and will elaborate on today, even in the future, is becoming an increasingly common journey, in a world that places us in front of yet more common challenges.”

“This turn towards a completely new approach to the Western Balkans is a strategic turning point in the history of the EU over the last years,” said Rama.

“I must modestly say that we have played our part to come to this turning point and have provided countless proofs that we are ready to be evaluated and considered differently. And here I mean, not just Albania, but the Western Balkans in general,” emphasized Rama.

PM added that, “it is a strategic turn, definitely prompted by the pandemic first, then also by the Russian aggression in Ukraine. On the other hand, it is undoubtedly a strategic appreciation for Albania. It is not a station chosen at random. It is a station that has been carefully selected.”

Meanwhile, Rama continued, “we are gearing up for this Summit. To play our role again, as Albania, but also as a region, without question, as we have tried and I believe we have played it successfully, for a long time now, when we have always sat at the table of Europe’s leading countries as equals among equals and despite being very cognizant of the way we have to go to join that table as equal members among equals, we have never been impeded in our awareness, nor in this effort of ours to be forthright, free from complexes and fear.”

“I believe you all remember that when I raised my voice specifically louder when the EU refused to see us as part of the vaccine distribution process in the first phase, amid the first scary wave of COVID, many said that this was nonsense and that this was literally the end of a normal relationship with the EU, and that the EU would retaliate for this. In fact, it happened the other way, not only because we were in our right, but also because the EU is not a structure, it is not an institution, it is not a force that reacts like the strong one in the neighborhood, on the contrary, all that matters is to be right and know how to get the message across about what belongs to you, in an understandable, clear and fair way and without question that your voice, sooner or later, but in this case sooner than later, was heard,” Rama said.
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