Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama today underlined the necessity of the consistent support of the European Union to the Western Balkans, not only from a financial point of view but also from the point of view of access of these countries to the common market.

In the speech held at the leaders’ panel at the Bled Strategic Forum, Prime Minister Edi Rama said that he is “tragically very optimistic” about the future of the Western Balkans.

At the beginning of his speech, Prime Minister Rama thanked his Slovenian counterpart, Robert Golob, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, for their hospitality at this forum.

“I want to thank Robert [Golob] and Charles [Michel] not because I know how to be a good diplomat, because I am not, but because we had a very warm hospitality, very open, I would say with heart-to-heart conversations last evening. And I am very happy a leader, a politician speaks equally at a dinner party and at a forum. Thank you Charles at the end because this was fantastic,” said Rama.

Albanian Prime Minister emphasized that it would be very good if some progressive steps were taken in the direction of the new financing plan for the Western Balkans.

“It is the moment to say that if what Charles said today would materialize, in terms of some progressive steps, not because I believe that in 2030 we will be in the EU to be honest, but at least in some of the steps [towards it], that would be great. Because as we are talking about the convergence with the EU, everyone should understand that the gap in the per capita contributions of the EU towards this region and the Western Balkans is something like 130 or so euros for the 6 of us [Western Balkans countries] here and more than 4 thousand euros for two of us here and others,” said Rama.

The Prime Minister emphasized that this must be understood and solved with some concrete steps.

“This must be understood and must be resolved with some concrete steps, considering that this should not be nothing or all, from the moment that all these countries enter the path to the EU until the moment they become members, it must be exactly these things in the middle of the process. Not only principles, values ​​and lessons learned that are absolutely necessary, not just reforms and criticisms that are absolutely necessary, but also the most consistent support. I’m not speaking not only from the financial point of view, but also from the point of view of access of our countries to the common market and of bigger space for our companies too,” said Rama.

“Everyone should keep in mind that what has been happening for all these years in these countries. On the one hand, through the Berlin Process, we talked about connectivity and infrastructure and about projects and how to finance them. On the other hand guess who is building the infrastructure, the Americans, the Chinese, the Arabs, who I know [they] do not have the Acquis to comply with when they come, but that should be taken into account,” he added.

The Bled Strategic Forum is a comprehensive global platform for generating ideas and exchanging views on contemporary society and its future, offering strategic insights and solutions to the most pressing issues of the present and the future, which are promoted through events various, discussions, round tables, projects, analyzes and publications.

The international conference of the Bled Strategic Forum is the main conference in Central and South-Eastern Europe, which this year has as its theme “Solidarity for Global Security”.

Prime Minister Rama participated today in the Panel of Leaders, together with the Prime Minister of Kosova, the Prime Minister of Montenegro, the Prime Minister of Serbia, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, the President of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Prime Minister of Croatia.

/a.p./