Prime Minister Edi Rama and the European Union Ambassador to Albania, Sofia Moreira de Sousa, held a joint press conference on the European Commission’s progress report on Albania.
Rama described this year’s progress report as the best Albania has ever received, stressing that the country has entered the final phase of negotiations for European Union membership.
In his speech at the conference with the EU Ambassador, Rama also addressed the problems identified by Brussels, including delays in the courts, parliamentary oversight, the quality of public debate and the excessive use of force by police during protests.
“For the first time, the EC has presented the guiding roadmap for the four countries most advanced in the negotiation process. For Albania, this roadmap sets out the stages and objectives of work for the challenging year ahead, giving the process great clarity and predictability. The EC considers the objective of concluding negotiations by the end of 2027 to be ambitious but achievable. A very important assessment for Albania.
The roadmap does not set a membership date, because it cannot, since it cannot predetermine the outcome of the negotiations either. But it shows us, centimetre by centimetre, the last kilometre of the road to achieve this national and historic objective. This means that time becomes more and more important every day, and every day becomes more precious in relation to this objective. Those who are on the front line of this process must understand this well: Parliament, the government, the judiciary. And above all, our governing majority must understand it.
The opportunity we have today to close the negotiations is unique, is historic, and is not there as a fixed given once and for all. History would never forgive us for squandering this history for our own sake, we Albanians. I will do everything to ensure the opposite of the misfortune that has befallen this country each time it had the chance to rise, and that no one and nothing calls into question this historic opportunity for the sake of the moustaches of any Çeloja,” Rama said.
