The dialogue “Europe’s Shared Future: Enlargement and the Next Generation”, dedicated to European Union enlargement and the future of the younger generation.
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-Welcome everybody. Welcome to this session.
We have the honour and pleasure to welcome Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania. You know that Albania has been identified by the last report of the Commission on Enlargement as one of the two countries that will access to the EU the soonest so it will be likely before 2030 at the same time In Albania, as in other European countries presently, there were a lot of demonstrations of young people. It started earlier and for a specific reason.
The Prime Minister would probably like to speak about that. But in a larger manner, there were some in Albania, but in many candidate countries, on the will of the youth to access the EU, and also a phenomenon of accelerating migration, work migration, for the young generation.
So these are the two themes that will be discussed today with Prime Minister Edi Rama.
A few indications to give you. First, we encourage everyone in the room who wishes to post on social media to tag the organisation at Paris Peace Forum and use the dedicated hashtag #2026. I would like also to indicate that for the comfort of speakers and the audience, this stage will operate as a silent conference, which means that the session can only be followed through the headsets placed on each seat, which also give access to French and English interpretation. We therefore recommend that you ensure, at the opening of the session, that you are equipped with a headset.
Thank you very much, and I also wish to indicate that I will ask five questions to Prime Minister Edi Rama. And then we will have five minutes of exchange with the audience. So you will be able to ask your own questions at the end of the session.
-So first, Mr Prime Minister, in Albania, as in other European countries, young people are demonstrating in the streets. What do these protests have in common with those taking place in, for instance, Italy and France, and what is unique about them, that started a bit earlier and with a specific motivation? So please, it’s your turn.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Well, thank you very much for having me here. It’s a pleasure to come back to this Peace Forum annually.
It’s also a pleasure to talk to you, knowing that you represent a think tank that is one of the most highly reputable sources of knowledge and of inspiration about the European project.
Going back to your question, I would say that in our case the protests have their own particularity. At the same time, I would distinguish what happened in the beginning, in the massive manifestations of early June, when there was a very large number of people coming from all walks of life, expressing some concerns that were hooked after the famous or infamous, depends on how you see it, project related to Jared Kushner, so related to the shadow of Donald Trump that played like this red scarf to bring the anger against the bull in our city.
So then this remained a very small number of protesters that escalated into violence, which, of course, is not acceptable, and it has nothing to do with what was at the very start. So it’s a complex situation all over Europe, which I would also define as a clash between the real world and the world of social media, where many youngsters are getting their own information or disinformation or both, and their own inspiration to escalate in ways that are not acceptable in a democratic society.
-Thank you very much. Now, as I said, the accession process is considered one of the most advanced in the Balkans. However, a sensitive chapter concerns democracy and human rights. Do these protests indicate weaknesses in these fields, and could they hinder progress in this regard?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Listen, I think that whenever there is a protest, there are reasons to reflect upon and there are reasons to think about and to try and find out what is in the background. And the background of this protest is very complex; as I said, it’s very diverse. There are all types of things that have become like a melting pot.
From the genuine concern about the environment to the anti-Semitic nonsense fueled by enemies of our country, namely the Communist Republic of Iran, from political parties in opposition, big and small, hiding behind and not so much hiding lately, young radicalised kids about these illusions of Antifa, from people who have their own concerns, legitimate concerns about the cost of living to people that are brought there and paid by organised crime.
So it’s a very complex melting pot, which at the end should not be treated in one way, but should be treated in different ways with different tools.
On one hand, listening, trying to build a dialogue, trying to reflect upon things which we are doing all the time and which we are reflecting also in our new budget with many measures that will appease a bit the pressure of the cost of living to the rule of law and the police work and the prosecutor and court works against the violent people. So it’s very complex.
-All right. So we see also, I must say, in France how complex it is, even if the context is different, as you yourself underlined. Now, an accession process always takes some years and in your opinion, do young people still believe in imminent accession, or are they becoming discouraged?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Listen, Albanians are very particular about this, and Albania is very particular about all that because, unlike the other countries in the Western Balkans, we have a different history. We were not part of the former Yugoslavia; we were not part of the former Eastern Bloc like others.
We separated from the Eastern Bloc in 1960. jumped in a very particular unique relation with Maoist China and all alone kind of North Korea of Europe and then when we got out of this hell we got out completely transformed in Western Taliban’s I would say in a sense fanatics for good reasons so we have since years the highest rate of Euro optimism in Europe and we remain so because for Albanians and for us in Albania the European Union is what it was for the founding fathers.
It’s not a bank of math. It’s a space of freedom, of security, of peace and cooperation.
So there is no doubt that, despite all the internal domestic polarisation, political views or protests. Everyone, everyone and literally everyone agrees that Europe is our common goal and destination.
So, there is no doubt about that. And we don’t have any alternative, and we don’t look for one, and we are not influenced by others except by the European Union project. So we are very much genuinely the best Europeans you can find today in Europe.
-That’s at least a beautiful ambition.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: No, it’s not an ambition, it’s a fact.
– Is it a fact?
Prime Minister Edi Rama:Yes.
-All right, good. You know better than me, certainly. There is a growing trend among young people to emigrate. Will it disappear?
Prime Minister Edi Rama:I would not say it’s growing. I would say it’s part of this path. It goes in parallel. So the country grows. Wages grow, the economy grows, tourism grows, exports grow, but at the same time the ambitions of people and the expectations grow. So what we are facing is what Tocqueville would call a revolution of higher expectations because it’s not anymore the country of 10 years ago. It’s a different country completely. And you can see this from the French press. 10 years ago, we were in the French press very rarely, and for very bad reasons. Today, we are in the French press very often for very good reasons like beaches, like hospitality, like beautiful mountains, like a great place to go. So it’s a different country.
-Okay. And what can you promise young people regarding the accession timeline? And what are you asking of Europe?
Prime Minister Edi Rama:Listen, you know better because you deal with Europe since a long time and as you were telling me before, you were accompanying a legend of Europe, Jacques Delors, in his last days. So you know better that no one can promise anything about Europe because you never know. And more than that, I never promise things that do not depend on me.
But what is very clear is that, based also on the last progress report of the European Union, the Commission has indicated that next year should be the year that we start working on the treaty, on the accession treaty, which means that we are in the very last phase of our negotiations. And if everything goes well, we will close the negotiations at the end of next year, and then we’ll be ready to make the last step. But of course it will also depend on where Europe, the European Union, will be in two years, in three years, and where France will be. We have elections next year. As far as I understand, nobody knows what kind of funds we’ll have after these elections. But what we know, and what I know, is that we are doing our job and we have to finish our job.
-Yes. And coming back to finish your job, the chapter which has still needs to be cleared is about democracy. And what has still to be achieved in this domain, in your view?
Prime Minister Edi Rama:Democracy is a never-ending chapter. It’s by definition never perfect and it has always to be taken care of and to be perfected. So we have a lot of work to do in this direction, but I don’t think that France, for example, has finished this job. France also has to do things in this direction. Every country has to do things in this direction. It’s a never-ending job.
-Alright, very good.
-So now we have time for questions. Please don’t be shy, and this young person will open the floor. So thank you very much, of course.
-Prime Minister, I have a question about AI. Albania is one of the countries that are closest to joining the European Union. And I want to ask about AI, because obviously at this forum a lot of people are talking about it. How do you think AI and future AI regulations could impact Albania’s accession to the European Union? And what is the impact of that technology and negotiations right now?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Listen, so far we have divided labour. Albania does not regulate; the European Union regulates, so it’s not for us to think about regulations. For us, it is to run and to develop whatever we can in terms of artificial intelligence, and as you may know, we have the first AI minister, and we are very happy with her, so she’s improving by the day. We transformed the whole process of the transfer of the Acquis through AI, so a certain amount of work that, for others before us, took many years.
Croatia was an excellent example but still needed seven years to make the transfer by mobilising a whole army of translators and pre-drafters and lawyers. We are doing it finally in a very, very fast way. So we are working also on something that I very much hope will succeed, which will be a full AI public procurement process that will be a huge game changer not just for us but for everyone who would like to use it, because it will wipe out a lot of the problems that are related to public procurement.
So AI is a blessing for countries like ours, as new technologies are a blessing for countries like ours that come from far behind, and thanks to the new technology and AI, we can leapfrog and do things that otherwise we would not be able to do. We have 95 per cent of our public services online; we are creating a digital mirror that will serve all the citizens, and we are transforming the relationship between the citizen and the institutions into the relationship of someone using DHL.
So everything you ask the state is like DHL package or envelope that you follow and that in any moment in time you know where it is, who is taking care or not taking care. And this also holds a lot of responsibility for the public servants. So for us it’s a blessing. For Germany, it was not. As you see, Germany has difficulties adapting to the new digital era because they had the most incredible machine of bureaucracy working around the clock, and now turning that big ship into something else is much more complicated than turning our speedboat into something much faster.
-Prime Minister, you mentioned earlier that Albania has this aspiration to join Europe’s project towards freedom. And I find that interesting because I was recently reading Professor Lea Ypi’s book “Free”. And within that she asks how we define freedom and having the freedom to define freedom for ourselves. So my question to you is: how do you define freedom, and what does Albania offer to the European project? Thank you.
Prime Minister Edi Rama:How do I define freedom? I don’t understand the question, but I’ll try to answer. I define freedom by being able to come here and to talk to you. Something that, when I was in your age, how old are you? Exactly, exactly, exactly at your age, 26, I had to fight to have the chance to cross the borders of Albania and to look at the world. This is how I define freedom: to be where I want, to talk with whom I have to,, and to speak my mind as much as I can. Although in my position I cannot say everything I want.
– Now, firstly, I’d like to thank you, Prime Minister, because I actually visited your country a few months ago and I’d like to say that the Albanians were very hospitable, and I must agree with you, you may be some of the best that Europe has to offer. Now, when I was in Tirana, I visited the hub of the Bektashi Order. And that’s what my question concerns. You expressed support for the Bektashi to get their own state within Tirana. And I just wanted to ask why exactly that is. And is that something you think Albania would pursue even after EU accession?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Yeah, we are working on the legal side of it. And let’s see where we get.
-Prime Minister, so, in the context of this year’s Paris Peace Forum, how can Albania contribute to transforming political cooperation in the Western Balkans into lasting peace, particularly given the unresolved tension between Serbia and Kosovo? Thank you.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Well, in this I can say proudly that Albania has always been a peace-loving country, and in the last 10 years we have tried to be very active in promoting peace and cooperation with everyone in the region. There are certain things that you can be as free as you can, but you can’t choose. And among them, the two trickiest are cousins and neighbours. So you cannot choose cousins; you cannot choose neighbours. It’s just a matter of fate.
So the neighbours are there; they’ll not go anywhere, so you better try to get along with the neighbours, because otherwise you are in trouble. My grandmother used to say, ” Happy, happy neighbour, happy house’’ the contrary is quite challenging, so we have tried to do everything we could with some degree of success. Going to your question about Serbia and Kosovo, I think it’s still a question mark because even with the change that happened in Serbia, things not only do not look different, but maybe even worse. So let’s see. But one thing is a fact. Kosovo is an independent state. It is a state recognised by many, not yet by all. There is no way back. There is no way to turn it into a new Serbian fantasy, so as I always said, the sooner the Serbs realise that they have to deal with it as a fact of life, the better it will be for them, because they will not be haunted by this ghost that is preventing them from being fully normal in the relations in the region.
-Thank you, Prime Minister, I had a question regarding the accession of Albania to the EU. In the last couple of months there have been talks within the EU in regards to Ukraine to get an exemption or to get a speed up accession towards the EU. As a country like Albania who has been in the bureaucratic. But then all bureaucratic efforts to do it properly in the way it’s always been done. How do you look as a prime minister towards any exemptions for Ukraine to join the EU?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Listen, first of all, the exemption is a lie. So whoever says it is lying because it will not happen.
Secondly, I believe that Ukraine deserves all the credit for fighting, not just for itself. But also for Europe and the way of life in Europe.
Thirdly, I believe that in the enlargement package there is clarity about the four countries that are considered to be ahead, meaning Albania, Montenegro, Ukraine and Moldova.
Fifth, I believe that the process of Accession is the best thing that can happen to countries like ours. We are not France that has stayed since a long time and has structures since a long time.
We are countries that come from a very, very dark past and with a very small, if not at all, tradition of state, of institutions, of networks that keep the country together.
So the European Union is blessed. It’s a blessing because it gives us the tools to build our own institutions and to build our own state. So I believe that the process is long; yes, it’s long, but it’s necessary. And nobody should avoid going through it because it would be like taking a driving license without really knowing how to drive and then crushing yourself and harming others. And we have seen some of it before in Europe.
So I believe that we only path that can be different would be that European Union find the courage to get to its new Helmut Kohl moment, as I say, as meaning when he went to the fallen wall. He didn’t say to his fellow Eastern Germans, now you are free but you have 33 chapters to go through. He said, you are free, we are together. And then the institutions started to get together.
So European Union should bring the seven countries that are negotiating or are in the path of accession around the table. And they should be like Ursula kids. Ursula has seven kids. It’s a coincidence. But she didn’t grow their kids in the neighborhood. She grew her kids with her husband in home around the table. So she didn’t tell them go try to grow up in the neighborhood and then come back. So merit-based process should stay as it is. Every country should continue to do its homework, but every country should be around the table. If you want to get more from the table, you have to deliver more in the merit-based process. But politically, this is the way to change the paradigm of never-ending processes and of crossed vetoes and all these things. Now, it will happen? I don’t know. I’m not sure. But it is the right thing to do, yes, I believe so.
-Thank you, Prime Minister, because now we have, well, under the work session. It was a very lively one with a lot of participation and questions. So obviously accession of Albania is interesting for a lot of people. Maybe a last word, your dream of Albania in ten years’ time in the EU. How does it look like?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Listen, I hope that first of all the European Union succeed to save itself from itself. And then everything will be okay for us. So Albania will be good. But will Europe be good? This is something that European Union should sort out because the big challenge is not towards Albania, it’s towards the European Union itself in a world that is changing and in which, but this is for another forum, Europe has to deal with the devil of the social media. And more Europe drags on and on and on without addressing this devil, less will be able to get its act together because what is going on is that European politics is losing completely the center. Things are going more and more to the extremes and the center is becoming a mass grave. And in this mass grave Europe can sleep for good if it will not address this devil.
Thank you very much.
