TIRANA, October 16 – Prime Minister Edi Rama opened the summit of the Berlin Process that took place in Tirana on Monday, stating that the economic promises of the Berlin Process have not yet been realized, while leaders from the European Union present in the summit offered a new growth plan to the Western Balkans, opening parts of the EU single market and asking for deep-rooted reforms ahead of membership in the bloc for the six countries of the region.
In his address to the summit Rama said that “some of the representatives of the countries here are from the EU, some others, like us, are from ‘E’ without ‘U’.
The main topics at the annual talks of the Berlin Process were the integration of the Western Balkans into the single market and supporting their green and digital transformation. The nations in the region are Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
The senior EU officials attending the summit in Tirana were European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel. They were joined by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Prime Minister Rama said that a war close to Europe has shown us that the world is changing much faster and differently than most of us have predicted.
According to him, “there are many challenges ahead, but for all of us here, the biggest challenge is the painful division between EU members and non-EU members”.
“Living without the EU is not easy,” he added.
But on the other hand, evaluating the new EU economic plan, Rama pointed out that significant steps have been taken for major political and economic changes in the Western Balkans. /argumentum.al
