Greetings. It was another European day in the fullest sense of the word for Albania and Tirana, where we gathered for the summit of the European Union's Growth Plan for the Western Balkans — a table built to take stock of the period between summits, to assess the results of joint initiatives, to underline new commitments, to follow in detail the calendar of tasks that each of the Western Balkan states has in relation to the new Growth Plan, and finally to discuss freely everything each one feels necessary to share with the table.
Today I can say that we have closed yet another fruitful meeting, with further concrete steps that bring the region closer to the European Union, once again confirming that the Growth Plan is a fast and secure bridge toward the European single market. Briefly, I will bring to the public's attention some of the commitments — roaming, which under the new agreement will also be included for our citizens within the European Union regime. A very important and meaningful step, following the one on payments, which now come with no extra charge, saving tens and tens of millions of euros from the pockets of citizens in each of the Western Balkan countries.
The connection with European corridors remains a priority and continues to be financed by European Union instruments. Trade and its facilitation through a detailed plan concerning border crossings, digital transformation and digital identity — which we already have ready, as we have presented, and which we will put into real life at the beginning of next year, practically anticipating what will then be the entire digital identification system of the European Union. That means there will no longer be a need for identity cards, passports and so on, because identification will be done simply through the mobile phone, and likewise the digital identity will also apply to many other activities related to financial transactions, to direct purchases through the phone.
And of course we also spoke about alignment with the European Union's value chain in the industrial aspect, and about tourism as a component that must be strengthened in the sense of cooperation among countries. Meanwhile, I think we have opened another avenue for cooperating with the Commission in order to strengthen higher education through internationalization — something we have already begun in Albania, but with the help and support of the Commission I believe we can take it to another level, not only in Albania but across the entire region.
In closing, I sincerely thank everyone who took part, for their presence and their contribution. I especially thank the European Commission — the representation, the mission, the embassy, I don't know, I haven't yet understood what it's called, the delegation — the European Commission delegation in Tirana, for the work done in cooperation with us and all the other institutions present. And finally, but not least in importance, the Commissioner, who is once again here in Albania and with whom we will meet very soon after the historic moment of a few days ago, the opening of all the negotiation chapters for membership in the European Union. Thank you very much, and once again — dear Marta, the floor is yours.
Hello, dear journalists, dear friends. I am here in Tirana for this meeting, now as the Western Balkans good to support not European other western countries. Today we have a frank discussion on how to speed up the implementation and make the Growth Plan a success that delivers for all the people of the Western Balkans. And we talked about the need to enlarge the notion of enlargement. For me, enlargement is not only about our energy markets. And last week the College adopted the Democracy Shield and Civil Society Strategy, and in both candidate countries and EU member states are treated as equals. And I'm proud of that, and we will go even further, including you in the endeavor to protect democracy and our values.
We want to make the European Union a lived reality in your countries already today, to bring prosperity, stability and security to all of us. In some areas this is already taking shape. Albanians, Montenegrins, Macedonians already benefit from cheaper transaction costs because of SEPA. But our ambition is for all of the countries to advance in SEPA, and we do not want new gaps to develop between the Western Balkans and the EU, because ultimately all the Western Balkan countries belong in the European Union. All Western Balkan countries should become full members of the Union, with full rights, as confirmation of full alignment with EU laws and, even more important, with EU values.
And let us focus today on how we can accelerate in the second half of the Growth Plan. And there is one particularly important deadline coming up. In June, the one-year grace period for unmet reforms from the second reporting round will expire. Paying extra for cross-border phone calls or communication is something we no longer do inside the European Union. So why should you? We need to work on faster rules on the green lanes. Implementation is ongoing. Last year we agreed on 11 common crossing points between the EU and the Western Balkans, and five common crossing points within the Western Balkans. And as you have seen this morning, the Commission and the World Bank exchanged a letter of intent, committing to swiftly move on with the second phase of the Safe and Sustainable Transport Program and unblock projects in infrastructure, digital innovation, consumer protection and tourism. And this will benefit not just your citizens but also your businesses.
I know that sometimes the reforms we agreed to together are not always easy, but they allow us to accelerate EU accession talks and prepare the process. Unlocking opportunities is giving access to member state treatment in some policies, and it also shows our member states that you are ready for more and deeper integration into the European Union. For investments, we expect that the closer the countries of the Western Balkans get to the EU — and as you know, we describe your country, Albania, and Montenegro as front runners — the more this is what we know from the past, the more curious the citizens will get from the member states. But new investment conference in Tirana — congratulations. Reality, ground, future, Western. Thank you.
Ambroze Meta from Syri Televizion. The first question is for the Commissioner for Enlargement. The OSCE/ODIHR report and the European Commission report showed that the May 11 elections were an uneven race, where state resources were misused, there was intimidation of voters, influence from the network of patronage figures, and even involvement by criminal gangs. In your judgment, how do you read this report? Were the May 11 elections a fulfilled standard for integration? Were they up to European Union standards? And for Prime Minister Edi Rama: when your former Prime Minister Arben Ahmetaj was declared wanted by SPAK, you stated that you bear no responsibility for your collaborators who eat pears behind your back. Today another of your collaborators, Erjon Veliaj, is in prison, and a day earlier GJKKO placed your Deputy Prime Minister under security measures for violations of equality in tenders. My question is: will you dismiss Belinda Balluku, and is this a coincidence — do all your collaborators eat pears behind your back, or is it a governing model for which you must be held responsible? Thank you.
Thank you for the question. I want to say first of all that if today Albania has opened all the negotiation chapters for membership, among the fundamental reasons is also the fact that Albania is seriously fighting corruption and organized crime. And without a doubt, the fact that questions with this content can be asked today is linked to a new era we have entered, and into this new era Albania has been brought by this governing majority, with me at its head.
As for the concrete case, I must say three things. First, the independence of the judiciary is not a slogan, not a political maneuver, nor a temporary experiment, but a historic break with the past, realized only in recent years. This independence has brought an absolute novelty to the institutional life of Albania and indisputably positive developments. Starting from an undeniable fact — the burial of a culture more than 100 years old of impunity — but it has also shown the natural weaknesses of a power that is entirely new, childlike in age, as well as old anti-democratic reflexes.
Second, I want to emphasize that regardless of and beyond the high costs that these old anti-democratic reflexes of the new special bodies have for the country — and not just for us, but for me personally — the protection of independence and the preservation of the independence of the justice system are preconditions. They are preconditions for any stance on our part. Because, as a wise saying that I like very much goes, one should never throw the baby out with the dirty water.
And here I come to the third point: the suspension from duty of a minister — in this case also the Deputy Prime Minister, that is, directly responsible for leading the government in the absence of the Prime Minister — is yet another manifestation of precisely those weaknesses I mentioned above, of a power that is entirely new, and of the anti-democratic reflexes I also mentioned above. This is a unique case in the history of Europe and also in the history of the special justice bodies created in the European integration processes of former communist countries, where it has never happened that a prosecutor and a judge meet head to head and suspend a member of the government from duty.
But this is also a very big 'but': if a special prosecutor and a special court of first instance of the special court here in Albania have decided to suspend a minister, this is a direct infringement of the independence and functioning of another independent power, namely the executive, taking over the competences of the Prime Minister, the President and the Parliament, from which the mandate of the government and of every minister originates. Our choice in relation to this fact is strategic: to stand aside, as always, to preserve and support the independence of the judiciary, as a precondition even in this extreme case.
To put it directly, we cannot respond to an arbitrariness of these proportions with any kind of arbitrariness, nor will we engage in a distant political, rhetorical battle with justice. But we will continue with our strategic patience. We will preserve and support the independence of the judiciary. We will unconditionally respect the suspension decision of the minister, and in the meantime we will seek the protection of the independence of the functioning of the government, which has been infringed, only through justice, in the Constitutional Court. This is who we are, this is who I am, and so it will be until the end, as long as I have the privilege of leading Albania to become a member of the European Union.
The protection of the new, and not temporary, independence of the justice system is our absolute priority, even in the face of situations as flagrant as this one, about which justice itself must find the constitutional answer.
