TIRANA, July 20 – Prime Minister Edi Rama was in a talk show in Italy at the RAI 3 television channel, which he used to make an introduction of the good financial environment existing in his country and to call on the Italian businesses to invest.
Rama insisted that unlike some European countries where the popularity of the European Union as fallen, Albania hopes and it is working to become one day part of the bloc.
“Of course it may seem a special paradox that while there are now a few who want to leave it — enough to think of Great Britain or political forces in other countries — we in the Balkans and in Albania want to get into that because we continue to believe in this major project and think that despite the difficult moment Europe is passing through nowadays it does not mean we should have less of a Europe or go out of Europe, which would mean leaving history,” Rama said in RAI’s Agora show.
The premier said there are about 20,000 Italians who have come to live in Albania either for studying or jobs.
Albania is a different story now compared to 25 years ago when hundreds of thousands of Albanians climbed over ships to go to Italy.
Rama said that there are hundreds of Italian businesses in Albania due to the low labor costs and the low fiscal pressure.
Rama said that if the EU and the euro are abandoned that powerful castle will fall.
“We should rebuild the European project. An unfinished project is causing problems not the project in itself,” he said. “We should have a European project that makes all stronger.”
Rama did not speak in detail though of the hardships or difficulties Albania is trying to cope with.
Poverty, the judicial system, organized crime and corruption continue to remain hard challenges for Rama and his cabinet.
