It is clear to all that the place of Albania is in Europe, because of its history, its culture, and its values. Europe has represented a lot to Albania in the past, it can even represent more in the future. Albania, on its end, has abundantly shown that it has done much (and that it can actually do even more) for the European family.
By President GiorGio NaPolitaNo
The opportunity to visit Albania and to speak before you today in this Assembly – for which I would like to thank President Nishani and Speaker Meta – is a particular honor for me in person and for Italy as a country and is the best occasion to reaffirm the shared responsibilities deriving from such close and extended relations like the ones uniting our Peoples and our Nations. The satisfaction I feel being here today, while finding myself amidst You, who are elected to represented your People, derives from the consciousness of what Albania represents today – a neighboring and friend country that in 2012 celebrated its centenary of independence and that, particularly in the last twenty years, has left behind an extraordinary journey, even in the European context, of which Italy has been an attentive witness and an active supporter. It is for this reason that the pride of the Albanian people for the historic achievements of stability, prosperity and growth that have been progressively attained is a feeling shared by Italy as well and by me personally.
The deep relations and the proximity between our two countries – that is not only geographical -vest Italywith a responsibility it is fully aware of. Such responsibility has been translated until now into a constant and careful support to the most important needs of the Albanian people and of the Albanian nation; a commitment, which, without any doubt whatsoever, can be defined as a continuum in the Italian foreign policies, shared by each single Government of the Republic that have come into power from
1989 to this date. I am confident that this commitment shall feature our bilateral relations even in the future, especially in the not-so-far Italy’s Presidency of the European Union.
The feeling of deep friendship shown today during all the meetings reflects not only the spirit of the Italian people, but that of many of your compatriots who have made Italy their chosen homeland, thus giving a critical contribution to the growth of our country and to the development and cooperation of our two economies and societies.
Albanians represents today the second biggest resident community in Italy and have shown of having extraordinary social integration capacities, wise dynamism in their jobs and in entrepreneurships in our country, always preserving the richness of their culture, history and tradition, anciently rooted in our country and in the Albanian historic communities in some of the Italian regions.
On this last note, it is my special pleasure to recall one of the greatest politicians of the Italian “Risorgimento” in the first decades of the United State, Francesco Crispi, who came from the Arb쳥sh community of Sicily, where his predecessors held important posts as well. This is an example of great integration and of intellectual similarities between our two nations! The Albanian citizens living in Italy have on their side shown to know how to provide an important contribution even for Albania’s development; at first through a considerable influx of remittances and then, more recently, exploiting in the best possible way the experiences and knowledge gained in Italy, Albanians have enriched the labor market of this country with their professionalism gained in the field of science, medicine, law, culture.
The growth of Albanian social and production system is nowadays assisted by an important element of Italian entrepreneurship, operating in the Albanian reality on a permanent basis and with growingly satisfactory results. A positive example in this context is found in the joint challenge that was recently successfully crowned for the bid on the gas pipelines from Azerbaijan to Europe through TAP Consortium – Trans Adriatic Pipeline. I am sure that through the IAP – Ionic Adriatic Pipeline, the cooperation in the field of energy between Albania, Greece and Italy shall considerably contribute to a greater economic and production integration of our countries.
More generally, Rome and Tirana do play a determinant role in the Adriatic- Ionian Initiative, which, also thanks to the current Albanian Presidency of the Initiative, has represented a strong intergovernmental basis for the “EU’s Strategy on Establishing the Adriatic- Ionian Macro-Region”. I am confident that the understanding between our two Governments shall give a major drive for the drafting of that Strategy, in view of its final approval by the end of this year, a time significantly coinciding with the Italian Presidency of the European Union. The successes just mentioned are a clear testimony of your extraordinary potential, which is naturally inherent to the cooperation between Italy and Albania, a partnership which shall take even greater and more dynamic forms, with the objective of having an impact on the economic re-vitalization, social cohesion and the creation of employment opportunities: topics which are of a core importance for the future of Albania, Italy and of the entire Europe.
Italy has always offered — and shall keep offering — a decisive support for Albania’s approximation to Europe. Tirana’s membership in NATO five years ago and the introduction of the visa liberalization regime in 2010 are success stories of which you — and we — can be proud, while awaiting for achieving the crucial objective — that is recognition of the candidate country status for EU membership.
It is clear to all that the place of Albania is in Europe, because of its history, its culture, and its values.
Europe has represented a lot to Albania in the past, it can even represent more in the future. Albania, on its end, has abundantly shown that it has done much (and that it can actually do even more) for the European family.
The “Country of Eagles” and its citizens have shown their resoluteness in overcoming difficult times and important turning points, by taking advantage in the best possible way of their own human and material resources. In the Balkans, shaken in the ’90ies by internal unrest and harsh conflicts, Albania has more and more shown to be an element of stability, a supporter of dialogue and a spokescountry of democracy, tolerance, and the rule of law. Such stance and identity rest in the very foundations of those values that are the arteries connecting, unifying the Union, and that compose the essence of our common identity. Such commitment has gone beyond the boundaries of the Balkans, and has brought Albania to assist international peace and security, such as in the case of the mission in Afghanistan where the contribution of the Albanian contingent, ranked alongside the Italian military in the Western region of the country, deserves a maximum appreciation and is a vivid testimony of the deep understanding characterizing our two peoples.
The values I highlighted above are not true only for the last years of your history. It is exactly these values that led you, already during the second World War, to offer sheltering to thousands of Jewish citizens trying to get away from prosecutions and the Holocaust tragedy, and to assist the Italian soldiers who, in the last years of that bloody war, found solidarity and friendship in the Albanian people, despite of the fact that they had arrived in your country as aggressors and conquerors. We will never forget about the brotherhood feeling expressed through the participation in the partisan brigades, in one of which a youth friend of mine, Galdo Galderisi, fought and was heroically killed. During its last history, and especially after 1992, Albania has faced a path of growth, consequently leading to the reconstruction of the state foundations and the establishment of responsible institutions, committed in protecting the democratic values, based on principles of European civilization. We have been witnesses and have actively contributed, driven by the spirit of sincere brotherhood, to the growingly improving living conditions of the Albanian population, to the emergence of a modern and dynamic entrepreneurship, symbolized by the work of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises, and to the constant empowerment of various social stakeholders, which today serve as the supportive structure of a society and of a country that flourishes and grows, despite the world markets’ challenges and difficulties injected by the international economic crisis.
Such extraordinary improvements have been recognized by the European Union; the disappointment and sincere sorrow shared by Rome and Tirana over the postponement to next June of the decision on the candidate country status for Albania cannot thus be a surprise. For this reason, I wish to convey to you today, in this place that symbolizes the country’s democracy, my message of optimism and trust in the capacities and potentials of Albania. I encourage the Albanian people to continue to follow with persistence and renewed conviction its European objective, by further accelerating its drive towards reforms in the field of legislation, so as to further reaffirm the effective division of powers and the supremacy of the rule of law, while awaiting for the crucial deadlines of next June. In this context, all the efforts to further empower the fight against criminality (which might wish to raise its head and become more aggressive), reforms in the judiciary and the fight against corruption, coherent with a strong legal framework that is already considered to be compliant to the European Union acquis and the international standards, are highly needed. Full respect of the fundamental human rights and proper functioning of all state institutions, at the service of the citizens, are in the very heart of the democratic values the united Europe is built upon, while hitherto progress represent a real incentive to keep going in the same direction with no hesitation and with no turning back. I am confident that the main merit for such progress should be recognized primarily to this parliamentary institution – to the Assembly, for all its systematical and not- at-all easy work done in this current and in the previous legislatures.
Hence, while serious and demanding tasks are awaiting to be tackled by the Parliamentary Assembly and by the entire country in the months to come, Italy will also have to make an extraordinary effort through the exercise of its role while presiding the European Union. The commitment of the Italian Presidency shall first and foremost aim at defining a joint answer for the growth of employment — mainly for the youth — and against the economic crises suffocating Europe’s economy since 2008, and which is, as I have recalled several weeks ago in the European Parliament, the easiest noticeable reason why Europe is now going through such difficult times.
A new area of sustainable economic growth, compatible with the equilibrium of our public finances is indispensable to restore trust, but should also be accompanied by new institutional and political developments in the sense of a greater integration and democratic legitimacy of the Union. In actual truth, there is no doubt that emerging from the crisis passes through another step forward towards European integration: back in 1954 Jean Monnet did already warn the European citizens stating that “our countries have become rather smallŠcompared to the size of the United States and Russia today, and of China and India tomorrow”. Thus the “tomorrow” Monnet spoke of in 1954 has become nowadays our “today”.
But, I believe that the crises of the peoples’ consent the European Union is currently suffering from, has deeper roots, thus change needs to go beyond mere institutional reforms and socio-economic policies. The vital issue of Europe today is the re-launch of values and sharing of a joint vision that make up for the real identity of Europe: this is the only way to recover the European feeling inspiring the founding fathers and which is at risk of being lost amidst the many difficulties of our times. But, as happened back at the time of the Union’s establishment, this feeling cannot be based only on the refusal of selfish and conflicting nationalisms, but should instead be deeply rooted in the consciousness of a real, urgent need to give life to new developments in the Union in the political understanding, both with concern to the big development choices in our entire joint space, and regarding our external relations and the projection of our values and of our action in other parts of the world, and primarily in the Mediterranean area.
Despite the different approaches in each country, there is, as a matter of fact, a joint European culture space: a combination of creative experiences, traditions and aspirations joining us and that will make real European Citizens out of us. Nobody can have the illusion that such identity, bringing together the identities of each of our nations without being merely a sum of them all, can be protected in isolation within the boundaries of a national dimension. In the absence of a real European dimension, the pressure exercised by the globalization of chances and crises would put the European Union at real danger of being immerged.
I am convinced Albania should play its role in such reflection, which is probably not going to be exhausted in a short period of time, since for this country the European path has become an objective shared by all the political forces, in the best interest of the country.
I believe it is both a task and an obligation of the citizens, of national and European institutions to cultivate and to grow this community of values and rights and provide their contribution in order for this inheritance, built with such big efforts, to be maintained and enriched through concerted answers to the challenges of these difficult times. The enlargement process is certainly one of the most ambitious aims, but it is also the one which can better than others give momentum to a new drive of openness and positive energy for the European construction. Albania’s and other countries’ aspiration to become a full-fledged member of the Union represent a strong signal of trust for all the European peoples in such difficult times: it recalls us all that the value of Europe does not only derive from its economic dimension, but first and foremost from being a union of free peoples and democratic states.
Europe has done a lot for our countries. For Italy, it represented trust in the future in the years following the Second World War and during its reconstruction efforts. For Albania, especially during the time of isolation and dictatorship, the Union has represented hope. The road taken so far shows that the support and trust in Albania have been fair and justified. Such road should be continued with the pride and trust originating from the relevant progress already made and the feeling of resoluteness to achieve this historic aim, for the benefit of the country.
As in the past, Italy will make sure that its trust and support will never be missing. We do hope to open our semester of European Chairmanship by welcoming the Republic of Albania as officially admitted to the candidate country status by the European Council.
It is with this feeling of optimism in our capacities and vision that I would like to once again thank you all for the attention and the warm welcome you reserved to me, and to seize this occasion to express my heart-felt thank-you to the Albanian friend people for the highest appreciation for Italy which it demonstrated by awarding me, through President Nishani, the Flag Medal, as a token of the deep friendship relations between our two peoples.
This is the speech Italian President Giorgio Napolitano held in front of the Albanian parliament on March 5. It is an unofficial translation to English of the Italian original.
