TIRANA, March 14 – Prime Minister Edi Rama warned regional and European leaders last weekend of the risks of an EU enlargement fatigue in the Balkans.
Speaking at an event organized by a regional organization that Albania leads this year, Rama said that the integration of all Balkan countries into the bloc is an “ideal scenario,” and one he considers possible sooner rather than later.
He criticized the fears of several countries or political groupings in the EU over taking in the rest of the Balkan countries into the EU.
“Today’s reality shows that despite the success of the economic cooperation and the joint market … without the joint cultural basis … the union is always in front of an increasing threat … the project is always threatened,” Rama said.
He added, “No economic or financial reform is more important than the reform in education, than the cultural policies and those for the youth, in order to strengthen the European culture.”
The Albanian premier concluded saying that if Europe is not capable of coping with the opposing “populist and nationalist barbarism, it is not the project that is to be blamed, but rather that the fact that the project is not complete.”
Albania was granted the candidate status last year and is now working to convince EU to launch negotiation talks.
Other Western Balkan countries are relatively in a similar position with some already in the full membership talks.
But the EU has indicated it will take at least a decade before Albania can join.
