Belgrade, 2 September 2022 (MIA) - Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said Friday that September 1 was the biggest day for Open Balkan, but he warned that it “could have also been a typically bad day for the Balkans as a whole”. “Instead of giving a chance to those who work hard, the food producers from the entire world, we could have had news of some clashes or military conflicts. That is why we should look ahead, bring people closer, so they understand each other better. A solution is necessary for these issues, but we must not forget that there are many fields in which we could cooperate,” said Rama. He recalled Vucic’s statement that this will be a difficult winter for the region, however, “we are spared the dire consequences”. Still, said Rama, there are electricity restrictions in Kosovo. “In the meantime, Germany and France presented their restriction plans, which include electricity restrictions after 10pm. We spoke about how much that would cost us, without transferring the burden to our citizens. Which is why we signed an agreement today that will have to be implemented. So that we avoid changing the electricity prices for households and small consumers. We will need hundreds of millions of euros for it. But the question is how long the crisis will last, even if the money is there, perhaps there will not be a place where you could buy electricity from. This is why our cooperation is important. I call on the EU not to repeat its shameful behavior towards the Western Balkans, as it did during the Covid crisis, making us turn towards China and Russia for medicines, because the EU only looked out for itself,” said Rama. Fortunately, said Rama, all EU leaders realized that this behavior was shameful, so they introduced the idea for a political union. “The EU should meet and additionally decide how to support these countries. The EU member states have their own budgets and a common budget, while we rely only on our humble budgets. The three of us will ask the EU for the same to apply to us and for additional financial aid, and I will be happy if three more countries join us until then. For Albania at least half a billion euros are necessary for the maintenance and supply of energy which would not burden the citizens. Additionally, we want to establish a joint investment agency within Open Balkan, which would have branches in all countries, but remain under common management,” announced Rama. dk/ik/