Skopje, 22 January 2024 (MIA) - Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, at the leaders' meeting on the EC's Growth Plan for the Western Balkan on Monday, underscored that this represents a significant test of maturity that we need to pass.

He underlined that the agreements now included in the Growth Plan and the common market are also part of the Open Balkans initiative and what was supposed to be the Berlin Process. Everyone should have taken it more seriously, but it turned into daily politics and power games not only in the region but also within the EU.

"When I said that while we have to wait that EU gets us in, let's get each other in; everyone said no, no. The very distinguished professor and former Prime Minister of Montenegro even told me that we cannot join the process because they will join the EU by 2025. Indeed, he told me that, and I was impressed. I told him, 'You join first in this, and if you join the EU, we will shut down our countries and join Montenegro.' So, we entered 2024, and I am not informed that Montenegro is in the EU," Rama said.

Therefore, emphasized Rama, I am very energized by this because, as he ironically said, "to be motivated by a concrete EU step is something historic."

“So forgive my enthusiasm and optimism. I am not stupid. It’s really good reason to be optimist today after having had a dinner last night where suddenly we realised that we can have civilized conversation and that we can think about economy and people without getting history in the middle of two meals,” Rama said.

According to Rama, for the Growth Plan to be successful, regular meetings are necessary.

"Technical coordination is very important that the ministers of integration of our six countries get a clear message from the leadership – they should be agnostic of history, and they should be daltonic. They should not see the colours of the flags, they should forget what colours are every flag of our countries. And the only flag should be, make it or break it, of the EU," Rama said.

Montenegro’s Prime Minister Milojko Spajić emphasized that EU membership entails more than just being formally part of the EU community, but to achieve deep economic integration. He added that citizens should be provided with visible economic benefits, and empowered them economically, at least at the level of EU average.

"The EU Growth Plan is a significant opportunity for all of us. The Growth Plan is a major signal for EU businesses to invest and engage in our countries. This is a signal that this region will certainly be part of the larger market because it is not the same if you invest in Montenegro and are uncertain whether your market will be a market of half a million people or half a billion people. The less their uncertainty, the more prepared they will be to invest in Montenegro and all our countries," said Spajić in his address at the leaders’ meeting.

He added that Montenegro supports the EU single market, and as a country, they will invest all efforts at the political, technical, and parliamentary levels, doing everything necessary for the entire region to be as close to the EU as possible.

"I think it’s really the time, that there is a lot of interest in the region from the businesses of the EU, but we need to encourage them, we need to send a message of togetherness, to be good neighbours and to increase economic ties and infrastructural links. We need more communication with the EU and deeper and engagement," Spajić said.

In Montenegro, as he said, there is now a new political will, and they are prepared to engage with their neighbours and be constructive on all topics that will be discussed today and in the future.

"We have to finish our part of the deal. In Montenegro, there is now a new political will, a new technical capability that may not have existed until recently, and we are prepared to engage with our neighbours, to help if we can, and certainly to be very constructive on all the topics we are discussing here and in the future," Spajić noted.

Photo: screenshot/Government