Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, is today on the second day of his visit to Tirana, the first visit of a French president in the history of Albania.
At Macron’s meeting with the Prime Minister, several agreements were signed, such as the Roadmap for economic cooperation between France and Albania, agreements in the field of culture, police cooperation and the memorandum of Aid Coordination with French Development Agency (AFD).
At the press conference, from the beginning, Prime Minister Edi Rama did not hide his happiness that after a century-long wait, thae French head of state is coming to Albania for a bilateral visit.
“The presence of the President confirms the belief that Albania’s European path and Albania’s growth in the ambition to become the Europe of the Balkans is irreversible. And today I want to repeat before the president that we will continue to try not to be just one of the six parts of the Western Balkans that is European. We want to be the European reference of this Balkan community and we will continue to invest to embody Europe because in the end the process of integration, of reunification are processes that have value as long as they transform themselves”, said Rama.
President Macron said that unlike a few years ago, when France and the Netherlands were leaders in blocking Albania’s integration into the EU, now they are among the most diligent supporters.
“I am convinced that your country is anchored in Europe, not only in this area where they wanted to close it many times while you had that special character of the Western Balkans, but also in our Mediterranean, in the heart of our continent . Yes, your future is completely in this Europe. I say from France, this European reunification is good for us because who can talk about Europe as a power if we leave in the middle of Europe countries that are influenced by powers that simply want the destruction of Europe? The expansion process that has begun is good for you and good for us. The European Political Community is a first stage, but I hope that in the coming months we as Europeans will know how to find the path of reunification that makes it possible for us to make this movement, completely irreversible and powerful”, said Macron.
From Tirana, the French president also delivered a bad news in relation to Kosovo by announcing the suspension of visas.
“I say it very clearly; we trusted them on the issue of visas, but the issue has been suspended by France because it has to do with respecting the word given and the word is not being kept. I expect both parties to commit to moving forward in the coming weeks towards peace in the whole region”.
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