The Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, was asked by Top Channel if the EU supports the Balkan Schengen initiative, which the US Special Envoy of the State Department clearly supported.
Rama: The Balkan Schengen is a term first used by Fatos Nano. And when he used that term, the times were such that everyone thought he was crazy. Before speaking about it I have heard the voice in a favor from Belgrade to Brussels and Washington. The voice I hear in public are fewer than the ones I heard from Brussels and Washington and other partners because it used to be seen as a provocation to open the border with Kosovo.
Today, no one is against talking about it. I told this to the Serbian President as well, who took the big and difficult step and removed the veto for limiting the free movement of people. Don’t they want to remove that border, or not? Or do they want to keep saying that they want to remove it, and do nothing about it? Do they want to remove it with a sword dance? I will remove the border between Albania and Kosovo and I will allow the citizens from both sides of the border to travel from Albania to Kosovo as if they were traveling from Prishtina to Gjakova and from Lezha to Durres. They won’t have to wait for hours. This is very simple. This initiative is based not only on consensus, but also for the best interest of the common people in all countries.
If we want to use symbols and myths and feed the ones who are ready to be patriots on Facebook, this means making foreign policy for benefits of the internal policy, and it means making the internal policy fall prey to stories that take you nowhere. This is what I think.
As for the national unification, Rama said that it comes through the integration of the region in the EU. The Albanian people must and shall be untied as part of the processes that are going to unify as all with the people and citizens of this continent. There is no other way if we want to see people have a better economy. The conditions for all services will be improved if we invest more.
This is why I will push this initiative forward, and I am convinced that all countries will join it sooner or later.
Top Channel
