Speech of EU Ambassador Luigi Soreca at Tirana Economic Forum

30.01.2020
Tirana, Albania

Dear colleagues,

Ladies and gentlemen,

The Western Balkans are faced with a challenging international environment. Geopolitically, we live in a time of heightened tensions, growing nationalism and profound uncertainties.

Recent developments in the Middle East have demonstrated how quickly countries like Albania can find themselves in the middle of broader geopolitical confrontations.

Economically, we have also witnessed a slowdown in economic activity both at the global and the European level, with resurging protectionism and trade disputes weighing on economic growth and political stability.

In that context, the first means through which Albania can play a stabilising role in the region is by fostering the domestic conditions of this stability.

This means institutional and economic reforms to get the house in order: guarantee the rule of law, successfully complete the justice reform, end uncertainty regarding property rights, and boost economic growth and competitiveness.

Domestic stability relies on both political and economic pillars, which the country need to address together. Albania has no time to lose, especially under the pressure from its youth leaving the country and business struggling to find skilled labour.

Progress on the domestic reform path is crucial to the political and economic future of Albania. However, in difficult global times, real and sustainable progress can never be achieved in isolation. This is the essence of the European project, which applies to the region too.

Strengthening cooperation throughout the Western Balkans is the core of our discussion on regional stability.

The Regional Economic Area – REA – is an important and inclusive framework to increase connectivity. Consolidating a market of 20 million people will boost economic growth and create opportunities for citizens and business. Since day one, Albania has been one of the strongest advocates of REA, for instance through the Prime Ministers Meeting in Durres in 2018.

The European Union supports this effort. We have set aside 1 billion euro for boosting connectivity in the region, leveraging total investments of more than 3.2 billion euro.

For many years, Albania has been a solid promoter of good neighbourly relations. Only last month, Albania's chairmanship of CEFTA managed to overcome the deadlock we have known in the past year. This led to a successful Ministerial meeting in Tirana where all Western Balkans countries agreed on the regional liberalisation of services.

Albania's commitment to a multilateral security order has not stayed at the rhetorical level, with active participation in both EU and NATO military operations around the world, and full alignment with the European Union’s foreign and security policy. This includes difficult issues such as sanctions against Russia in relation to its actions in Ukraine.

Albania’s leadership role as OSCE Chairmanship this year has taken its multilateral commitment and international standing to a new level.

Albania is also taking an important role together with two other Western Balkans countries in moving forward regional economic integration through the trio initiative. Renewed impetus to regional cooperation and enhanced regional ownership are very welcome.

What is important is that regional initiatives include all partners in the Western Balkans, are based on EU rules and build on existing commitments, such as CEFTA, the Regional Economic Area or the Transport Community.

This constructive role of Albania in the region and beyond over many years has not gone unnoticed in Brussels and other EU capitals. The commitment to the rules-based multilateral order is an essential element of the European perspective of any country in the region. Regional cooperation is an integral part of the accession process.

And the alignment on our foreign and security policy is of huge strategic importance for the European Union. We find in Albania one of our most reliable partners.

The geopolitical context puts the Western Balkans and enlargement even higher on the EU agenda. European Union leaders will discuss the enlargement process at the European Council in March, before meeting with the leaders of the region at the EU-Western Balkans summit in Zagreb in May.

President von der Leyen has made two things very clear. First, that her Commission is a “geopolitical Commission"; second, that the EU perspective of the region remains unwavering.

Both those commitments mean that, in a difficult global environment, Albania’s role in the region will receive even more scrutiny.

Albania should use this attention to its advantage – by being a champion of inclusive regional cooperation, by continuing to root its foreign policy firmly on EU and NATO cooperation, and by pursuing necessary domestic reforms.

Thank you