Check against delivery

Good afternoon,

Exactly one year ago, the first Inter-Governmental Conference was held. Today a year ago EU-Albania entered into a new phase. Today a year later, as I am ending my own tenure, I would like to take stock of where we stand.

Let me be clear from the outset: Overall, Albania stands in a good place - but there is still a lot of work ahead.

Out of the six clusters grouping the various chapters of the EU acquis, the negotiating teams have arrived at the screening of cluster 5. Tomorrow, Member States will receive from the EU Commission the findings and the recommendations of the screening report for cluster 1. This shows that a lot of work has been done over the last year. For many Albanian public servants, Brussels has become a second home.

Let me use this opportunity to express my appreciation for the particular efforts made by the government to strengthen its negotiating team within the Prime Minister’s office but also with the team of negotiators working hard in the concerned Ministries and agencies. We can clearly see from this set-up: we are in business.

Now, beyond the technicalities of the screening process for the year 2022-2023, most importantly there has been a change of the view on Albania. What do I mean: Albania hosted EU – Western Balkans summit on 6 December 2022.

The message was clear: EU leaders came to town to emphasize their commitment to the membership perspective of the countries in the region and anchor the region firmly into the European Union.

A number of substantial reforms brought Albania to the negotiating table, not the least the justice reform and fight against corruption and organised crime.

Recent developments have shown that the fight against organised crime and corruption starts to bear fruits. SPAK’s work, its court and its special prosecution office stand out. These developments show SPAK’s resolve. Other developments (or sometimes the lack of them) have however at times shown a pattern of partial stagnation, if not setbacks.

At times, our colleagues in Brussels have a feeling that they have to pull the break on some legislative initiatives while other issues could benefit from some acceleration. Resolve in meaningful reforms towards EU aquis has to be the dynamic to prevail.

The coming months will be trying for the judicial bodies, both in terms of prosecution and rulings but also in the management of the judiciary by the self-governing bodies.

However, guaranteeing rule of law is not to be left to the judiciary alone!

Rooting out corruption and dysfunctionality is not only a matter of prosecuting individuals but is also about systemic reforms and creating incentives for good practices. The latter being a responsibility of the political authorities.

On all those reforms, you can count on our unwavering support.

Let me make a few remarks about cohesion policy.

The EU’s cohesion policy serves, inter alia, to close the development gap between the Member States, what we otherwise call the convergence gap.

It is clear that there is a substantial convergence gap between the EU Member States and the six countries in this region.

This is the logic behind the new growth plan outlined by the President of the Commission during her speech at the Globesec conference end of 31 May:

Let me quote: We do not only ask our partners to take new steps towards us. We also take a big step towards them.

I suppose you are all aware of the four strands of this new growth plan, which is now with our Member States for consideration.

Let me sum up the essence of this growth plan by quoting again President von der Leyen: We want to offer the Western Balkans some of the advantages to membership in advance.

Monday’s meeting hosted by the Prime Minister with colleagues from the region and Commissioner Varhelyi is also a clear demonstration on how we work together to put this into motion.

To offer the benefits of membership in advance, including in terms of funding is “geopolitics” in action; it is the concrete translation of our most important geopolitical policy: the enlargement policy.

President von der Leyen has however been very clear in her speech in Bratislava by immediately adding:But this means that certain requirements of membership also have to be met in advance.

Allow me to conclude by zooming out.

Unfortunately, the last year has not seen an end to the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

In these times of crisis, Albania has proven repeatedly, to be a reliable and trustworthy partner, being here, in Brussels, Geneva or New-York.

In all these international fora, we are 28 with Albania and more if we see the others in the region who stood with us.

The Russian aggression has shown to us that in times of crisis and war we need to close ranks with our most trusted partners, among them Albania.

Thank you