Rama at the World Economic Forum: The EU dream makes Albania different

The dream of the European Union is what makes Albania different from other countries that have experienced or are experiencing transition. This was Prime Minister Rama’s response to representatives of the World Economic Forum, who asked him to summarize Albania’s transition and identify the biggest challenge.

Rama said that if it weren’t for the dream of being part of the European family, things would have been much worse compared to other countries.

“I believe what makes the difference is the dream. The people in Afghanistan were offered a dream, but they were betrayed. In Iraq, people were told we are bombing you because a dream awaits you afterwards. But that didn’t happen. For Mongolia, I don’t know the history in the same way, but I know that none of these countries had the dream of European Union membership. Not only Albania, but other countries in the region went through transition because they had to face civil, ethnic and religious wars, and now they are all in the development phase. But if the European Union weren’t there as a dream, things would be worse than all of you,” Rama said.