Rama jokes about the “Russian gangster” and “Chinese toys”: the EU has 7 candidates, let’s all gather around the table

Prime Minister Edi Rama used a family metaphor to describe the EU enlargement process during the Inter-Parliamentary Conference with representatives of Albanian institutions, the European Parliament and European parliaments.

Referring to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, “who has seven children”, Rama compared the EU to a family with seven membership candidates.

According to him, everyone should be “around the table”, while what each one gets should be determined by merit and progress in the integration process.

“There is a coincidence here, Ursula has 7 children and the EU has 7 candidates. So Ursula’s children did not grow up in the neighbourhood, they grew up around the table. She did not tell her daughter go and spend some time with that Russian gangster over there in the corner, because mom is a bit busy; she did not tell her son go and play with some Chinese toys, because now the table is used by adults. They were all around the table, but not everyone had the same voice value, they did not have the same strength of word, even the food might not have been the same. I think Europe should find the Helmut Kohl moment and say come on, everyone around this table, and then what each one gets depends on the merit-based process. If you are still working on another chapter, you are still one of Ursula’s children who has not grown up yet.”