Deputy Prime Minister Arben Ahmetaj spoke on Monday about what is happening in Europe as a result of the war in Ukraine and Albania's path to the EU, emphasizing that the conflict has brought a view that has not been seen in Europe for decades. 

During the 7th Forum of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, Ahmetaj also spoke about Albania and said that the country has met the conditions for the opening of negotiations, for which he stressed that they are being held hostage for ridiculous reasons. 

"The war is in Ukraine but it is felt all over the world. I would say it is one world before February 24th and another after that. The foundations of what we fought for for 77 years have been shaken again at a time when no one expected it, thought about it and no one would have imagined the dimension and the shaking of democracy, the rule of law. Solidarity is the key word not only for Ukraine, but all the countries that are suffering a lot due to the great shaking of the foundations. Countries like Albania or the Western Balkans suffer the most because of the tide, the crisis. 

When we say that we must prepare as a candidate country, we must learn every day and we are taught in a stabilizing way in terms of enlargement, but also to preserve our identity. Cultural identity, we are a Mediterranean country. We share a lot with Greece, Croatia, Italy. We are a country of the Western Balkans, we share with Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia. We are different. A unifying strategy prepares us for the West. After the pandemic we can see that this has to be done daily work for young people to stay here, with educational policies, housing to support young couples. 

These are the steps we are trying to take to keep young people here. Maybe 30 years ago when I was in the US in the first years of my education, smarter people than me told me that when you return to Albania the professions you have learned will probably no longer exist. Today, as I get older, I can see that my daughters are pursuing other areas that I never thought possible. It's a good mix to keep young people here. A good mix of youth policies and digitalisation would make us change the face of the economy for a more modern one. We have invested a lot, but in recent years the government has injected a lot of money. 95% of services are online, online. In early May, the prime minister shut down physical services and we are urging ourselves to use only online services", said Ahmetaj.