Dear Prime Minister,

Dear Minister Szijjártó,

Dear Friends,

I think that today we are celebrating a landmark decision because - maybe in the Brussels gibberish it sounds very technical - we have opened the first cluster of the negotiations. It means that now the road is open for the substantive negotiations, meaning that now we will negotiate the conditions on which Albania is going to be a member of the European Union. This is what is happening today.

I also want to thank the Hungarian Presidency, who has started its work with putting enlargement not only as a political priority, but also devoting huge efforts to push forward the institutional process. Institutional process, meaning, having all the necessary decisions and meetings that are required to make progress also in terms of concluding the accession negotiations.

It is by now – I think – unquestionable that for the EU and also for its leaders, that enlargement is among the top three priorities. It is among the top three priorities because without enlargement, Europe cannot grow stronger. We will need enlargement for the European Union to get stronger.

Compared to where we started back in 2019, I think we came a long way.

I do remember vividly the first day in my office when I had to call Prime Minister Rama, already in the morning, because they have had a devastating earthquake, a 6.4 earthquake. We immediately stepped in and tried to help. I think this has shaped the rest of the mandate.

This has not only shaped the mandate, but also brought, I think, a new approach. Because what I have inherited from the Juncker Commission - the Prime Minister already pointed to that - was more like a car crash than a portfolio. We had three attempts failed to get agreement on starting the accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia.

We had to take it from there. We had to put enlargement policy first on its feet again, then deal with the real enlargement, the real integration. Meaning, how we are going to get similar economies, societies, embedded in the Western Balkans even before accession takes place; that is the Economic and Investment Plan.

The first thing we did was creating a Revised Enlargement Methodology.

And the third one -the latest one - is the Growth Plan, which is now accelerating enlargement to make it possible that by the end of the mandate of the next Commission we will see Prime Minister Rama nominating his first Commissioner to the Commission.

I also very vividly remember when we first discussed with the Prime Minister my plans; that I think we can make the most out of it. We did not know each other, but he was looking at me with - how should I put it - with modest level of questions whether this is feasible.

And it is feasible. It is feasible because Albania took a new approach when it comes to getting things done. A new approach meaning, not being shy of doing everything that is necessary, including things on the ground.

If you want to take a couple of examples: we had major concerns back in 2020 when it came to organized crime, when it came to corruption and when it came to the judicial system.

We dug really deep with the Prime Minister. He has been committing, engaging, and delivering on all of this with actions together with the Member States, building up trust bit by bit, brick by brick. I think that was a crucial element in the success the country has accumulated by now.

If you look back where we are now; we had COVID, we had to deliver vaccines and we had a of course a major decision already back in 2020 to start the accession negotiations. Then we had another problem, completely unrelated to Albania. But by 2022, we have gotten the first intergovernmental conference of Albania on its way, meaning the accession negotiations have started.

Next to it, we also started to build Europe in Albania. We have addressed issues that I think have been lying there as problems for a number of decades: the Vlora Bypass - which we inaugurated, and the College of Europe in Albania - the first in the Western Balkans. And I could go on.

The list is very, very long. This is because Albania was never shy of doing everything that is required on its EU path. And I do hope that this will continue, because if this continues, it means that - with all the tools that we have at hand - Albania can prepare itself to become a member by the end of the next mandate.

But it means that on the ground, we need to implement also the Economic and Investment Plan.

There I have good news; we are at the level of 60% of implementation. I think this is maybe the most successful part of the whole of the EU budget. 60% already now.

It means that we have not only a success in terms of implementation, but it also means that effectively the program is overbooked. We have an additional of more than 7 billion euros of investment needs, flagged by our partners, that could trigger an additional 20 billion euros of investments in the region. Investments in the real economy, not investments in general. Investments that will create a new economy and a new society in the Western Balkans.

Be it connectivity, be it energy, be it the environment, be it sewage treatment or waste treatment. On all aspects of everyday life, the EU is gearing up itself. And on top of that, the Growth Plan will also help you to accelerate all the reforms that are necessary for you to become a member.

So Prime Minister, you have everything at your disposal now. I do hope that by the time I am gone, you will speed up the work even more, to which I know you feel very, very closely attached to.

Thank you so much!