EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi chose the "Student City" to start his visit to Tirana, where he inspected together with the Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj and the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku, the reconstructed buildings of students, funded with the help of the European Union and the German government. 

After the inspection, the Commissioner for Enlargement of the European Union said that the Albanian youth has an important role in bringing European standards in Albania. 

"What we saw today is the real integration of Albania in the European Union, because everyone in the media and in public is talking about the agencies, about one document or another, about a negotiation or another. All of this is very interesting and very important, but that is not the real purpose of these rules. Their real goal is to bring European standards to Albania and to bring Albania into the European Union. One of the biggest assets of Albania, which we do well to talk about, and which is true, are the young people, who will represent Albania, who will bring jobs to Albania. Quality education matters. It is this quality education that will help them get employed, that will give them the qualities to reunite, which will bring prosperity", stressed Commissioner Várhelyi. 

On the other hand, Mayor Erion Veliaj expressed his conviction that such investments bring Tirana even closer to European standards. "Despite the desire of the commissioner, but some wills are beyond his desire. I am sure that if we ask Oliver Varhelyi, Albania should have joined the EU yesterday - not today, not tomorrow. But, this is not a matter of desire. There are 28 countries with different configurations, there is a movement of populist parties, there are many reasons why we are not where we dream of being. What we can do today is to build a piece of Europe here, seeing Europe not as a destination in Brussels, but as a destination within us. If each of us makes sure that his piece is European, we have fulfilled our mission here", said Veliaj. 

He said that the new buildings, rebuilt for students according to European standards, are the gateway to Tirana, as most of them decide to stay here after graduation. "This building is the first gate of someone coming from the provinces to Tirana. Statistically, 9 out of 10 students never return to their hometown or village. Their arrival in such an environment is the way we say to someone "Welcome to a place of opportunity, where wages are a little higher, chances are greater, where the degree of mobility is greater" and will we would like this welcoming, thanks to the contribution of the Albanian government and the European Commission, our friends of KFW and all other donors, to be a real test where you feel like in Europe, from your first station of new life in our capital, which grows every year even more ", said further the mayor. 

The Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku underlined that in these times, energy is an issue. "Electricity is essential for everyone. Globalization has made so no one is immune from anything. It should be thought that energy efficiency can be one of the solutions to save as much energy as possible, to enable every citizen not to miss this vital product. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy has started to rehabilitate government buildings, starting from ministry buildings, hospitals, schools and today we are in all these buildings where the future of this country lives, to turn them into energy efficient buildings", declared Balluku.