Von der Leyen and Rama Unite in Tirana: Western Balkans Declared “Europe’s New Frontier”
#UrsulavonderLeyen #EdiRama #WesternBalkans
In Tirana, Albania, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama delivered powerful back-to-back speeches at the Regional Investment Conference for the Western Balkans, presenting a shared vision of a more integrated, forward-looking Europe. The event marked a highlight of von der Leyen’s Western Balkans tour, where she unveiled concrete economic projects aimed at deepening the region’s connection with the European Union.
Von der Leyen praised Albania’s rapid progress in joining the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), noting that money transfers between Tirana and Brussels now arrive “within minutes and at zero cost” — a tangible symbol of how the Western Balkans are “already feeling the Union in their daily lives.” She announced that joining SEPA will save regional companies 500 million euros annually, underscoring that the Western Balkans are “firmly on their way to becoming part of the European Union.”
The European Commission chief unveiled the Western Balkans Growth Plan, a sweeping economic strategy designed to double the region’s GDP within a decade by expanding investment, reform, and integration. She highlighted over 4 billion euros in new EU-linked investments, including projects in clean energy, AI, and digital infrastructure. Von der Leyen announced that European AI factories will open to the Western Balkans, starting with “two antennas” in North Macedonia and Serbia, giving local businesses access to Europe’s computational power.
Her address emphasized a clear message to global investors: “The time to invest in the Western Balkans is now.” She stressed that clean energy, resilient supply chains, and high-tech cooperation would make the region a “strategic pillar” of Europe’s economic future.
Prime Minister Edi Rama, in turn, delivered a poetic and visionary response. Calling the Western Balkans “Europe’s new frontier,” he described the region not as “Europe’s backyard” but as its laboratory of resilience and innovation. Rama urged Europe to treat enlargement as “strategic intelligence, not geography,” insisting that the Balkans are “not a problem to solve, but a solution waiting to be integrated.”
Drawing on literary wit, he compared years of EU waiting to “Waiting for Godot”, saying Albania and North Macedonia had become “Vladimir and Estragon — condemned to wait together.” Yet, he celebrated the end of that long wait, highlighting Albania’s readiness to lead in digitalization, clean energy, and AI cooperation.
Rama’s most memorable moment came at the end, when a sign fell from his lectern mid-speech, prompting him to quip: “Sorry, if you needed the illustration of crisis, you just had it.” The audience burst into laughter, turning an accident into the perfect metaphor for Europe’s resilience.
The conference closed with von der Leyen’s call: “The future of the Western Balkans is within our Union — and it is up to all of us to make it happen.” Together, both leaders sent a powerful signal — that the Western Balkans’ path to EU membership is no longer a dream, but an unfolding reality.
1:30 Von der Leyen's speech
5:54 Edi Rama's speech
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