Edi Rama: gradual integration is the best path to the EU, veto should be removed
At a forum in Tirana, the Albanian prime minister said Albania does not need a veto to sit at the EU table and doubts 2027 will bring veto rights.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said that gradual, step-by-step integration is the most realistic path for his country to join the European Union and urged that the veto blocking progress should be removed.
Speaking at the forum “Intelligence on the World, Europe and Italy” on the panel titled "Agenda for Europe," Rama argued for a new EU approach to the Western Balkans and rejected the idea that Albania needs a formal veto-right to be part of the EU negotiating table.
Rama on veto rights and 2027 prospects
In his address he said he did not believe the bloc would open its doors if internal practices remained unchanged and expressed scepticism that 2027 would arrive bearing a negotiated veto for Albania. He told the audience: "Frankly, I do not believe there will ever be a place for us in the European Union if something does not change inside the European Union. So, I do not believe that 2027 will happily be waiting for us with our right of veto, I do not believe that. I do not believe that in some capitals they will have the opportunity to go and tell the public: 'People, we accept Albania with its right of veto.'"
Rama insisted that Albania should be allowed to participate at EU decision-making tables without being awarded a veto right as a precondition, describing gradual integration as the more practical route to closer ties with the bloc.
The prime minister’s comments form part of an ongoing debate over reform of EU enlargement policy and how Brussels should engage with candidate countries in the Western Balkans.
Photo: press material from the event
