Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Saturday he’s glad Ukraine was granted candidate status by the EU but added that Ukrainians must not create many illusions.

In his address from the Europa-Forum Wachau in Vienna, Rama said Albania won the candidate status 8 years ago and hopes that in the case of Ukraine it won’t last that long.

“We’re very happy Ukraine received the candidate country status, but I also hope that the people of Ukraine don’t create a lot of illusions. They got a pill against depression and that is good for the overall morale but it has to confront a reality which North Macedonia is facing”.

“I hope Ukrainians see North Macedonia, which has been a candidate country for 17 years. They changed the name of their country. Albania counts 8years as a candidate, and it’s not enough. I hope it’s not going to be 117 years for Ukraine”, Rama said ironically.

President Rama also spoke about the recent EU summit in Brussels saying that the union is ‘powerless in front of the kidnapping of two NATO countries by Bulgaria’.

He also called Bulgaria’s veto against North Macedonia a result of a ‘great deformation of the EU enlargement process’.