Prime Minister Edi Rama is in Brussels this Thursday. He delivered his speech at a joint conference with the European Economic and Social President, Oliver Ropke.

Rama said that the creation of the joint consultative community is proof of Albania’s commitment to accelerate the steps of integration into the European Union.

“It is very encouraging and brings us a lot of new energy, the fact that we have the opportunity to finalize the procedure of creating a joint consultative community. This is proof not only of our commitment, but also of the strong belief that we have that the EU integration process does not belong only to the government, but to all Albanians. In this aspect, I am excited about the support that President Ropke has given us. This is because we can show the citizens and all actors in our country, through EU institutions, that the road to EU membership is a road that requires the whole society and not just some actors in the country. We are ready to do everything we can to speed up our membership in the EU”, said Rama.

Prime Minister Rama is in Brussels as he is expected to participate in the round table convened by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The 6 leaders of the countries of the Western Balkans have been called to the table, where the focus of the discussions will be the “agendas of reforms and growth”.

Through the Growth Plan, the European Union plans to allocate around 6 billion euros to the countries of the region in the period from 2024 to 2027. Of this amount, two billion will be grants from the EU, while the rest will be in the form of soft loans. Albania is expected to benefit from this fund about 1 billion euros, while Kosovo 880 million euros.