From the Munich Security Conference, Prime Minister Edi Rama, during his speech on the enlargement of the European Union, emphasized that Europe needs the Western Balkans more than the latter needs the EU.

Rama also spoke about the transatlantic relationship, implying that America and Europe must unite.

“I have known two EUs: the one that everyone knows—the EU of leaders, big discussions, and major debates—and another EU that operates like a Swiss clock, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with 30,000 people producing who knows how many regulations every day. There is no war, no crisis, no climate change, no nuclear crisis that alters the way this Swiss clock functions.

This enlargement has been treated as a kind of bureaucracy where the richer dictate to the poorer. The EU needs us more than we need it. Not just the Western Balkans, but all countries that are not part of the union. Because we have learned to survive—we are survivors. Whatever happens, we will continue to be here. That’s why we argue with the Greeks over who is the oldest in the continent. We have seen so many come and go.

If the EU wants to emerge from all these crises, it must unite as Europe. America without Europe is just an island; Europe without America is a peninsula. That island and this peninsula must be together so that the sheriff on that island takes the EU seriously. The EU must become stronger, and numbers matter to the sheriff. We must appear at the chief’s door as a market of 700 million people; otherwise, we are at a disadvantage when it comes to representation—just like the priests in Constantinople, who, as the walls were falling, were engaged in a very important debate about the gender of angels,” said Rama.

Rama also spoke about the transatlantic relationship, implying that America and Europe must unite.

“I have known two EUs: the one that everyone knows—the EU of leaders, big discussions, and major debates—and another EU that operates like a Swiss clock, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with 30,000 people producing who knows how many regulations every day. There is no war, no crisis, no climate change, no nuclear crisis that alters the way this Swiss clock functions.

This enlargement has been treated as a kind of bureaucracy where the richer dictate to the poorer. The EU needs us more than we need it. Not just the Western Balkans, but all countries that are not part of the union. Because we have learned to survive—we are survivors. Whatever happens, we will continue to be here. That’s why we argue with the Greeks over who is the oldest in the continent. We have seen so many come and go.

If the EU wants to emerge from all these crises, it must unite as Europe. America without Europe is just an island; Europe without America is a peninsula. That island and this peninsula must be together so that the sheriff on that island takes the EU seriously. The EU must become stronger, and numbers matter to the sheriff. We must appear at the chief’s door as a market of 700 million people; otherwise, we are at a disadvantage when it comes to representation—just like the priests in Constantinople, who, as the walls were falling, were engaged in a very important debate about the gender of angels,” said Rama.