Edi Rama \u2013 over two meters tall distributed on a basketball player\u2019s physique with stroboscopic thoughts \u2013 is a mix of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Robin Hood. His sense of political strategy and friendship led him to sign a historic agreement between Albania, where he is the Prime Minister, and his ally Giorgia Meloni. Two migrant centers are being established near Tirana to breathe life and hope into the Old Continent suffocated by wild migration flows.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Rama, you and the Italian Prime Minister have announced the opening of two centers in Albania for 3,000 irregular migrants. How did this memorandum of understanding come about, and what benefits will it bring to Italy, Europe, and Albania?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe are not doing this to gain advantages, but to lend a hand, albeit small, to a country that has given us a great hand when we were on the brink of life and death, and has become our second homeland in Europe. Italy is where hundreds of thousands of Albanians live, work, have children, and where hundreds of thousands go every year for business, study, or simply to breathe the air of home in Europe. It must always be an honor for Albania to prove useful to Italy. Even though we cannot solve the major problem of irregular immigration for Italy and Europe, it is our natural duty to help\u201d.<\/p>\n You were the first head of government to welcome Afghan refugees. Albania has an unmistakable vocation for welcoming. Is this why it can propose itself as a supporting nation for EU migration policies?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNo, to tell the truth, we have received such requests from other countries as well, but we cannot and will not be willing to present ourselves as a \u2018supporting nation\u2019 for more than one reason\u201d.<\/p>\n But now, excuse me, you are doing it.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBut when such a request comes from Italy, we cannot back down, for more than one reason. With the Afghans, it was something different. If other NATO countries, larger and wealthier than us, refused to open their doors, after leaving them at the mercy of the Taliban in the blink of an eye, Albania could not do the same\u201d.<\/p>\n So why didn\u2019t you turn a blind eye?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBecause it was about people exposed to a high risk of death, and because they had believed in the new world that we in the West had promised them. They worked for NATO as translators, drivers, technicians, and more. They created parties and NGOs to promote human rights and freedom values; they founded independent media and fled without thinking about themselves. It was not fair to us, to our history, and to our children. If our children have a future today, it is because when we were the \u2018Afghans\u2019 who wanted to escape from hell, Italy, first and foremost, did not close the door to our future. Thanks to Albania, those more than 4,000 Afghans we saved from death now have a future in America and Canada, where they arrived safe and sound after spending some time in peace in our country\u201d.<\/p>\n The protocol you just signed has three goals: combating illegal trafficking, preventing irregular flows, and welcoming those entitled to international protection.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cExactly\u201d.<\/p>\n Can it serve as an example to think about the best possible solution for migration to Europe? How can the Dublin Treaty be overcome?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a rather complicated issue. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s up to me or Albania to provide answers to these difficult questions. What I can say is that the problem is huge, especially if we remain prisoners of outdated views. The more we think about the past, the more we risk reaching a point where it will be too late to rectify the damage, which can be very serious for the Europe we know and want for our children\u201d.<\/p>\n There are other migrations in Europe, refugees from terrible wars: masses of Ukrainians and Palestinians seeking asylum, for example\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cLet me say that those who flee for their own lives have only one name: human beings who have the same right to live the life given to them by Our Lord. Unfortunately, for Ukrainians (white and Christian, to be frank), this right and status are recognized more easily than for others by European countries that do not hide their firm stance against refugees of different religions and colors. On the other hand, even countries that are open to everyone, such as Sweden, have not had an easy time with refugees of all colors and religions, always welcomed with open arms\u201d.<\/p>\n What do you suggest?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt is increasingly clear that a middle ground should be found. But here we return to the previous question, and frankly, I feel incapable of providing good answers to uncomfortable questions. Fortunately, I am not in the shoes of those who have to make decisions at the European level, and I humbly follow the advice of Saint Teresa of Albania, \u2018instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle\u2019, and that is what I have tried to do in this case as well\u201d.<\/p>\n Are you counting on Italy to speed up Albania\u2019s entry into the EU?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAlways. And Italy has never failed to respond to this call!\u201d<\/p>\n The Israel\/Hamas conflict risks setting the world on fire. How can a solution be found?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt is a colossal tragedy with very deep roots, unfortunately. I have never seen in my lifetime \u2013 I believe I am not the only one who has seen it \u2013 such a cannibalistic attack, of hallucinatory proportions, as the one on October 7. It is impossible for me to accept, logically, that such an orgy and carnage was not only planned and executed in cold blood but also filmed by hundreds of mobile phones\u201d.<\/p>\n The logic of bestial massacre, house by house, 2.0.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAll of this is like a film shot in the darkest times of humanity. And not just to spill innocent blood and inflict the deepest pain on families, women, and children, but to terrify the entire world (and deeply divide it) in the name of Israel\u2019s non-right to exist. Everything else is much more complicated than this, but if we do not start from this, it seems extremely difficult to take the right stance\u201d.<\/p>\n