{"id":84721,"date":"2026-05-22T19:02:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T17:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/?p=84721"},"modified":"2026-05-22T20:34:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T18:34:02","slug":"rama-balkan-integration-is-a-strategic-necessity-for-europe-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rama-balkan-integration-is-a-strategic-necessity-for-europe-itself\/","title":{"rendered":"Rama: Balkan Integration Is a Strategic Necessity for Europe Itself"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister Edi Rama, during his speech in Tokyo, also spoke about the justice reform as one of the deepest and most important reforms for Albania\u2019s path toward EU membership. Rama stressed that the integration of the Balkans is a strategic necessity for Europe itself.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, Albania has proven to be a stable and reliable partner. Among other remarks, he emphasized that Albania loves the EU and insists on \u201cmarrying\u201d it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJustice reform is one of the deepest reforms Albania has ever undertaken. Changing entrenched habits and systems is difficult, but meaningful reforms are never easy. I always repeat that what gives Albania a very real chance is precisely the difference between having or not having the EU as a destination and as a companion on this journey.<\/p>\n<p>The EU is the greatest source of state-building knowledge humanity has ever created. Russia\u2019s aggression against Ukraine reminded Europe of something that, unfortunately, many had started to take for granted. For the first time in its history, Europe had a generation that experienced no war; peace was taken for granted, and democracy was seen as irreversible.<\/p>\n<p>In this context, the integration of the Balkans is not only our request, but also a strategic necessity for Europe itself. Albania has proven that it is not only a stable and reliable partner, but also that it truly loves the EU \u2014 we insist that we will marry it,\u201d he said among other things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister Edi Rama, during his speech in Tokyo, also spoke about the justice reform as one of the deepest and most important reforms for Albania\u2019s path toward EU membership. Rama stressed that the integration of the Balkans is a strategic necessity for Europe itself. According to him, Albania has proven to be a stable [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":84722,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,1803],"tags":[243,151],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rama: Balkan Integration Is a Strategic Necessity for Europe Itself - Euronews Albania<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rama-balkan-integration-is-a-strategic-necessity-for-europe-itself\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rama: Balkan Integration Is a Strategic Necessity for Europe Itself - Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prime Minister Edi Rama, during his speech in Tokyo, also spoke about the justice reform as one of the deepest and most important reforms for Albania\u2019s path toward EU membership. Rama stressed that the integration of the Balkans is a strategic necessity for Europe itself. According to him, Albania has proven to be a stable [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rama-balkan-integration-is-a-strategic-necessity-for-europe-itself\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/euronews.al\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-22T17:02:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-22T18:34:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_1249.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1181\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"784\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nen Si\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@euronewsalbania\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@euronewsalbania\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nen Si\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rama-balkan-integration-is-a-strategic-necessity-for-europe-itself\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rama-balkan-integration-is-a-strategic-necessity-for-europe-itself\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nen Si\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/444d280f35e047949b7f0bc08093608f\"},\"headline\":\"Rama: Balkan Integration Is a Strategic Necessity for Europe Itself\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-22T17:02:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-22T18:34:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rama-balkan-integration-is-a-strategic-necessity-for-europe-itself\/\"},\"wordCount\":252,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rama-balkan-integration-is-a-strategic-necessity-for-europe-itself\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_1249.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"kryesore 1\",\"Kryesoret\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Albania\",\"Latest news\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rama-balkan-integration-is-a-strategic-necessity-for-europe-itself\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/rama-balkan-integration-is-a-strategic-necessity-for-europe-itself\/\",\"name\":\"Rama: Balkan Integration Is a Strategic Necessity for Europe Itself - 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