Rama compares EU candidates to children growing up at the same table

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has advocated for the quick and simple admission of new member states to the European Union.

"We need to find a way to make Europe a single family," Rama told the dpa agency in Berlin, referring to all candidate countries - the Western Balkans, Ukraine and Moldova.

To do this, however, the EU needs to change its way of thinking, Rama says. First a political decision is needed, and then the technical details of the adjustment.

"The world has changed a lot in recent years, and Europe must change along with the world," the politician said.

Europe has entered a "Helmut Kohl moment," Rama added. The German Chancellor seized the opportunity to unify Germany in 1990, taking advantage of the changes in the world.

Currently, seven countries are negotiating EU accession: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia in the Balkans, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova.

Rama compared them to the seven children of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

"She is a mother with an incredible track record. And she did not tell her children that they should grow up in the neighborhood and sit at the table only when they grow up. No. The children grew up at the table," said the Albanian prime minister.

According to him, if a country in Ukraine's situation were brought to that table, it could not be told that it first needs to fulfill this and that before sitting down.

Montenegro is considered the next candidate for rapid accession to the EU. It started accession negotiations earlier and has already concluded many chapters of legislative harmonisation, Rama said.

He expects negotiations with Albania to be completed in 2027. He says it is realistic for EU countries to approve Albania as a new member by 2030.

Rama is in Berlin as a guest of the Eastern Committee of the German Economy and is scheduled to speak with Economy Minister Katerina Reiche today.

At the Tivat summit in early June, the EU discussed the faster inclusion of the Western Balkan countries. However, a political model does not yet exist, dpa reports.

Rama and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić proposed that their countries, in the event of faster accession, temporarily waive their voting rights.

For Ukraine, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has proposed an associate membership model. Kiev rejects this and insists on full membership.