Mr. Secretary-General

Excellencies Head of State and Government

Distinguished representatives,

Thank you all for being here today.

The presence of such considerable number of dignitaries speaks to the very high importance of the issue at hand.

Thank you, Secretary-General for your remarks. They resonate with and reflect the values and principles of our organization.

President Zelensky, I am grateful for your presence here, at such a tragic moment in your country’s history.

Your strong words translate the pain of your compatriots and convey, very clearly, together with your firm determination, the grit of your people and the unwavering hope of your nation.

Excellencies,

While today the world needs more than ever an acute sense of responsibility from us to confront the multiple challenges and threats facing our planet, conflicts, unconstitutional seizures of power, climate change, devastating floods and unforgiving droughts, including unpredictable and severe wildfires, what we witness instead is more and more disruptive attitudes, reckless acts and growing conflictuality, within and among states.

In many parts of the world, the examples of force have proliferated while the force of example has become a rarity.

Who could have imagined until not long ago, that in the third decade of the 21st century, a disastrous war, started by a Permanent Member of this Council, would put Europe at risk, by brutally undermining all the principles that gave birth to the United Nations?

Who could have imagined until only few years ago, that an unjustified, unjust and unprovoked military aggression of a big country, against a new democracy, would not be immediately, promptly and universally condemned by all the nations who gather here and share the same goals and principles?

How to understand the “Yes, but…” or calls on “both sides” with arguments in order to avoid calling a spade a spade, and which refuse to call a brutal aggression by its only and real name: a man-made tragedy that is inflicting untold suffering to the Ukrainian people but also reverberating across world regions, hurting growth, raising prices and threatening with hunger and starvation hundreds of millions of people.

An aggression in the heart of Europe cannot be Europe’s problem only, as some think, say or whisper.

Cynics may think that Ukraine is just a problem dropped on the lap of the democratic West to deal with and they even mumble that “what’s goes around, comes around”, implying that this is the natural payback for what might have happened before, elsewhere, in other times.

Is it? I invite everyone to think twice.

This war of aggression must be everyone’s business. Let me remind us, by paraphrasing, the tragic account by Martin Niemöller:

First, they came for Georgia; I did not speak out;

Then, they came for Crimea; It was not my country, so I did not speak out;

Then, they came for the whole Ukraine, but I was not Ukrainian and I did not speak out.

And then they came for me, but there was no one left to help and defend me.

As we speak, there have been more than 26 000 civilian casualties. Tomorrow, the number will be higher. And it will increase every other day for as long as this war continues.

Given the inexcusable nuclear saber rattling that keeps coming, time and again, from different layers of the Kremlin, one is right to fear that one day, God forbit, this madness could turn into something far worse, as unimaginable today as this war was yesterday.

Excellencies,

We have a duty to help those in need and in this respect, Ukraine and Ukrainians.

We may differ on how to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom and dignity, and we may have different views on how to end this war. Let’s discuss them.

But it would be an insult to the intelligence of this organization if we fail to unanimously recognize and say, loudly, who is the aggressor and who is the aggressed. It is the same sharp difference between war and peace.

If we fail to admit this crystal-clear truth, we are not only letting down Ukraine and its people; we are failing our core responsibility, compromising the future and betraying our children.

The struggle of Ukraine is also the struggle of everyone who aspires to live in a world where nations are free and equal, where territorial integrity is undisputable and their right to live in peace is unquestionable. The contrary is not only shortsighted, but utterly dangerous for everyone under this roof.

This is why, everyone has to do its part.

Albania is a small country. Our continuous support to Ukraine may not change the dynamics on the battleground but it contributes to not rewarding aggression, to not accepting annexation and not letting the obvious become dubious.

Excellences,

Le devoir principal du Conseil de Sécurité est d’agir et ce de manière décisive, au nom du monde entier et à son service.

On ne peut pas en vouloir à ceux, toujours plus nombreux, qui se demandent: mais que fait le Conseil de Sécurité?

L’usage abusif du droit de veto a, tristement, pris le Conseil de sécurité en otage; il l’a paralysé;

Mais il ne l’a pas réduit au silence comme en témoigne cette réunion.

Nous ne pouvons pas accepter que la force des règles et des valeurs qui nous réunissent soit remplacée par la règle de la force et des anti-valeurs.

Nous refusons d’être complices d’un bouleversement dangereux de l’ordre mondial dont les conséquences ne peuvent qu’être imprévisbles, sinon tragiques pour tous.

Excellencies,

Let me conclude by recalling the experience of the Western Balkans.

We have seen where the path of brutality can lead to, and the tremendous costs it brings for all, including for the perpetrators.

History has confirmed that those who saw war as the shortcut to achieve their goals, ended up regretting it forever.

I know that some have tried to use or better, misuse the changed reality in the Western Balkans, particularly, the birth of the Republic of Kosova, to justify their neo-imperial dreams and the subsequent nightmares they have exported elsewhere.

No matter how hard one may try, Kosova, whose independence has been sanctioned by the ICJ, cannot serve as a pretext for territory grab or illegal annexations.

If today a lasting peace in our region is within reach, this has to do first and foremost with the lesson-learned that the most efficient way to overcome the past and shape a common future is through cooperation not through division; by promoting free movement of people, goods, services and capitals, not by raising artificial barriers; by building bridges for our kids to enjoy freedom and prosperity, not erecting walls for our ghosts of the past to seek and hide in endless blame games.

I will end with this: the preamble of the UN Charter calls on us to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors.

Important decisions are never a matter of chance.

They are always a matter of choice.

Albania has made its choice to stand for peace, development and progress, to stand with the aggressed not with the aggressor, to stand with and for Ukraine!

Thank you!