Prime Minister Edi Rama attended the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Brussels on Wednesday, one year after the summit of the EU and Western Balkan leaders in Tirana on December 6, 2022

Ahead of the Summit, the Rector of the College of Europe in Bruges, Federica Mogherini told participants that first campus of the college outside the European Union has been already opened in Tirana, delivering on an idea launched during the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Tirana last year.

* * *

Federica Mogherini: The EU-Western Balkans Summit that took place outside of the European Union for the first time in Tirana last year, when the idea was raised and discussed and when you asked the College of Europe to consider opening a regional campus in Tirana and a year later we delivered on that together.

So, I think this is a very good way for you to start the EU-Western Balkans summit with this good news. Something that you discussed a year ago is now delivered. It is in the making and that is thanks to the support from all of you!

First of all, I would like to thank Edi and the Albanian government for the incredible support and enthusiasm for this project. I would also like to thank the (European) Commission that mobilized the sources, the Council that supported the project, and the EU member states that are doing something very important today, as we have received today the pledges from 21 member states to cover scholarships for students, both from the region, as well as from the EU countries.

So I believe that all the students that we will admit to the campus in Tirana will be benefiting scholarships as of September next year, when we aim at starting our Master of Arts degree program on European transformation and integration.

It is going to be a diploma on a master degree program, exactly like all the other diplomas issued by the College of Europe, which means that will maintain the same performance and excellence standards.

We will accredit the degree programs with the Belgian authorities. The value will be the same and we will work to make our students live together and empower together to shape the future of the European integration.

I not only thank you for this, but I am also here to somehow remind you what this commitment means.

Our students, our faculty, and I have seen younger generations especially in the region, but also in the rest of Europe, have a strong expectation about this.

I think that today you invest in the generation that will make the integration of the Western Balkans into the EU a reality. We commit to providing them the excellence of knowledge, skills and network that will empower them to achieve it. I am sure that the member states, the institutions and also countries in the region, with the pledges of today will confirm their somehow commitment to this process and make it happen.

So, I would like to thank you very much.

I will see you in the College of Europe in Tirana that is also going to be your home.

Thank you!