Thank you and let me first of all express my great disappointment with Montenegro that offered us German rain instead of its legendary sun.

I do not know what happened, but I hope that this will also be taken into account as an unfair game by Montenegro against all of us, and I am sure that it might please the Germans, but it should not.

However, coming to the legendary bay of Kotor is a great pleasure. I would like to start by expressing, beyond disappointment, the enthusiasm I really feel about what is happening and I want to thank Commissioner Várhelyi and the Commission for working so closely with us and for providing us with a platform for genuine, friendly dialogue, a process where we have been responsive, but as a few other times, in an unusual way, the Commission has also been responsive. It is already an outstanding example that shows what can be the result when parties talk to each other and listen to each other.

I would also like to commend the progress we have all done, separately and together, in the past 2 and a half months since our last meeting in Skopje. We have prepared the individual Reform Plans, we identified key initiatives which would bring us gradually closer to the Single Market and finally, we started the preparation of the Common Regional Market. In short, we are ready to go.

I wish to convey some key points today. Firstly, we need to build on the opportunity of the Growth Plan to prepare ourselves for accession into the Single Market, which is Pillar 1 of the Growth Plan. It is time that the region becomes part of the European Digital Wallet. Individually, we have included this objective in our Reform Plan, and we intend to be ready by 2027. We expect the Commission to finalize the Roadmap so that we can have a clear pathway ahead in this direction, built on European practice and regulations.

In the health area and as far as the integration of the region into the Critical Medical Alliance is concerned, I would suggest that we move steadily towards a Health Union in Europe. The pandemics, 4 years ago, showed how vital and yet, how limited cooperation is in the health sector in Europe.

I commend the work of the Transport Community and CEFTA in preparation of the Roadmap and Trade and Transport Facilitation between the Western Balkans and the bordering EU member states. There are only 10 crossing points where over 80% of freight and trade with the EU passes through. The modernization of these crossing points will not benefit just the region, but also the EU, as the region’s main trading partner. This Roadmap will provide the basis for the implementation of the Trade and Transport Facilitation Project 2.0 for the entire region, thus making the Green Lanes with the EU member states a reality.

In the same spirit, stronger cooperation in the area of migration, human trafficking etc. not only between us in the region but also between the region and the EU is timely and in line with the EU’s comprehensive concept of security.

Secondly, we need to extend the logic of the phasing in into the Single Market into a number of European areas.

It is our aim to deepen cooperation on all trade and customs related areas with the EU, preparing gradually for a full-fledged customs union with the EU in the near future. For all those in the region and among the EU neighboring states that are hesitant and refer to lack of compatibility of our systems, regulations and so on and even the need of Treaty changes, let me remind you that Turkey has a customs union with the EU since 1995. So, if there is a will, we will jointly find the solutions for all changes, legal or administrative.

But we need not wait till all reforms in the EU are completed; instead, we must pave the way now for the region’s gradual accession into the European Economic Area, the European research and higher education area, the cohesion instruments of the Union, and so on. We must make our participation in the Common Foreign and Security Policy more prominent. We need to be part of all the instruments related to early warning, prevention and management of cybersecurity threats, misinformation and so on.

At the same time, we need to transfer know-how about the Single Market, as there is very little knowledge about this ever-evolving area in the Western Balkans. It is for this reason, and in line with our national and regional focus on strengthening human capital, with a particular emphasis on research and education, that we have proposed to establish a Single Market Academy.

Given the special expertise and authority of the College of Europe on European Studies, I would propose that the academy, digital or physical, is lodged at the College of Europe, Tirana campus. This will serve the purpose of making knowledge transfer easier and more comprehensive.

Thirdly, we will continue to deepen regional cooperation. As everyone knows, for Albania, it is not the past that should control the future, but the future that should control the past.

Since December 2021, the implementation of trade measures in the context of Common Regional Market has been blocked because of the deadlock in CEFTA decision-making bodies.

I commend the work done so far by the Commission and our German partners on unblocking CEFTA, and support solutions that are creative, practical, and fast, in the same spirit and following the example of the representation of all 6 Western Balkan countries in all other regional organizations.

On the one hand, we talk about such big things and we want to be seen and approved as member states, European member states, but meanwhile we continue to block ourselves. This does not make sense. As I have said since day one, we have to leave politics and bilateral issues and whatever exists between us out of this space because, if we do everything in the European way and style within this space, this will also ease and calm the atmosphere for everyone to deal with bilateral issues.

A few more words before the Sarajevo meeting. Until the next meeting in Sarajevo, our Ministers of EU Integration and Minister of Finance continue to work on the ongoing initiatives which aim to integrate us into the Single market.

All this, SEPA, Green Lanes, Critical raw Materials Alliance, Conformity Assessment Agreements etc, require intensive work. I have asked the Commission to help us in preparing very clear and concrete—with milestones and deadlines—roadmaps to prepare us integrate in these areas fully until 2027.

Seocndly, I propose that in the same way that our Ministers of EU Integration and Ministers of Economy and Finance meet periodically to discuss Pillar 3 and 4 of the Growth Plan (reforms and additional funding), now we launch periodic meetings among Ministers of Interior, our Ministers of Education and Innovation, as well as Ministers of Energy, Agriculture and Environment.

These meetings should be structured between the EU and the region and not just among the WB6 countries. All these meetings should have the aim of giving impetus from all sides to the work for this strategic objective that has brought us here together.

It would be best, that in the next Sarajevo meeting, we have a comprehensive draft of the Common Regional Market 2.0, which is to be coordinated by RCC, CEFTA other regional organizations and our representatives.

Last, but not least, we need to set in motion a political dialogue with the Commission and the EU member states on acquiring a new status for partners who are negotiating.

We are negotiating, the countries that are negotiating should have a space in the political Europe to be included as observers in all the political and technical level mechanisms of the European Union. This will also be a way to associate what we are trying to accelerate in economic terms and also in political terms.

Since I am happy to see the representatives of the European Investment Bank here, I want to persist with my obsession. It is crucial for us, for all of us, to get help through a new instrument that will ease our need to borrow more, backed by EU guarantees. This will completely change the picture because, yes, it is very important that we get funding and it is not a small thing, for us at least because it is important money.

In the framework of the Economic and Investment Plan, we have 90% loans and only 10% grants. So it is the opposite world, upside down in relation to the European Union, which has only 10% loans and 90% grants. We understand, yes, and we don’t discuss it, but it would be fantastic if, with the help of the European Investment Bank, we could encourage and convince the EU to guarantee our loans. This would change everything.

After all, as we were told when we were kids, being financially dependent means practically losing freedom, so guarantee our loans and you will have us for life because you will be asking for us, you will come after us all our lives to ask for our money back. So, we will have to stick with you.

This would be very good for the next generation in Europe, I hope not, but many of you may want to leave, but we, the Balkans, will remain loyal to the European Union or maybe we will become the center for the next generation of the European Union. We will have some trouble deciding where our Brussels will be, but the rest will be fine.

So, thank you dear “Mickey”, and next time make sure that Montenegro is sunny and not like this, because we are not in Berlin here.