Edi Rama – Europe in crisis

Edi Rama, chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania and Mayor of Tirana, talks about the crisis of identity in Europe. He highlights the inequalities within Europe giving the example of the younger generation in Southeastern Europe who is suffering because they don’t have the right to move freely, they don’t have a credible education system or the possibility to access knowledge that other Europeans enjoy.

An interview to Philippos Savvides and Eleni Christidou for Re-public

Q: What is your opinion about the role of citizens in making Europe more efficient and more transparent?

Edi Rama: First of all, I would say that I am not the right person at this moment to talk about this issue, in the sense that I am citizen of a part of Europe that is still outside the EU. This region includes 22 million people in Southeastern Europe that are still isolated, that still don’t have the possibility to move freely, that are still subjected to Europe’s stereotypes about the Balkans. I believe that when Europe talks about the Balkans, it talks about something that doesn’t exist anymore, because things have changed dramatically in many ways. Europe needs to redefine itself, to regain a sense of why it exists and to construct a new vision emanating from its citizens. Here, is where I come to your question, that without a new, strong european citizenship and without a new, strong social Europe we can’t go anywhere.

Q: From what you are saying there seems to be a lack of knowledge about one another –Europe and Albania.

ER: I wouldn’t say that there is a lack of knowledge, I would say that there is a lack of spirit in Europe, there is a lack of soul. What is happening today in our part of the world is not only our problem, it is a European problem. To view Albanian problems as if they do not concern Europe, is just cynical. Let’s not hide behind curtains of good principles, let’s say straight forward that political Europe has lost a lot of ground and instead economic Europe has gained it; in that sense there is a growing cynicism, which does not help.

Q: One of the main issues was the enlargement, incorporating Albania and other countries of the area in the EU. It seems to us that after the delay in ratifying the Lisbon Treaty and the crisis in Europe there is a lot of skepticism about enlargement. Are you concerned about what Europe can or cannot do in the future in terms of integrating southeastern Europe?

ER: Of course, but this is the point: skepticism is very much connected to cynicism. It doesn’t resolve anything, if we give the answers that are given today to the problems that occur or if we point the finger to enlargement as a problem or to the new member states for not being ready or to others, like our country, as a possible additional problem and not as an added value. On the contrary, these attitudes deepen the crisis of identity in Europe, the crisis of the European family as a family of different countries coming together based on common values. We need to reshape our values in Europe in order to become again much more politically oriented than just economically –and when I say economically I refer to the economic interests as they are expressed today.

Q: What do you expect from Europe in the coming period?

ER: Very frankly, I do not expect anything from Europe. I expect a lot from Europeans, from European consciousness and from European citizens, in the sense that Europe is not just a bureaucracy –thank god! It has a lot to do with people, with free movement, engaged citizens and parties that working to address this kind of preoccupations. Of course, from different positions there are different ways to address these preoccupations. But these are common preoccupations and when I talk about Europe I have in mind the reasons why it was founded, the spirit was founded on and not just its bureaucracy, which is one of the main reasons to be pessimistic.

Q: What does the average Albanian think about Europe?

ER: We are Europeans and there is no euro-skepticism in Albania. When I express clearly my concerns or my lack of trust in the way that Europe –or the bureaucratic Europe- approaches the problems of Southeastern Europe, I do it as a European. The last polls in the region, among the countries that are not yet EU members, show that people in Albania believe in Europe more than they believe in god. And I am one them. The question is, what kind of Europe do we want and how far from the Europe we want is the Europe we have. The Europe we want is the Europe that was created by our imagination, not the Europe that is diluting our imagination today.

Q: Talking about visions, what is the vision of Europe you want to be part of and what is your vision of Albania you want to be part of Europe?

ER: Generally speaking, I see this vision in the PES Manifesto that was approved today. I don’t say this for the sake of the event or because I am part of this political family, which has had its own dark moments and reasons not to be proud of in the past, but for the sake of truth. This Manifesto provides a strong vision for Europe. Talking about Albania, I will conclude just with a very simple example. Today a young Albanian has less freedom of movement than a young North Korean. Imagining that in the middle of Europe 22 million people are not allowed to move freely and among them are many young people that cannot travel and get to know Europe, is enough to show how far we are from our European dream. The younger generation in Southeastern Europe is suffering because they don’t have the right to move freely, they don’t have a credible education system or the possibility to access knowledge that young Europeans enjoy, not to mention the impossibility to have a secure future. These should be treated as European problems, put on the table of European bureaucrats. They cannot be addressed through a bureaucratic approach to European integration.

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Tags: Albania, Edi Rama, enlargement, EU