ULCINJ – Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama said on July 1 for the Albanian Euronews that the Open Balkan initiative arose from the need to improve the Berlin process and it fulfilled the mission for which it was born and added that “we have to dive in headlong” into the Berlin process, reports Kosovo Online.
“The Berlin process is our future, I am planning to make a tour of the region. I want to go and meet with all the prime ministers and presidents in Skopje, Pristina, Belgrade, Sarajevo, and Podgorica, to inform them about what we are currently doing,” said Rama.
“For the first time since [former German Chancellor] Angela Merkel initiated the process with the Berlin Summit in 2014, Albania is expecting a summit to be held in Tirana in October. It is an extremely important summit as we prepare for a significant step forward… While we need to focus on this, of course, the Berlin Process is our main axis. The Open Balkans initiative was born out of the need to push forward the Berlin Process, and it has accomplished the mission for which it was born. Now we need to fully engage in the Berlin Process because we have this opportunity,” Rama declared, reports Euronews Albania.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić responded to Rama’s comments by emphasizing that he will always consider that the idea originated in the region is better than those that come from outside.
“We are not going to dive in headlong, we are part of the Berlin Process and that is alright. I don’t believe Rama actually said that. I hope to be able to see him soon. Open Balkan Initiative is an autonomous and autochthonous idea of the people from the Balkans,” Vučić said for TV Prva, as reported by Kosovo Online.
“This is an expression of our wishes and relations, not something we do under someone else’s whip”, added Vučić.