Translation of advance text.

I am glad to be with you in Albania, here in Tirana, this young, forward-looking, dynamic, this European city. Tirana is the political centre of the vibrant European democracy of Albania – the European Youth Capital for 2022. And what could be more fitting than that title, as the start of negotiations for accession to the EU marks a new beginning and Albania’s future in Europe comes into focus.

My last visit, in a different political role, was six years ago. Now finally, after more than two years of pandemic and with the world having become in many ways a different place, I can be here among you again. Here, visiting your country, which has been empathetically inclined towards Europe for a long time. I have previously observed your clearly pro-European stance from afar. And it has made me happy, especially in times when, elsewhere in Europe, political capital was being made with Euroscepticism. Now, I am glad to be here among you, among European friends, and to experience the mood in your wonderful country at first hand. Thank you very much for inviting me to Albania; I am greatly honoured by the chance to speak here in Parliament today.

Germany and Albania have had close ties for decades. Our cooperation goes back to 1988, and my country has been with you on your road to Europe since those very early days. We supported your country when you liberated yourselves from the isolation of Stalinist dictatorship under Hohxa, and we are helping you build your economy.

But there are many more sides to our good relations. More than 70,000 Albanians are living in Germany. The volume of trade between Germany and Albania came to around 450 million euro in 2021; our country is Albania’s fourth-largest trading partner. German businesses – I will be visiting one of them – are active in your country.

We collaborate closely in the cultural sector too. The German-Albanian Cultural Agreement came into force in 2019. For 15 years, there has even been a German October in Albania, with a great number of cultural events throughout the country. German-Albanian school and student exchanges and the close ties between Albanian and German researchers are not only a sign of the friendship between our countries but have also given rise to friendships between people.

And there’s another area in which our close bond is expressed: our football friendship. Albanian players have always enriched the German Bundesliga with their skills. I am thinking of names like Altin Rraklli and Mergim Mavraj, still renowned in Germany today. The other way around too, German coach Thomas Brdarić recently helped the northern Albanian KF Vllaznia to victory in the Albanian Cup and took the club into the Conference League. It just goes to show that this is another arena where we work together with team spirit.

I am here with you just a few months after the EU began accession negotiations with Albania. 19 July was a landmark moment on Albania’s road towards the European Union. Thirteen years ago, Albania made its application to join; in 2014, it became a candidate country; and now, after another eight years, the negotiations have finally begun.

I saw with pleasure how the states of the Western Balkans agreed, within the Berlin Process, on joint measures which are already improving life in very practical and tangible ways for all the region’s inhabitants. Soon, people will just have to show their ID cards to cross borders within the Western Balkans; they will soon be able to take up work and training in a different one of the region’s states; soon, qualifications will be recognised. The Common Regional Market will bring further economic progress for all the countries of the Western Balkans. All of this will make life easier and better for the people in your country and in the rest of the Western Balkans.

I am very taken with how strongly the European spirit can be felt in your country. And I want to call out to all those people in Europe who are having their doubts about the EU, all those Europeans who have lost sight of the historical dimension of the European project: come to Albania and let the pro-European spirit here infect you anew!

You have reformed your country with the clear aim of joining the EU. And the successes are plain to see.

You have undertaken administrative and fiscal reform. A Special Prosecution Office has been set up to combat corruption and organised crime. Extensive judicial reform is currently under way that already stands as an example for other countries. All these are efforts you only take on if you know what you want. You, ladies and gentlemen, want a bright future for Albania. And your country, I am certain, will be a reliable partner to the EU member states.

I know that Albania’s road towards the European Union will remain exacting. And my plea to you today is this: keep working to combat injustices, keep working to drive back corruption and organised crime, keep going with judicial reform. And work together across the opposition-government divide. The destination is worth it.

You can rely on Germany’s continued support in that work.

You are walking the path of the accession process under difficult circumstances. Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has not only brought death, suffering and destruction on the people of Ukraine. It has plunged the whole of Europe into an economic crisis, and the effects of the war are being felt around the world. The increasing energy prices have hit your country hard, with petrol prices rising by up to fifty percent. The economic crisis is a further blow for you to deal with, after the earthquake of 2019 and the COVID 19 pandemic.

It is all the more remarkable to see how tenaciously your country is persevering with the efforts required for accession to the EU. And I can discern no doubts in Albania about its clearly EU-facing direction and its firmly rooted position within NATO. I find your steadfastness and your commitment to our European and transatlantic values impressive, and many people all over Europe, including in my country, could take an example from you.

Even though EU membership is still to come, Albania has long been proving itself a mature democracy in international affairs. Thirty years after the historical trauma of dictatorship, your country is now a recognised player on the world stage and champion of a rules-based world order. As a member of NATO and the OSCE and currently a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, you cooperate closely with your European and transatlantic partners. After Russia launched its brutal and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, Albania clearly positioned itself on the side of the attacked party on the international stage, demonstrated solidarity and took in refugees. I want to thank you very much for that.

The European Union is a unique and historic project, a confederation of states in which the pursuit of prosperity, the safeguarding of our liberality and freedom of movement, human rights and the rule of law coexist as equally important objectives. Historically, the EU is the answer to the devastation that nationalism and jingoism caused in Europe over centuries. And it is the answer to global challenges like the fight against climate change – to challenges that no country can take on alone any more.

This European model of cooperation in which the strength of the law prevails, not the law of the strong, in which the focus is on collaborating and cooperating to everyone’s benefit, is being called into question by Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. That attack, which Putin launched driven by his imperial delusions, is an attempt to bring another state under his rule by violence.

In the face of Russia’s aggression, the EU has proved steadfast; it has not allowed itself to be driven apart in the light of Russian aggression. On the contrary, it is more united than ever. In Bali, the G20 likewise and in a remarkable fashion positioned themselves in clear opposition to Russia’s brutal and illegal conduct.

Albania too, which currently bears special responsibility on the UN Security Council, has proved itself a steadfast and reliable partner. This shows we can rely on Albania, just as your country can rely on the EU.

Albania was for a long time the plaything of imperial interests, of aggressive empires. Not least my own country, in the darkest chapter of its history, epitomises that policy in its worst iteration. And this is why, in view of that history your country has been through, it is moving to see the free Albania, by its own free choice, about to join our free Europe – a union which promises it freedom in prosperity and security while allowing Albania, like all the other member states, to remain itself. Europe is looking forward to welcoming Albania.

I thank you for your patience on the road to Europe. And I ask you to maintain that patience until the journey has reached a successful end with your accession to the EU.

Any visitor to Albania can feel it: your heart beats to a European rhythm. And that will help you overcome the hurdles still ahead of you on the road to Europe, I am completely sure.

How does the lovely Albanian proverb go?

Kur ke zemër, ke edhe krahë.

When you have a heart, you also have wings.