Western Balkans most difficult topic for Europe – says Bulgarian PM in Tirana

Tirana, Albania | June 05 (Tirana Echo) – Western Balkans are the most difficult topic for Europe, but the region can become a better place to live with a bit of help – said Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borissov during a press conference with Albania’s prime minister Edi Rama.

“The Western Balkans is the most difficult topic to be solved but is an important topic because in the Balkans, if one of the neighbours is in bad situation, everyone is bad. The better the region is interconnected, the greater the prospects for investment, peace and prosperity are,” said the Bulgarian Prime Minister.

Commenting on the European Commission’s recommendation to open membership talks with Albania and Macedonia, Borissov said Albania has made efforts to advance its process of European integration and opening of the accession talks would give a fresh impetus to the process.

“We are eagerly waiting for the June 26th conference that will give great impetus to this process and mark the start of real processes in this area. Improving the infrastructure and digital inter-connectivity in the region would bring the region’s countries closer.” – said Borissov.

Albanian prime minister Edi Rama praised Bulgaria’s current EU Presidency and asked for Bulgaria’s potential technical assistance in the framework of Albania’s preparations for the EU accession negotiations.

“I admire the fact that Bulgaria from a country at the bottom of the list of beneficiaries of European Union funds, is today a country providing an excellent example of this and we are happy that our desire to learn from this experience,” – said Rama.

Borissov visited Tirana to participate at the Security Conference on Violent Extremism held in Tirana as part of the AQABA Process, launched under the auspices of Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who was unable to attend due to huge protests in his own country.

He visited Tirana as the small Balkan country awaits a decision by the European Council on whether to open membership talks this month with the European union.