Today, Prime Minister Edi Rama described the Chief Negotiator for Conducting Accession Talks with the European Union, Zef Mazi, as a diplomat with a somewhat special history in the context of the history of Albanian diplomacy.

In his speech during the presentation ceremony of Chief Negotiator Mazi, Prime Minister Rama said that “Zef Mazi has served for many years for the Albanian state, but also for important international bodies.”

“Zef Mazi is more than a diplomat because thanks to his contribution to the World Atomic Energy Agency and his formulation of long-term policies for a safer world, he enters the circle of those people that Albania has and in abundance in today’s world. In a way it represents both sides of the coin of these 30 years. The side of the coin that speaks of the service here in the country and the other side of the coin that speaks of providing the intellectual capacity and experience in the service of a better world abroad, within institutions with great international reputation”, – Rama emphasized.

Furthermore, Prime Minister Rama said that “I do not want to dwell on the rich biography of Ambassador Mazi, who I do not know whether he included it on the resume or he wishes for us to mention the fact that he has been seen by political forces as a possible candidate for President of the Republic; I believe is worth mentioning this fact as an example of the respect that the ambassador enjoys horizontally on the political scene from all the forces and parties that have governed this country”.

“This is an important element for the profile of the chief negotiator because we are aware that the Chief Negotiator is an individual, an institutional figure who must have the reference by all parties,” Rama said.

The head of government said: “I have seen with curiosity the experiences of other countries, just to share with you some facts that are perhaps interesting for you, Serbia chose as a chief negotiator a political scientist with a long history of pedagogy and experience in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Montenegro entrusted this position to a highly experienced agricultural science expert in the design of international projects; Northern Macedonia looks like they will entrust this role to a prominent civil society activist and internationally renowned lawyer. Previously, Croatia, the country that best represents the European Balkan symbiosis, chose a Deputy Minister of Economy to complete its very successful negotiations,” Rama underlined.

“We have preferred to bet on this, using an expression that may not be entirely appropriate, because this is not a match whose end is unknown, this is simply a match with unknown timeframe, and our challenge is to shorten the timeframe as much as possible. It is a match with all the problems and legacies that need to be addressed with reforms in order to be transformed into an EU country “, – said Rama.

Regarding the integration process, Rama said that “this process is a process where the parties should not be satisfied with the evident expression of commitment to Europe, but should find the strength, courage and will to interact with each other beyond the natural battle of the moment and beyond the conflicts that unfortunately the moment produces in Albania”.

“On the other hand, together with the media representatives, the coordinators of the integration network are also invited, because this is an inter-institutional, inter-ministerial process involving all institutions of the country, central and relevant, and when it comes to negotiating the big contract of the country with the EU for every field”, – he emphasized.

Prime Minister Rama considered this a special and great challenge for the Chief Negotiator, who according to him, “on one hand will represent our team against the other side, but on the other hand he must create a team spirit, a team discipline and the conditions, in order for the coordinators to dedicate themselves to this process not as a second job, because a great part of them are deputy ministers and others are in their functional daily work process”.

“I want to restate what I have repeated when it comes to conditions, because Albanians should know, due to political propaganda for partisan tactical reasons, the recited song of conditions: 9 conditions, 15 conditions, 12 conditions. In fact, with the starting of this process, the conditions are neither 9, nor 15, nor 4. There are thousands; I do not exaggerate, because thousands are the pages of approximation and compliance of the legislation of reporting documents with the fulfillment of these conditions. Above all, this process is no longer a process of writing laws, but it is also a process of daily production for their implementation”, – said Rama.