Greetings everyone,

Deputy Chair of the Assembly,

Dear Colleagues,

Honorable representatives of the diplomatic corps

Representatives of various organizations for being here with us today,

It is an important moment for us, part of a journey that started two and a half years ago when the consultation process started with you all. Regarding the adoption of this law, I do not hesitate to consider it one of the most important laws of the legislation and a model process of consultation with all interested parties, with experts of the European Commission, the Council of Europe and the Office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities to whom, on behalf of the Albanian Government, I would like to express my gratitude for the contribution to this process. In preparing this law, which although there was ample debate about it in the Albanian Parliament, is an entry gateway from the moment Albania became part of the Framework Convention for the Protection of Minorities and is an entry gate leading us to an even more important process as the adoption of its bylaws. Through this process we hope to guarantee all the standards envisaged by both the Convention and the law. We hope that thanks to the bylaws that we will adopt after the conclusion of the consultation process, we will be able to talk about a more developed, more European and more tolerant Albanian society that respects and promotes minority rights. Respect and promotion of these rights does not simply remain in the paper.

The first phase of this process was coordinated by Odeta, whom I would like to thank; and the second phase was coordinated by Artemisa. To be honest, I was a bit lucky in this process because 95% of the work is best coordinated by the working groups who have facilitated my part and that of my colleagues’ who finally sign it up. The whole working group has coordinated the interaction with institutions and various representatives of national minorities in the country. Last but not least, Kostandine who continues to be legendary and firm in its conviction that the Albanian society will become better and fairer with the participation of all minorities, not just the minority that she belongs to, as in her role as chairwoman of the Committee she has to reflect the views of all minorities in Albania.

In this framework, I would like to cite a famous American pastor who says that the law we have passed is a sign of tolerance of the majority and courage of the minority. We know very well that the main part now concerns the adoption of these legal acts, be it with the self-identification process which has its own details and obstacles.

My teacher Lika, present here today, is shaking her head because she belongs to a minority group, which makes it easier for my friend Kotzias when it comes to the self-identification process and other processes related to the promotion of language, interaction modalities of the minorities with state authorities and access to public information tools. The Albanian Television has a special program in this regard and we are in constant contact with the Albanian TV managers and we intend to further enhance this cooperation. But we need to understand each-other and help each-other in this process by respecting our field of action, of course, because we need to understand that this is an evolutionary process.

The team here decided to discuss some of the passages of the European Commission Report, please do understand me if I do not read these passages. They are encouraging remarks for the steps Albania has taken, but without the support of the European Commission, the EU Delegation here in Tirana, without the support of the Council of Europe Office, without the support of the OSCE in this process, we would have found it difficult, from the point of view of expertise, to reach this moment we are now. At the same time, I would like to emphasize the engagement of the Albanian Government. The very presence of high level officials from Albanian institutions, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Education, which have an area of action that is directly related not only to the implementation of laws but also to the approval of these legal acts, is a sign that we want to fulfill our commitments, when we became party to the Framework Convention and when we adopted the law on protection of minorities last autumn.

We know very well even from the communication with interested parties, from our consultations we had together with the Prime Minister Edi Rama a few days ago in Dropull, or from our consultations a little earlier with the Montenegrin and Serbian minority in Shkodra, or from our consultation we had together with the Prime Minister Zaev in Pustec. We know very well that the end of this cycle does not magically solve all the issues and challenges that different communities face in everyday life. It will be a long and challenging process but it is important to become a promoter of political and social consensus in order to move forward and to divert any kind of rhetoric that seeks to poison the good understanding that exists between us, or what Pope Francis has rightly called it “unity in diversity”.

Thank you once again for your support and presence here.