Edi Rama pushes EU to speed up Western Balkans enlargement

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has urged the European Union to move faster on integrating the Western Balkans, saying the region has waited long enough. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, he criticized the EU’s slow progress and complex rules, calling for quicker action.

“The EU needs to decide,” Rama said. “Its approach towards us has changed, but too slowly. We can talk about merit-based accession all day, but there should be a clear and immediate sEdi Rama pushes EU to speed up Western Balkans enlargement

eparation: merit should apply to voting rights in the European Council, not to joining the single market. That should happen much faster.”

Rama used humor to describe the EU’s problems, comparing it to a "patient with 27 doctors"—a reference to the 27 member states. He also joked that Brexit was the result of a “political breakdown” and called U.S. politics a "one-sheriff show."

Beyond EU expansion, Rama warned that Europe should not cut education and healthcare funding to boost military spending. “If the solution is to build military strength by making Europe ignorant, then we are failing,” he said. “Europe needs to be stronger both militarily and economically. Without the U.S., Europe is just a peninsula. But if the EU wants Washington to take it seriously, it must act like a 700-million-strong market.”

His comments come as the EU faces pressure to speed up enlargement, especially with rising geopolitical tensions. But with internal disagreements and strict accession rules, Albania and its neighbors still face uncertainty.