Clinton Urges Reforms as Path to Albania's EU Membership

01 November 2012

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told the Albanian parliament that the United States will support Albania as it makes the critical decisions needed for EU membership.

As Albania prepares to celebrate 100 years of independence, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed the country’s parliament.

She lauded Albania’s rise since the end of communism and pledged U.S. support for its aspirations to join the European Union.

“We not only want to see our relationship grow even stronger, we want to see you grow even stronger,” Clinton told Albanian lawmakers in Tirana November 1. “We want to see your economy, your democracy be the envy of people everywhere. We fully endorse Albania’s EU aspirations because we think that will make you stronger,” she said.

Albania proclaimed its independence from the Ottoman Empire on November 28, 1912. Clinton said Albanians and Americans have shared a similar determination to be free and to build “a thriving democracy and a flourishing economy.”

Albanians and Americans also hold a fierce desire to put past struggles behind them and "achieve a future of peace and opportunity for all,” she said.

Albania deserves a place in the EU, Clinton said, but that will require the country to make critical decisions — such as ensuring that its 2013 parliamentary elections are verifiably free and fair. She called on all Albanians to “work hard to make this next election a success that reflects the depth of your commitment to democracy.”

Consolidating Albanian democracy will also require strong governing institutions, including "an effective and impartial judiciary,” open and accountable government, and tackling the problem of corruption, she said.

“This is a fight every country must wage and win, because all over the world, corruption is a cancer that eats away at societies. It drains resources, it blocks economic growth, it shields incompetent and unethical leaders, and perhaps worst of all, it creates a culture of impunity that saps people of their will to improve their own lives and communities,” Clinton said.

POLITICAL LEADERS NEED TO PUT COUNTRY ABOVE PARTY

Clinton said corruption is “as old as human nature,” and “if there were an easy answer, the world would have solved this a long time ago." To root out corruption, Albania’s leaders need to work constantly and in cooperation with their political rivals, Clinton said.

In terms of working cooperatively with political rivals, Clinton said she is still asked how she can work as President Obama’s secretary of state after fighting a bitter and expensive political campaign against him for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 2008.

“Believe me, I did everything I could to beat him, but he won,” she said. Clinton said there is a “a very, very simple answer" to why she joined the Obama administration despite their campaign battle: "We both love our country.”

In politics, individuals can hold different beliefs and each can feel that he or she would be the best leader, but “at the end, putting individual interests and party interests behind national interests is what democratic leaders are called to do,” Clinton said.

The secretary said the United States has stood with Albanians since its independence and it will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. She pointed out that, under communism, Albania was once “the most isolated country in Europe” whose people had endured invasion, occupation, dictatorship and deprivation.

Now it has elected representatives, is a valued member of NATO and is creating the conditions for better economic opportunities through entrepreneurship, trade and investment, she said.

“You have so much to celebrate now. This jubilee is not just about the past. It is a challenge to what you will become in the future,” she said.

“As you make the tough decisions that are required for your further progress for moving, as you rightly belong, into the European Union, the United States will support you in these difficult decisions. We believe that we’re in this together, the United States and Albania,” Clinton said.