Mr President, honourable colleagues, thanks to the Flamingo Movement, Albania has been showing its best face in recent weeks and is pointing the way forward for the whole of Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets against a government and an opposition that are equally incapable of representing and defending the interests of ordinary people. Their message is simple and powerful: Albania is not for sale. It is not for sale to oligarchs and speculators, it is not for sale to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, it is not for sale to those who believe that money can buy everything — the land, nature, and even democracy itself.
What we are witnessing is not merely an environmentalist mobilisation; it is a battle for popular sovereignty. It is the assertion of a people's right to determine their own future, without the economic interests of the ruling classes dictating the agenda.
For this reason, Europe ought to pay close attention to what is happening in Albania. There is no better guarantee for the path towards accession to the European Union than a people who are alive, aware, and capable of mobilising against predatory capitalism, in defence of justice, the common good, and freedom.