The Prime Ministers of Albania, Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia gathered at the Bled Strategic Forum to discuss the theme “A World of Parallel Realities”. The panel opened with a speech by the newly elected President of the European Commission, who expressed concern over Russian influence in the Western Balkans. According to Ursula von der Leyen, Moscow intervenes to stir up old conflicts whenever there is progress in the region’s integration into the EU.

Context

Ursula von der Leyen assured the Forum that during her new mandate as President of the European Commission, the focus will remain on the gradual integration of the Western Balkans into the EU. A significant boost to the region is being provided through the Economic Growth Plan, from which each state will benefit based on performance. 

The Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama praised this plan and spoke about the work his government is doing to address state-building reforms that will be supported by this plan.

“What Ursula said is absolutely true and very encouraging because a year ago here in Bled, she promised the New Growth Plan, and now this New Growth Plan is on the right track, and we are hopeful that even more will happen. Meanwhile, we need to do all the hard work to be considered ready to join the European Union. We need to get more tools and enter different areas of the European Union that were not allowed to us before this New Growth Plan. It is a moment to feel positive,” Rama said.

Regarding Russian influence in Albania, Prime Minister Rama stated that Moscow’s influence in Albania is negligible, whereas in neighboring countries, it has been and remains a source of concern. However, Rama reiterated that one way third actors like Russia, China, or Iran penetrate not only the Balkans but the entire world is through technology and widely used apps like TikTok among young people.

“When you see how the Russians are penetrating everywhere through the means we provide them or give them for free, I no longer understand what needs to happen to realize that social media, the way we handle it and deal with it, is the greatest asset that the Russians, Iranians, or anyone else have. I would focus on the Chinese version of TikTok; it is a wonderful reality there. A place where you would want to live immediately. For us, our version of the Chinese TikTok is hell on earth, and we call it freedom, I don’t know what we call it, but as long as we do not realize that freedom of expansion is not equivalent to freedom of speech, we will sabotage—and I will use a word that Russians like—we will sabotage the future in the name of something that I do not understand,” said the Albanian Prime Minister.