Ranking Member Shaheen Remarks on Next Generation of Balkan Leaders at Atlantic Council Young Leaders Event

TIRANA, ALBANIA - Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke at an Atlantic Council event entitled "Choosing Albania: Young leaders in conversation with US Senators." The Ranking Member discussed her long-standing efforts to strengthen democratic resilience in the Western Balkans and the importance of continued American partnership in the region to promote stability and economic development. The Senator also emphasized the increasing threats to the further development of democracy in the region and the critical role the next generation of leaders will play in the future of the Western Balkans.

You can watch her remarks HERE.

Key Quotes:

• "I welcome efforts to break down barriers to trade, to expand market access and to help American businesses compete here and support Albanians who are starting businesses here. But I think how we do it does matter. American diplomacy should open doors for American businesses. But it should not decide which American businesses get to walk through those doors."
  
  
• "There is a difference between choosing to leave and believing you have no choice to leave and making the choice to come back. And whether young people stay depends on some very basic questions: 'If I work hard, will I have a fair shot? Can I start a business and compete? Will the courts protect me? Is there really rule of law? Does it matter who I know? And can I trust my government? Can I build a life in my own country?'"
  
  
• "Albania understands that instability does not stop at a border. What happens in Bosnia matters here. What happens in Kosovo matters here. If stability is our objective, American policy has to reinforce the institutions and agreements that have helped preserve it."
  
  
• "When George Voinovich brought me to this region near the end of his career, he was thinking about who would carry this work forward. Standing here today, I think I know the answer. Because it's your generation that is going to carry this work forward. So, stay engaged. Demand institutions that work for you. Build businesses, run for office, hold your leaders accountable and build the Albania you want to live in. The future is in your hands."

The Ranking Member's remarks, as delivered, are below:

Thank you so much for that very nice introduction. Welcome, everyone. I am so delighted that you joined us here and pleased to be here with my friend and colleague, Senator Dick Durbin. One of the things you should know about the both of us is that we are leaving the Senate at this end of the year, we are both-I don't want to say retiring-but we will no longer be Senators, let's put it that way.

But it's so nice to be here to see so many young Albanians, and I especially appreciated your talking about the importance of young people to this part of the world and to the future of Albania.

It's especially fitting to be here because this organization in Tirana is supported by the American Albanian Foundation, an organization that grew out of funding that Congress provided three decades ago. Now I wasn't in Congress at that time, but Senator Durbin was, and you know that he voted for that.

Thank you to our hosts and to the Atlantic Council for bringing us all together. I also want to recognize that we now, after too many years without, have an American Ambassador, Ambassador Eric Wendt, who is now part of our Embassy team here in Tirana. And we are delighted because it had been far too long since we had a confirmed Ambassador here.

Now, our relationships are stronger when senior diplomats are on the ground every day working with our allies and partners. And, as I said, I am retiring at the end of this year, so this visit is really bittersweet for me. It's my last congressional delegation trip to this region, and in the world, actually. And I deliberately wanted to come back to the Western Balkans because I have done a lot of work over my career in this part of Europe.

And one of my first trips to the region was back in 2010, with someone I served as governor with, George Voinovich, who was from the state of Ohio, I am from the state of New Hampshire. And when I got elected governor, he was the head of the Governors Association, and he was leaving the Senate at the time I got elected to the Senate and he said, 'You have to come with me to the Western Balkans because it's such an important part of Europe and we need to make sure somebody is still paying attention to what is happening in that part of Europe.'

So, he brought me here, and I, of course, fell in love with your country, with all of the countries I visited, and have made it a significant part of the work I have done in the United States Senate. And I am so pleased that my friend Dick Durbin is here with me today.

The question that Senator Voinovich asked me on that first trip to the region is the question that I want to put to all of you today, and sort of, was framed by our moderator in her opening comments. But that is: Who will carry this work forward?

Because ultimately, the future of Albania, the future of the Western Balkans and this region is going to be determined by your generation, not by my generation. You know we did some things right; we did a number of things wrong. But when I have traveled through the countries in the Western Balkans, one issue that has struck me again and again is that too many talented young people believe they have to leave their countries, they have to leave this region to have a prosperous future.

Now, I know something about leaving home because I was born in the middle of the country in the Midwest, the state of Missouri. I went to college in the eastern part of the country in Pennsylvania, I lived there. I taught in the state of Mississippi, which is in the southern part of the U.S., and then I made my way to New Hampshire, met my husband who is from New Hampshire, and stayed there.

But what I learned in all of those travels was that leaving opened opportunities for me that I couldn't imagine. And I am proud that American exchange programs have given so many young people from this region those same opportunities.

But there is a difference between choosing to leave and believing you have no choice to leave and making the choice to come back. And whether young people stay depends on some very basic questions: 'If I work hard, will I have a fair shot? Can I start a business and compete? Will the courts protect me? Is there really rule of law? Does it matter who I know? And can I trust my government? Can I build a life in my own country?'

Those questions should also be at the center of American policy for this region. That's why I worked, Senator Durbin was a cosponsor, we had bipartisan legislation to pass the Western Balkans Democracy and Prosperity Act. Because peace and stability in the region, I believe, depend on not only economic opportunity, but democratic opportunity. We need to hold accountable those who threaten stability.

But we also need to help create the conditions for investment, for jobs, for stronger institutions and for opportunity. That is why I was particularly proud, with the help of my staff who is here-Amy and Naz-to secure the future of the BOLD program. It began in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it will now expand to Albania. It's why I believe American policy toward this region should focus on three things: Opportunity, stability and democratic institutions.

So first let me talk about opportunity. I want to give the Administration in Washington, which I don't agree with in a lot of the policy, I am a Democrat, as you may know the President is a Republican, so we are on different sides of many issues, but this Administration has put more emphasis on American economic engagement and I think that is good for the region. I welcome efforts to break down barriers to trade, to expand market access and to help American businesses compete here and support Albanians who are starting businesses here. But I think how we do it does matter. American diplomacy should open doors for American businesses. But it should not decide which American businesses get to walk through those doors.

If we ask our partners to fight corruption, to strengthen the rule of law and to ensure fair competition, our own conduct needs to reinforce those principles. Politically connected deals are not a foundation for lasting investment, transparent rules are, fair competition is and a legal system that businesses can trust is. That is the standard we should ask of our partners and the standard the United States should meet itself.

Second on that list is stability. I arrived here from Bosnia and Herzegovina, actually we all in our delegation arrived from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and during that trip, we visited Srebrenica, we met with political and civic leaders in Sarajevo, and it was a powerful reminder of how far that country and this region has come, and how dangerous it would be to take that progress for granted.

More than thirty years after the war, political leaders are still exploiting ethnic divisions and challenging Bosnia and Herzegovina's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Last year, the Administration removed sanctions on Milorad Dodik and a number of his associates. I disagreed with that decision, and I am concerned when the United States gives legitimacy to political forces that undermine the Dayton Peace Agreement.

Albania understands that instability does not stop at a border. What happens in Bosnia matters here. What happens in Kosovo matters here. If stability is our objective, American policy has to reinforce the institutions and agreements that have helped preserve it.

That brings me to the third principle, democracy and the rule of law. We often talk about economic growth, security and democracy as though they are separate foreign policy goals, but they aren't. Businesses invest when contracts are enforced and courts are independent. Entrepreneurs take risks when they know competitors can't buy political protection. And young people stay when they believe hard work will be rewarded. Societies are more stable when citizens believe they have a meaningful voice in their government.

That's why democracy and the rule of law are not side projects. It's one reason I have been such a strong advocate for a credible path to European Union membership for the countries of the Western Balkans. The accession process requires countries to strengthen the rule of law, to strengthen democratic institutions and to strengthen economic governance. Those reforms are good for Albania, and they are in the interest of the United States just as they are in the interest of the EU and Europe.

But that process has to remain credible. For too long, countries in this region have been asked to make difficult reforms and yet the prospect of membership remains elusive. The European Union can't allow accession to become an eternal promise. There has to be a real path forward for countries that do the work.

So let me close with this: My generation inherited a Western Balkans still living with the consequences of war. We've spent decades working to support peace and to strengthen the region's democratic future. Your generation inherits a different challenge. To build countries prosperous enough, democratic enough and hopeful enough that staying is a real choice and leaving is an opportunity, not an escape.

When George Voinovich brought me to this region near the end of his career, he was thinking about who would carry this work forward. Standing here today, I think I know the answer.

Because it's your generation that is going to carry this work forward.

So, stay engaged. Demand institutions that work for you. Build businesses, run for office, hold your leaders accountable and build the Albania you want to live in.

The future is in your hands.

Thank you all.

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