Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama stated in Munich that the U.S. president Donald Trump has not formally requested Albania to host Palestinian refugees. However, he made it clear that his answer would be a firm “No.”
“I don’t understand why I was so desperately invited to be part of this panel on the Middle East,” Rama remarked at the Munich Security Conference event titled “Beyond Conflict: Assessing Pathways and Barriers to Sustainable Peace in the Middle East.”
The discussion, held at Amerikahaus in Munich, focused on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the ongoing war in Gaza. The event gathered politicians, academics, civil society representatives, and media professionals.
Originally, Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud were expected to speak on the panel. However, both canceled at the last minute and were replaced by German politician Armin Laschet of the CDU party and former Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Suzanne Maloney, vice president and director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, also participated, bringing her expertise on the Middle East, particularly Iran.
Palestinians in Albania?
Former U.S. President Donald Trump recently suggested that Albania was among the countries being considered for resettling Palestinian refugees.
“No one from the Trump administration has asked us, but even if they did—which would make little sense, as we are in the middle of Europe, and how would hundreds of thousands even get here?—this is a logistical issue, and we are a small country. But it will not happen, at least not under my government,” Rama stated.
He highlighted Albania’s history of hosting Jewish refugees during World War II, sheltering 7,000 Iranian MEK dissidents, and providing temporary refuge for Afghans fleeing the Taliban takeover in 2021. However, Rama argued that the Palestinian situation is different.
“We deeply sympathize with these people, who are victims of one of the most brutal dictatorships to have ever existed—Hamas. But we are not part of this story, and we never will be,” he declared, emphasizing the importance of numbers in such discussions.
Trump’s idea of relocating Palestinians to various countries was also rejected by Suzanne Maloney. “It is completely unacceptable to forcibly remove people from their own land,” she stated.
“Jumping from one topic to another”
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati criticized the European Union’s role in the Middle East, arguing that “the EU has left a massive vacuum in the region.” Armin Laschet echoed the sentiment, saying “Europe cannot simply watch from the sidelines; it must be part of the process.”
About a month ago, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited Syria, a country emerging from years of war and repression under Bashar al-Assad. Her trip was cited as an example of European engagement in the Middle East—a notion that Rama did not agree with.
As Laschet defended Germany and the EU’s role in the region, Rama surprised the audience by reducing the German foreign minister’s role to her appearance. “She is beautiful,” was his only comment on Baerbock’s visit to Syria.
Throughout the panel, Rama frequently strayed from the topic, focusing instead on the EU’s bureaucratic processes. He sarcastically remarked that the bloc “invents new rules and regulations every week.”
At times, Rama took on the role of moderator himself, often speaking over the official moderator, Mayssoun Zein Al Din, who struggled to manage the discussion. On several occasions, she was visibly uncomfortable as Rama ignored her questions and redirected the conversation elsewhere.
