In unusually blunt terms, the self-styled politician said that Europe is making a mistake by focusing only on armaments. From Riyadh, where he addressed the 9th Future Investment Initiative, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama delivered a stark warning to Europe. In unusually blunt terms, he declared: “Europe is making a mistake by focusing only on armaments and not on creating its own peace plan.”
The 9th Future Investment Initiative (FII9), held in Riyadh from October 27-30, 2025, under the theme “The Key to Prosperity,” convenes global leaders, investors, and innovators to explore AI, sustainability, and economic growth through high-level discussions and partnerships.
One of Europe’s longest-serving leaders, Rama shared the stage with figures like FIFA President Gianni Infantino in a panel on innovation, security, and geopolitical stability. Yet his remarks transcended economics and technology, challenging the EU’s strategic direction on war and peace.
“Europe lived for years in automation under the shadow of the United States,” he said. “Now, in an era of global instability, it is rediscovering the word ‘truce’ – a term erased from its vocabulary.”
His critique comes as European governments pour billions into defence – from Ukraine to the Balkans – while offering no coherent vision for the post-war order.
“There is something deeply wrong,” Rama observed, “when every day we speak of more weapons, more defence, but no one speaks of peace.
”The deficit, he argued, is not merely strategic but moral. Europe has fallen into a security monologue, losing its capacity for political imagination and ethical leadership.Rama has a point: when it comes to peace talks, Europe remains far on the sidelines while Donald Trump monopolizes the effort.
Particularly alarming, he said, is the casual normalization of nuclear rhetoric. “Just a few years ago, no one used the word ‘nuclear,’” Rama noted. “Now major powers openly threaten—or hint on social media—at its use. That is madness.”
This shift reflects a broader erosion: the EU, once a global model of peaceful power, now struggles to assert its own geopolitical voice, caught between external pressures and internal inertia.
Speaking with measured urgency, Rama positioned himself not as a lecturer but as a concerned European.
“I am one of the longest-serving prime ministers of a small state,” he said. “It is not my role to give lessons. But as a European, I cannot remain silent.”
Edi Rama, a self-styled politician, frequently breaks moulds and diplomatic protocol. In May 2025, during the European Political Community Summit in Tirana, Rama knelt on one knee in the rain to playfully welcome Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on the red carpet, joining his hands in a namaste gesture. On a previous occasion he publicly mocked EU leaders with memes and blunt critiques during Albania’s stalled accession talks.
Peace, he concluded, demands planning, imagination, and political will – qualities he said the continent currently lacks.