Rama in "emotional" speech after "tough love" day/VIDEO

Rama said it was "a very good day (thanks to Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov), tough love." Albania did not receive confirmation of a date to start its EU membership talks during the gathering on Thursday, Tanjug is reporting.

When the moderator of the panel announced him today, Rama made "an unusual gesture," the agency said - namely, he left the room to quickly return, and then said:

"I'm sorry you had to wait for me, at least somebody is, because we've been waiting for you for a long time."

According to news agencies, the Albanian prime minister then proceeded to deliver "an emotional speech," and was afterwards supported by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic.

"One thing is sure: they have the highways, they have motorways, they have undergrounds, but they'll never have our sense of life (...) so I think we can bring some joy in their empire of boredom. And then the rest will follow with benchmarks and with all the... standards and criteria," said Rama.

He pointed out that progress made in the Balkans over the past four to five years has been historic, adding that Albanian and Serbian ministers of tourism met recently in Belgrade to sign an important agreement on joint work of tour operators from the two countries, who will design tourist offer for tourists from Asia, who often fly Air Serbia when traveling to this region.

That, he underlined, is just one of the examples of what we are doing in the region, and all that, he continued, was made possible by a policy, thanks to which the region has become interesting also economically.

"There is growing interest in the region, in some places less, in others more, but it is a trend that will only develop positively. It is very important that we do...