Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has responded to international media coverage of a joke he shared with French President Emmanuel Macron in Denmark regarding a slip made by U.S. President Donald Trump about Albania.
Writing on X, Rama insisted the exchange was “nothing more than a moment of good humor among friends” and should not be distorted into political controversy.
“It is truly extraordinary how today’s media and so-called ‘virality’ can so easily twist reality. A sentence said in good humor, in a spirit of friendship, suddenly becomes a global headline of an entire summit among dozens of nations, while the real substance is overlooked,” Rama noted.
He added that the moment was shared in the company of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Macron, pointing out that his reference to Trump’s earlier mix-up — suggesting Albania had made peace with Azerbaijan — was simply a “light remark in a friendly atmosphere.”
Rama also underlined his respect for Trump’s role in bringing peace initiatives back to the Western political agenda:
“The truth is that President Trump has shown himself to be a leader who brought the word ‘peace’ back into the vocabulary of the West after many years. In a very short time, he has achieved peace where others tried and failed, and he continues to pursue it tirelessly.”
The Prime Minister concluded by emphasizing that while the joke spreading internationally was “no problem,” transforming it into “political poison” was unfair.
