Opening chapters with the EU/ Salianji reacts from prison: The credit belongs to the Albanians, not Rama

2024-10-26 13:50:00, Politikë CNA

Opening chapters with the EU/ Salianji reacts from prison: The credit belongs to

Former MP Ervin Salianji

Former MP Ervin Salianji has reacted from the cell for the opening of the first chapters of Albania's membership in the EU.

Salianji says that this is positive news and the Albanians should take credit for this, not the government and Prime Minister Edi Rama.

He says that the closer we get to the EU, the greater the exposure of bad governance will be and the more visible the picture of the reality of democracy underfoot in Tirana will be.

Full statement:

Corner from cell no. 6 - For Albania in the EU.

The good news, a little later than the bad, however, also arrives in the cells of the political prisoners. Thus, the news about Albania's progress in relations with the EU, one more step towards Brussels, is positive, despite the suffocating atmosphere in Albania and despite the fact that the autocrat has falsely opened the champagne of victory 8 more times in the past years. It is possible that someone does not experience this, because while it seems that steps are being taken here, when principles and values, freedom and rights that were achieved 34 years ago with the fall of the communist regime are questioned, even when it is seen that the rule of government and the control of institutions by one hand is a fact and appears in all its dimensions as the opposite of Europe, negotiations are opened. Well, again and always the only solution is; more Europe.

There are idealists who are rightly troubled by the paradox of how some Brussels officials support the corrupt autocrat. But, again and in any case, more Europe is milking our wound. The closer to the EU, the greater the exposure of bad governance, the more visible the picture of the reality of democracy underfoot in Tirana.

He has to receive the honors of the occasion, the photos and the praise. It's just a courtesy of protocol. It is the society, the Albanians, who actually have all the merits.

I don't believe there is a country in our region, where the citizens with their vocation and aspirations, the values ??and principles where they stand, have gone much further, much earlier towards the West, than their leaders.

All the events even show that the renaissance has been an obstacle, a serious obstacle in the way of integration. The most difficult challenges that our country has encountered and is still facing today are corruption and crime and its connections with politics. If one asks the question of who is the biggest source of these two phenomena, everyone will immediately point the finger at the government.

If we stay on this ground, in this argument, there is someone who should be thanked today for the contribution in this direction. It is the Opposition, the Democratic Party, and this must be said without shyness, without any complexes. In this sense, we have done more than the government for integration. The biggest corrupt affairs today, which are marked as records of the war that justice is doing, have been discovered and denounced, even referred to by the Opposition. In no single case has the government produced a control, an audit, where it has found violations and "self-corrected".

Edi Rama always reacts after the meal, and he has a habit of naming big thefts as small things, like fruit. Who more than us, than the Opposition, has fought with crime, with gangs, with dangerous mafia groups connected to the government.

A battle without stopping and not with little cost, not with little sacrifice. The angle from which this note is being written, with pencil and paper, is also a sacrifice. This positioning was not a spontaneity, a product of circumstances, not at all. But, a choice, a value that was maintained consistently, without hesitation, in 12 years. The public and political scene today is cleaner than the uncompromising commitment of the Democrats. With denunciations, with names, with facts, we managed to get many accused and thugs to return to where they belonged. What was the choice of the government and the prime minister in this case? Everyone recently saw the list of deputies of Durrës. How the mix was done, how the names were decided, and who had lobbied for the safe places. With the signature of the president of the SP, organized crime has managed to send people to the highest constitutional hall, where the laws of the country are made. From this point of view, it is the Opposition, it is the democrats who have bled for Europe. It is the citizens who have given their effort and work. It is the society that culturally has the compass towards the west. It is the government that has raised obstacles every time.

The result? We started the talks, but 12 years late. Today, after 12 years, the despot is the most anti-European value that Albania has./ CNA