"My hair stood on end"/ Strong clash between Shehaj and Andi Bushati for RTSH

2025-04-18 10:57:00, Politikë CNA

"My hair stood on end"/ Strong clash between Shehaj and Andi Bushati

Andi Bushati analyst

The leader of the "Mundësia" Party, Agron Shehaj, and analyst Andi Bushati had a very strong debate regarding Shehaj's statements to RTSH, where he proposed closing the television station because, according to him, 30 million euros would be saved.

Bushati expressed himself with irony, saying that when he saw the video with his statement, his hair stood on end because, according to him, it was scandalous to compare the RTSH management model with that of other private television stations.

Debate on MCN Tv.

Andi Bushati: When I saw the RTSH video, my hair stood on end. I saw Mr. Shehaj in front of RTSH and he compared it to the Klan. So the model of good management was the Klan and the bad one was RTSH. This seemed scandalous to me. I am going beyond my philosophy as a leftist who is more for public property. But, the problem is, what do we gain if we reduce RTSH from 30 million euros to 5 million euros? Is there theft? Yes. I agree with Agron's denunciation. The problem is, a new political force, a new approach that will regulate this society, finds a solution by reducing the RTSH budget? The media market swindlers Top Channel and Klan, institutions of which Mr. Shehaj has been a victim, would be empowered. Do you remember the omerta every time Mr. Shehaj made denunciations? Oligarchs do not talk about each other. Removing the public broadcaster is empowering some owners who see the media as an opportunity to steal from Albanians. If I had a new approach, it would be, keep the 30 million but make a powerful model, RAI or BBC. I followed the debate on the BBC, I know what a former director said, when the privatization debate opened, he said it is not a market commodity, it exists because the market has failed. Making a solution, out of 30 million you are saving 25 million, you have punished the Albanians. I would prefer that they have 50 million, so that people see the mirror of truth.

There is a way to dismantle this media system that has taken our breath away, by strengthening the public broadcaster. You are doing the opposite and I find it horrifying.

Agron Shehaj: I'm really sorry that when you show what your vision is and what you're going to do, you say citizens' money, it's sweat, we can't waste it. You say, I want to save money and return what we're not able to use to the citizens. This is what I think, the state should be small, the administration small, taxes low. Everything will be better only if the economy grows. As long as it grows by 2% per year, we will remain poor. Only if we take the state off the backs of Albanians, welfare can increase. You deal with this, Klani, I could tell Euronews, or something. I explained how I see it. I compared it to a private television.

I'm sorry that when I tell you what I'm going to do, to explain to the citizens, it's not my fault that you stop at the second sentence, why did you say Klan and not Top or MCN? This is our vision. Dear Andi, in my family, I lived and grew up in Italy, my father told me to watch RAI and not Mediaset, I know the value of public television. I didn't say to close RTSH, but we can't spend 30 million euros. 5 million are not crumbs, they are a mountain of money and many things can be done.

30 million euros is a third of the amount needed to increase pensions. I and the party that I created together with a group of young men and women, think that we should treat citizens' money as if it were our children's. It is hard earned money and we must be careful not to waste it. Where is my vision? I'm sorry that it stops at the Klan.

Andi Bushati: Top Channel, the same.

Agron Shehaj: Not that they embroidered the Klan one… Slander. Here's what Thoma Gëllçi, the convicted former director, says, Agron Shehaj is going to close down RTSH. They are lying openly. I am fighting for these people. This is what I am talking about. RTSH, I would like us to have the opportunity to create BBC, but I think that the state should only do what the private sector either will not do or cannot provide.

Mentor Nazarko: But who will we leave the national interest to?

Agron Shehaj: When the state tries several times and fails, year after year...

Andi Bushati: The most superficial solution is, here it is stolen. Even in hospitals it is stolen, should we privatize it? Even in universities, grades are given with money, should we privatize it? Your deeply capitalist mentality breeds the destruction of everything public in this country and makes us all victims of that oligarchy that you claim to fight. The example of RTSH was flagrant, but there are dozens of such. It is not enough to say thief, but how are we going to build a system so that the thief does not steal. So what you propose, where it is stolen we should privatize, has been tried and has bred poverty and misery. I am against this capitalist and neoliberal vision that will not care about the person but only about the money.

Agron Shehaj: Are you accusing me of wanting capitalism? I am for capitalism.

Andi Bushat: There is social democratic capitalism.

Agron Shehaj: We need to adopt real capitalism, not caricatures.

Ylli Rakipi: 95% of the Albanian media is a big alarm, caught. State television does not exist, okay, but…

Agron Shehaj: I didn't go to RTSH to deal with the media. I point to the moon, you see the finger.