Diaspora Summit/Zhupa: Government dismisses assembly, turns it into propaganda activity

2026-04-08 11:11:00, Politikë CNA

Diaspora Summit/Zhupa: Government dismisses assembly, turns it into propaganda

The Chairwoman of the Culture, Tourism and Diaspora Committee, Ina Zhupa, has criticized the way the Diaspora Summit was organized.

Zhupa states that the role of the Assembly was deliberately avoided because the committee is led by the opposition, describing the summit as an activity with a propaganda and electoral bent.

It also raises questions about the selection of participants, organization, and costs, emphasizing that diaspora issues should be addressed beyond political interests and in accordance with standards of transparency and inclusiveness.

Ina Zhupa's full reaction:

The Diaspora Summit will take place in Tirana on April 13–15. It was supposed to be a major event for the Albanian diaspora, inclusive and transparent.

The parliamentary committee on the diaspora, which I head, has no information about this activity, nor has there been any invitation to it.

In the publication made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the panels are clearly distinguished, where there is no participating MP from the diaspora committee, even from the socialist majority.

The role of the assembly has been completely avoided, because that committee is led by the opposition. The aim is to turn the diaspora activity into a propaganda summit, an electoral summit, a summit for political purposes. And it is unfortunate that an event that should have been unifying is being transformed into an activity without any inclusiveness.

There is no transparency about who the diaspora participants will be, how they were selected, how the panels were chosen, what the cost is, and how the organization is.

Albania must rise to a level where common national issues are addressed beyond political differences. The diaspora should be one such.

But the government chooses, just as with the diaspora vote, to use all of its state mechanisms in its own electoral interest.

Transparency, inclusiveness, and respect for the role of the Assembly are essential standards in democracy and are not merely formal rules.

These distinguish Albania from others whether it will move towards the path of European integration and the principles of the rule of law, or whether it will remain a state where party and state are united and everything is used for politics./ CNA