"Albania a colony of cartels, Rama the director of the operation"/ Berisha: Technical government before it's too late

2025-07-02 13:25:00, Politikë CNA

"Albania a colony of cartels, Rama the director of the operation"/

The Chairman of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, accompanied by Fatmir Mediu, Chairman of the Republican Party and member of the Albanian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, as well as Albana Vokshi, held an important meeting with the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Ms. Pia Kauma, and its Secretary General, Mr. Roberto Montella.

During the meeting, Berisha informed President Kauma and Secretary General Montella about the serious and deteriorating situation in which Albania finds itself, as the first and only narco-state in Europe.

He pointed out the massive cultivation of cannabis in Albania since 2015, as well as the recent approval, just a few weeks before the elections, of 138 licenses for cannabis production, mainly near border areas.

Criminal groups and cartels supported by Prime Minister Rama have received favors in exchange for their electoral support. These groups are also involved in the trafficking of hard drugs from Latin America, and some of them run cartels such as the Sinaloa.

Further, Berisha explained the strengthening of drug cartels such as the Troplini/Poja network in the Durrës region, which fully control the country's largest port.

"The Cela cartel that controls the heroin highway coming from the east and other criminal groups that dominate most of Albania, supporting 28 candidates in 10 regions and 21 municipalities during the last elections, over 20 of whom will be part of the next parliament," Berisha said.

Regarding money laundering, Berisha warned that Albania has become the largest laundromat in Europe for laundering criminal money, Eurostat data showing that the construction index in Albania has tripled in recent years, the highest in Europe, while economic growth is around 3% per year, while the industrial sector, exports and agriculture have suffered continuous decline.

He also emphasized that wiretapping investigations by law enforcement authorities in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, etc., have uncovered communications involving higher-level officials, with the greatest concentration of these suspicious conversations in the Prime Minister's office, which has a coordinator for coordinating the activities of drug cartels and criminal groups.

He raised deep concern that Prime Minister Rama has consistently violated the Electoral Code, including the massive misuse of public resources such as:

-forgiveness of fines two days before the elections worth 200 million euros,

-organizing 4,255 public activities in four months, abusing his position,

-distribution of a bonus of 100 euros to about 760 thousand pensioners,

-procurements oriented towards electoral benefits,

-high-profile activities such as the Giro d'Italia, etc.

He highlighted the return of a patronage system similar to communist structures through the misuse of personal data, where each civil servant was forced to secure 10–15 more voters to maintain his job, while 138 cannabis licenses were granted, 147 times more than the area allowed by law, which is only 200 hectares.

Berisha stressed that in these elections, the state and the ruling party merged into one, exercising intimidation, vote buying and controlling over 90% of the media. He added that all the Copenhagen criteria and other democratic conventions were violated.

In conclusion, Berisha stressed that the parliament resulting from the May 11, 2025 elections does not express the will of the Albanian people, therefore his request is to help Albanians vote freely and stated that only a technical government, which would be committed to implementing the ODIHR recommendations and advancing European integration, can guarantee free and fair elections in Albania./ CNA