PARIS – During his visit to Paris, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama gave an interview to France 24 which focused on political situation in Albania and the region, ATA reports.
Asked about the justice reform and the stand of opposition, Rama said it is a paradoxical situation while the justice reform implementation is at the most critical point.
“It is a paradox and rare occurrence that a government is assigned a radical reform in justice targeted at uprooting corruption at the highest levels and the opposition takes a stand against. It is a reform that we have launched in conjunction with EU justice mission and the US, drawn on EU expertise and experts who have assisted similar reforms in post-communist countries. After making constitutional amendments for an unbiased justice in Albania, we have come to the point that unfortunately is hard to swallow for some, the vetting of judges and prosecutors,” Rama said.
As to the opposition allegations that it is a government move to capture justice, Rama said that he does not believe that the EU and the US as Albania’s strategic allies would have consented to tampering with justice.
Regarding the protest of opposition, Rama said that democracy in Albania is still in its infancy and has a long way to go.
“All I can say is that our democracy is still in its infancy and there is a lot to learn and on the way to establishing instruments for a normal communication between people and political parties, without anything dramatic,” he said.
Rama, in his interview with “France 24”, has commented on situation in the region pointing out that the Balkans is not a powder keg for Europe.
He has also stated that Albanians in Macedonia are not a minority, but an ethnicity constituting 35 percent of the population.
“In Macedonia there is no Albanian minority, there is an Albanian ethnicity that constitute more than 35 percent of the population. Macedonia should respect the Ohrid Agreement signed under the Euro-American leadership,” PM of Albania pointed out.
In reply to the question whether the 28 member countries of EU are exhausted with new memberships and will close the gates any time soon, he said: There is no other alternative but the EU membership.