Tirana, Albania | Tirana Echo – Albania risks escalating into further conflict as the country’s opposition called its supporters to prepare for civil disobedience across the country after the two European mediators fail to bridge the gap between ruling socialists and opposition democrats.
As the European Parliament mediators David McAllister and Knut Fleckenstein rounded up a marathon of meetings today without a concrete agreement between the two sides at sight, Democratic Party chairman Lulzim Basha gathered his supporters at the usual protest tent and warned the country should prepare for civil disobedience as the country’s prime minister Edi Rama refuses to step down.
Basha said the protests would escalate after the failure of political talks to find a solution to Albania’s political crisis, despite the help of two senior members of the European Parliament.
“Unfortunately the efforts of the two mediators have not had any success. This because Edi Rama refuses the technical government as the only condition for free and fair elections, but also for the implementation of decriminalization and fight against narcotics. Next week we will escalate our protest into civil disobedience across Albania to show Edi Rama that the time when voting would take place without elections, has ended once for all. No one can stop the new Republic and we will not accept elections bought from drug money” – said Basha to his DP supporters late tonight in Tirana.
The statement comes as David McAllister who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee and Knut Fleckenstein who reports to the European Parliament on Albania conducted a marathon of political talks in Tirana today with the country’s political leaders, in what was seen to be the last effort from the European Union to get all sides together in the hope of finding a way out of the current stalemate.
The latest ‘civil disobedience’ call from the opposition democrats signals a new chapter in Albania’s 66 day parliamentary boycott and non-stop protest in front of PM Rama’s office.
The opposition demands the resignation of prime minister Edi Rama and the formation of a technical government which would prepare the country for free and fair elections. The prime minister refuses to step down, arguing that his mandate has been granted by the people and that the opposition democrats are attempting to block the country’s elections because they fear the newly approved justice reform which is to scan all judges and prosecutors of Albania’s highly corrupt justice system .
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