Albania PM Rama – Oppostion protest is instrument to block the vetting

Tirana, Albania | Tirana Echo – Refering to the opposition protest entering its 5th day, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has said today he respects the will of anyone to protest, but not for their organizers who want to use the protest in order to block the ‘Vetting’ process.

Speaking to the State Police today, Rama said the opposition has full rights to protest but this should not halt the justice reform which enters its implementation phase.

“Sincere respect for any normal person protesting, but not for the organizers of a protest which sees the boycott of the parliament as an instrument to block the vetting process. Let them prove the opposite – let them protest, let them boycott the parliament, but let them send 3 people representing them at the committees” – said Rama this morning in Tirana.

The Prime Minister is under fire by the opposition democrats who are in their 4th day of the ongoing protest in front of his office, demanding his resignation and the creation of a technical government.

DP leader Lulzim Basha told MEP Knut Fleckenstein this evening that the opposition will not go back to parliament until it is sure there will be free and fair elections.

PM Rama has reportedly asked socialist MPs not to get involved in commenting the protest and accuses the opposition of deliberately creating a false protest in order to delay the much needed justice reform.

Rama pointed out that the justice system was the real pain of Albania, where “hundreds of serious crimes are repeated by criminels arrested by the police and later freed by corrupt judges, for whom we need the Vetting process as the only way to free the people and the Police from the ‘killers’ today under the protection of a parliamentary boycott”.

“How can these judges continue to judge today, tomorrow and beoyond while the Albanian people have a Constitution which gives them the opportunity to clean them through their representatives in parliament?” noted PM Rama, adding that ‘the state police is the most trustworthy institution in the country.

The oppostion Democratic Party has decided to continue its protest and not withdraw until free and fair upcoming elections are guaranteed. The radical move by the democrats comes as the crucial ‘Vetting’ process to scan all judges and prosecutors, is planned to start its implementation.

Albania is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe with a highly rotten justice system.