Is George Soros ‘Great Friend of Albanians’ or ‘Great Danger’ – Look at what Berisha has said in years?

Tirana, Albania | Tirana Echo – George Soros has turned from a ‘great friend’ to ‘great danger’ for the Albanian people, according to former Albanian prime minister Sali Berisha, who has recently engaged on a frontal war with the Soros network in the small Balkan country.

As Albania is expected to move on with reforming its corrupt justice system and the opposition democrats are staging a non-stop protest demanding PM Rama’s resignations, the focus of attacks from several exponents of Albania’s political opposition circles has turned against George Soros and his network.

In his latest attacks against the Soros Network, Mr. Berisha called him a major danger for the Albanian democracy.

“My statements on George Soros and his mafia, as a major danger for the Albanian democracy, are based on authentic documents. My statement at the Albanian Parliament against the mafia acts of Soros and his network in Albania, are based on facts which date before the current debates taking place in the United States on the activity of the chief speculator of the planet” – said Berisha in response to MEP Knut Fleckenstein who had earlier called such allegations as mere tales.

However, Mr. Berisha has not always held the same views on the Jewish Hungarian American philanthropist.

Digging into the official archives of the PM website, a statement in 2008 says that during a visit in Davos, Switzerland, PM Sali Berisha met “with the great friend of Albania and the Albanians, George Soros, a financier and philanthropist known worldwide” – according to the exact word of the PM website statements of the time.

The statement of Berisha’s press office said at the time that “during the conversation with Mr. Soros, PM Berisha spoke about progress of reforms in Albania and made a panorama of the achievements in the field of education, culture, health”.

Former Albanian PM Berisha with George Soros in Davos in 2008

Berisha has reportedly presented to Mr. Soros several projects undertaken in cooperation with major companies in the energy field targeting exploitation of the water resources, but even thermal energy extraction – possibly asking for financing of assistance. On his part, Mr. Soros congratulated PM Berisha for the economic, social and cultural progress of Albania, and he praised the job of the Albanian government to successfully implement the reforms. Berisha had asked Soros for support in different projects undertaken in assistance to the Roma population.

In December 2014, Soros visited Albania again with his wife and held away from media attention, except the meeting with the Chairman of the Democratic Party, Lulzim Basha, who today leads a protest demanding the resignation of PM Edi Rama.

The democrats accuse Soros of funding a shady corrupt clique of people who have taken over control of governmental institutions pursue a dangerous agenda for Albania. These fears are backed by the long friendship between George Soros and Edi Rama. During his last visit to Tirana, the Jewish-American billionaire of Hungarian origin, had a long dinner with the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, after which Soros pledged to help finance some ‘painful but necessary’ reform which had been undertaken by Rama’s socialist government.

The Soros Network has been blamed by the opposition and several analysts for financing and influencing the drafting of the justice reform, in cooperation with the US and EU embassies in Tirana.

In a press conference in January 2017, the Executive Director of ‘Open Society Foundation Albania” said that the network was proud to have helped with the reform of the justice system in the country.

“There are substantial documents proving our involvement with justice reform and we are proud to have been. This is a reform supporter by 96% of Albanians. Together with the US Embassy and the EU Delegation in Tirana, we have financially supported the whole process” – said Dobrushi.