“Pivetti’s visit in Vlore, unacceptable”

But she also met the dissatisfaction of the family members of the Otranto tragedy victims, due to her strong declarations against the emigrants a few days before the Otranto tragedy actually took place. Three representatives of this association waited for her in front of the Chamber of Commerce.

“Today you have poisoned the Albanian land. In 1997, you asked the Albanians to be thrown at the bottom of the sea, and exactly three days after, a ship with 115 Albanians on board was sank by an Italian ship. Today, our country was poisoned same as on the day when we lost our relatives”, declared Pushime Cala, representative of the “Otranto Association”.

Pivetti heard the confrontation calmly and reminded that the conditions today are different, and then she apologized.

“The state and the authorities make their duty, but what touches me is the relation between you and me. You say that this is my responsibility. I apologize for the words I have said. I would like that our relations go towards peace and friendship”, Pivetti declared.

The representatives of the Otranto Tragedy families declared that they prevented the presence of many other family members, for avoiding any unpleasant confrontation.

By the end of July, official Tirana welcomed with honors the former Speaker of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Irene Pivetti, the Italian politician who 10 years ago declared that the Albanians should be thrown at sea rather then being welcomed.

Pivetti was welcomed by the Albanian Parliament Speaker, Jozefina Topalli. The Albanian Parliament Press Office declared that “The Parliament Speaker welcomed Mrs. Irene Pivetti, a well-known political personality, former Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies in the mid 90s, accompanied by the Italian ambassador D’Ellia. Mrs. Pivetti updated the Albanian Parliament Speaker with the activity of the Promotion Agency that supports a wide gamma of programs for inciting economic development in forgotten areas of Italy by supporting businesses, medium and small enterprises. This agency wants to extend such a program even in Albania through an initiation for bringing Italian investors and for supporting the domestic small business, especially in tourist areas.

“This initiation aims to promote the connections that unite us as people, the Albanian culture and tourism, and the development of small enterprises through mutual experience exchanges”, says the press notification. The Parliament Speaker considered it a very interesting initiative that is worth being encouraged and guaranteed to Pivetti the support of Albania.

“For us it is very important to consolidate the multidimensional relations between Albania and Italia, two friendly people”, Topalli declared.

The Parliament Speaker congratulated Pivetti for her political career, as the second woman who has served as the Speaker of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, expressing her best wishes for the social-cultural projects.

However, Pivetti is remembered for her notorious declaration of 1999, stating that the Albanians should be thrown at sea rather then being accommodated in Italy. This caused harsh reactions by Italian politicians, considering Pivetti a racist, who was part of Umberto Bossi’s “Lega Nord”.

Top Channel