Arvizu: Functional democracy needed
12/02/2013 00:00
Erdogan in Tirana promises trade and armaments for Albania, asks to reject dissident organizations 10/10 15:40
The US Ambassador to Tirana, Alexander Arvizu, had a behind closed doors
meeting with the Parliamentary Security Commission, just before they
reviewed an important law regarding the Parliamentary monitoring of
Intelligence Services and National Security.
The US Ambassador gave three clear and strong messages, not only for the Commission’s MPs.
“We discussed our basic principles, since the US and Albania are NATO allies. We emphasized one of the three basic principles, which is that every NATO member should commit to have a functional and democratic political system based on the market economy. The second principle is the commitment for good relations with the neighbouring countries. The third basic principle is the civil monitoring of military actions and national security. This was a very productive discussion and the United States is proud to be partners of Albania. We gladly look forward to other communications of that kind”, Arvizu declared.
The three points mentioned by Mr.Arvizu could be understood as obligations for Albania, in order to have a functional democracy that can become a stability factor in the region, far from the nationalistic rhetoric seen in the last months; a democracy in which the civil and parliamentary monitoring on military structures, or more specifically the Ministry of Defence, should be a necessity.
The stagnancy coming from different legal interpretations for the monitoring of the Military Secret Service that has accompanied this Commission during this year has convinced both chairmen that this law must be reviewed with a special attention.
“The Security Commission will discuss the law for Parliamentary Monitoring of the Intelligence Institutions in our country, which is based on the best experience of democratic countries such as England and others that have experience on this direction”, declared the Chairman of the Commission, Leonard Demi.
“The Ambassador and the Commission members emphasized the need to reinforce the monitoring role of the Security Commission, as a necessary and basic element for the rule of law and for having transparency in our security institutions”, Ilir Gjoni declared.
For some time now, the opposition has tried to make an inspection at the Ministry of Defence. This request has been rejected by Defence Minister Arben Imami, the majority and the Security Commission.
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