The Democratic Party leader, Lulzim Basha, was part of the summit of the
European Popular Parties for Western Balkan in Brussels. In this
meeting, leaders of the EPP underlined the guaranteeing of the rule of
law, fight against corruption, implementation of decriminalization and
free, fair elections as a condition for the EU progress.
Basha said that May 4th is a historic day for the Albanian democracy, day on which started the implementation of the decriminalization law for cleaning the politics and administration from incriminated people.
“The implementation of the decriminalization law is very important for the present and the future of a country that believes the democratic values and shares them with the EU countries, promotes people with integrity, not traffickers, criminals or corrupted ones”, Basha declared.
Basha mentioned the corruption spread around Albania and underlined that 2.2 billion Eur were stolen in two years through tenders, only by the friends of the Prime Minister. 90 million EUR were spent for government luxury, while Albanian citizens see exodus as the only hope.
“We are in our political family and we have always requested maximal support for the Albanian citizens. I have received strong support for monitoring the decriminalization law that today enters in effect, for removing Parliament Members and Mayors with criminal records, and every other public official with criminal records, as the law requiers. For a justice reform that doesn’t defend, but fights crime and corruption. But not for a reform on paper, which this government has not signed for the past two years. The most important of all, is the implementation of the justice reform. Only a reform that is implemented, only a Bureau of Investigation and the Special Anticorruption Structure will be able to investigate corrupted ministers and officialls. Certainly, time has come for the justice reform. Albania cannot start the accession negotiations without showing that we are able to have free and fair elections, especially with a government that was caught twice destroying the elections, those of 2015 and the partial ones of 2013”, Basha said.
A special talk in this meeting was held for the next parliamentary elections. Mr.Basha asked and received support from the European Popular Parties, their parliamentary leaders in the European Parliament, for guaranteeing a free and honest electoral process, without buying or selling votes, without intimidation of voters and with a fair reading of the electors’ will.
“We want the Albanian people to vote freely for their fate. Vote will decide the division from this oligarchy. But the battle with the oligarchy is not that simple, because the oligarchy is trying to eliminate the free vote, the free media, the free opinion, the civil society and political opposition. The help of the European Parliament and European Union has been very important, vital, as it was with the decriminalization case. It will also be vital for the next steps that we will take, especially for the electoral reform, for which time has certainly come. It has also come for a justice reform that doesn’t protect but fights high-level corruption and crime that is tied with government officials”, Basha said.
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