Berisha announces referendum for immunity

“Tomorrow we will address to the people for a civil referendum about the immunity lifting. It will be a plebiscite voting against the wall of shame”, Berisha declared.

The PM accused the opposition MPs of violating the basic interests of their voters by refusing to lift immunity.

“Today more than ever, the lawmakers should have shown more respect for the citizens, the institutions and the European future of the country. But the opposition MPs raised the blocking wall and unanimously declared that they will block the voting. The opposition MPs will go against the interests of their electors”, Berisha declared.

The Prime Minister added that the only goal of the opposition is to block the EU candidate status, as they did, according to him, with the Stabilization Association Agreement and the country’s NATO membership.

“You did the same for blocking the SAA and the NATO membership. This is a typical scheme of the communist party. You leader believed that he would be the next Prime Minister, and he cant see himself on that post without immunity”, Berisha declared.

“The law against criminal assets that was requested for lifting the visa regime not only was rejected by you, but you even sent it to the Constitutional Court. On behalf of the drug traffickers, the opposition sent it to the Constitutional Court”, Berisha declared.

Rama on Twitter: Referendum for all amends

The SP leader, Edi Rama, reacted on Twitter after Prime Minister’s Berisha announcement of a referendum on the immunity lifting law.

Rama invites the government leader to vote for all Constitutional amends, and see which of the parties will be supported by the people.

“Referendum for immunity? Ready to ask people for entire justice reforms package. This would be the ideal referendum.

Since we have agreed for the immunity and for other amends, and Berisha hides, let’s confront our visions and arguments with the people.

Sali, if you have courage not to play games with the people, but to have a confrontation with the opposition in front of the people, let us do the Referendum.

Let the Albanians decide if the Constitution should be amended only for the immunity, or also for the other propositions made by the opposition.”

Majko: Lifting immunity, Berisha’s illusion

The Socialist MP, Pandeli Majko, declared that the majority’s initiative for lifting the immunity is only an illusion.

He underlined that the problem is not about the immunity that the Constitution gives to citizens, but the political immunity given by the political post.

“The government wants to feed the illusion that this law will end the corruption in Albania. The political immunity is the first to be lifted. This is the one that protects the government officials from corruption, not the Constitutional one. This is the partnership of evil, the justice that doesn’t hit but it is corrupted. This is the reality”, Majko declared.

“It seems that we have a government that is trying to convince the citizens and Brussels that they are making everything possible for fighting corruption”, he added.

Majko declared that the SP was the main protagonist in the compromise for the Constitutional amends, but this didn’t help in resolving the problems.

“The opposition’s fault is that they proposed other amends related with the election of the constitutional institutions’ leaders. The failure comes as consequence of the government’s failure to act, which failed with the implementation of the promise made since 2005 for fighting corruption and strengthening the rule of law”, Majko added.

MP Taulant Balla underlined that the problem is not the Socialist Party and what Berisha calls “its billionaires club”, but those who Majko called the government’s billionaires and the Prime Minister’s relatives.

How did the become billionaires? Three houses in Tirana, one at the Lalzi Bay. Compare the balance of your son with that of Tom Doshi. 200.000 EUR are guarantee by Shkelzen Berisha”, Balla declared.

Marathon debates in Parliament

The opposition declared that they would not vote, although they are not against limiting the immunity. They asked to vote for other amends on September.

Fatmir Xhafaj: We did not vote the project in general, waiting for the completion of the project that will generate an integrated text for the Constitutional amends, which will then pass in Parliament. It is unacceptable to vote twice for the Constitutional amend, once in August and once in September.

This would be an unprecedented case that would make the Albanian Parliament and all of us look ridiculous. This is our position and no one can prove the contrary. No one has teh right to invent things and speculate on this clear public, political, institutional and Parliamentary stance. You are trying to convince the Albanians that if this law ill not pass, we will not receive the EU candidate status and the opposition is to blame for this. A nice political alibi, but I have another question. What if the amends for the immunity will be approved within September, as the Commission wants, and still we – God forbid – will not receive the candidate status? Who will we blame for this? Are you ready to accept this public responsibility and resign from your post?

Sali Berisha: You are trying to block the EU candidate status for the third time, and establish as a condition what the Albanians refused to give to you. Your condition is that we allow you to block the state and take the main constitutional institutions. You want the minority to rule. This is because the mentality of your fathers, or because of the absolute pessimism, knowing that you will always be in a lightless tunnel and you will never see a victory. This is your problem, because your leader only leads you to defeat after another. Sali Berisha cannot become your leader. I can help him with everything, but I cannot make him a leader.

Fatmir Xhafaj: If you insist with your variant and ultimatum, this would be a hard hit against the need for a consensus. It would be a disappointment for Brussels, who appealed you to give concrete results through Commissioner Fule, focused on the reforms and the persistence to show sincerity and compromise, in order to reach the necessary results in September. Otherwise, our goal will be only a political and post-electoral one. This shows that for you, the personal, political and electoral agenda comes before the Constitution. This is not the path that guarantees consensus. This is an exclusive logic, which divides us and creates the wall between cooperation and consensus.

Sali Berisha: We made compromises with you and withdrew from our variant, and even from the international variant, to accept yours. You want to block the process? Do it! You’ll not be voting for me, but in the elections, those who block always pay the steepest bill.

No surprises are expected for the final result, and the Parliament will close the session without the immunity limitation. According to the Constitution, if the draft-law for Constitutional amends will be rejected, without receiving the qualified majority votes, the Constitutional amend for the same issue cannot be made within one year after it was rejected in Parliament.

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