Berisha doesn’t step back from referendum
07/03/2013 00:00
Linda Rama: Between Family, Work and Albania’s Future 18/08 14:30
Prime Minister Sali Berisha is not taking back the decision to call a
referendum on the three integration bills. Speaking in a meeting with
teachers, for March 7th, the Teacher’s Day, Berisha declared that
democracy is about learning, and he appealed the Albanian citizens to
vote the three laws for the EU candidate status.
“Our country’s progress stalled because of three laws that did not pass. Democracy is about learning, and we are determined to vote these laws, so that the Albanians will receive their status”, Berisha declared.
Füle against the referendum, media reacts
The Albanian government’s decisions to hold a referendum for the three remaining integration laws and Füle’s remarks on this initiative have been commented in Brussels.
“Štefan Füle is facing one of his most difficult periods since becoming the European commissioner for enlargement and neighbourhood policy, after a week that produced political crises in Macedonia, Albania and Moldova”, says the European Voice newspaper from the “Economist” group, adding that Albania’s political crisis ostensibly had as its cause an effort by the coalition government to push through three sets of legislation demanded by the EU.
“However, Füle criticised the government’s decision to call a referendum on the bills – about the judiciary, public administration, and parliamentary rules of procedure – rather than to seek parliamentary backing.
A referendum “cannot be a way to bypass the lack of dialogue and constructive co-operation between the government and opposition on the EU agenda”, he said.
Despite the intervention, the Albanian parliament on Tuesday (5 March) supported the idea of a referendum.
Sequi: Füle said everything
The EU Ambassador to Tirana, Ettore Sequi, declared that he fully agrees with the declaration of the Enlargement Commissioner, Štefan Füle, regarding Albania’s decision to call a referendum on the three integration bills, and appealed the political parties to find consensus.
“Füle said everything and I will ad nothing to it. You must know that we are talking about consensus and dialogue, and we give the way how we interpret dialogue. Dialogue for us is not having two monologues”, Sequi declared.
The ambassador gave this declaration after the closing ceremony of the EU-funded twinning project in support of the Albanian Civil Aviation management system.
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