The Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, made an official comment
regarding the possibility of destroying the chemical weapons in Albania,
saying that the NATO members are still discussing and we don’t have the
conditions to decide yet.
During the joint press release with Commissioner Fule, Rama declared that he had a 30 minute conversation with the United States Senate, but no decision has been taken yet.
“We have replied to the media interest about this issue through our Foreign Minister, during his visit in France. We said that we have been contacted by the United States, and on my opinion, the concerning thing would be if Albania wouldn’t have been contacted for a matter that directly belongs to the NATO countries. We have also said that there has been a dialogue with the United States State Department, when we discussed this issue and I can say that there is no decision or transparency more than this, for a very simple reason, because we are togetehr with the other countries in an internal discussion and we’re not in the conditions when we can take a decision”, Rama declared.
The Prime Minister declared that the decision will be shared with the public and Albanian Parliament, but he closed his responsibility about this matter reminding that Albania is a NATO member and that the peaceful disarming of the Assad regime is something completely different from the waste import, that should not be confused.
Rama reminded the Albanian public that this is a matter of serving to the national security interests.
Arvizu: Still under discussion
The United States Ambassador, Alexander Arvizu, received many questions about Syria’s chemical weapons during a visit in Kukes. He confirmed that the United States are negotiating with some countries, including Albania, but there is no decision yet.
“As the Foreign Minister said a few days ago, the United States has discussed with other countries too, and no decision has been taken yet. This is a true and factual declaration. I also noted what the Parliament Speaker said. He spoke about the importance of transparency in any kind of process, and clearly, this is something that the United States will support. The last thing that I want to say, is that the most vital thing that should be preserved is that the United States should be a friend of Albania and the Albanian people. The welfare of the Albanian people is among the highest considerations of the United States, and this includes the dignity of the people and of this country, because that’s what friends are for”, Arvizu declared.
Opposition: Interpellation for chemical weapons
The Parliamentary Foreign Commission continued in harsh debates after the opposition’s former Defense Minister, Fatmir Mediu, request to call one of the Rama government minister’s in interpellation for transparency over Syria’s chemical weapons.
According to the head of this commission, Arta Dade, the government made transparency a few days ago through Minister Bushati. She considered Mediu’s request out of place, since he was Minister of Defense when the Gerdec tragedy took place. Mediu declared that exactly to avoid another Gerdec, he wanted to make transparency.
Meta: Transparency in Parliament
Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta was the first to speak about this issue, and during a conference with his Romanian homologue, he guaranteed that the decision-making will be transparent.
“It is up to the government and certainly, the Parliament has the right and obligation to speak without any discussion. But we must value and understand the sensibility of the citizens. I am sure that every decision should be taken with transparence, which means that Albania has always shown to be a country that wants to contribute for peace and safety, because it is a country that has profited from the peace and safety for which our allies have contributed. At the same time, our country will be responsible and everything will be done transparently and in a constitutional way”, Meta declared.
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