Parties, like in 1914

“The Political parties are not ceding their trenches, and are prepared to stay in those trenches for a long time”, Wollfarth declared.

“The political parties must start the dialogue for the Electoral Code reforms, which must start as soon as possible. We all heard the progress-report of the European Commission. We hope that it will have a clarifying effect, but what we notice in this phase is that the political parties are not ceding their trenches and that they seem to be prepared to stay in those trenches. This is not good. They should not behave as if this was 1914, but they should prepare for a future and start the reform, among which is the electoral reform. The Parliamentary Regulation would be a very good start, and there have been propositions regarding this. The propositions have come even from the Socialist Party, as a catalogue, which is open and should serve as the basis for the dialogue that is needed in order to prepare Albania for the future, for the development of this society, for the stabilization of the democratic institutions, which are usually depended by improved elections. We must see better elections in the future. We need to see them, the Albanian people need to see them”, Wollfarth declared.

To the question of which are the possible ways that would unblock the political stalemate, the ambassador Wollfarth gave this answer”

“Dialogue, not blaming each other. The parties should start the dialogue. It doesn’t matter how. It doesn’t matter if publicly or privately. The best preparations usually start privately. They have to reestablish trust. The trust should replace this mistrust, and this trust is necessary for building the future of Albania. I trust that the OSCE Presence will always be ready to offer its support. I trust that Albania will prepare for the future, but with the appropriate step which must be taken now. Time is ticking, and this goes also for the Electoral Code reform”.

Wollfarth doesn’t expect the international community to make miracles with a magic wand, if the dialogue will not happen in the next days or weeks.

“What we need to keep in mind, is that the development rate is up to the Albanians. We can give advises, because we are ready to give advises and we have the patience for doing it. But it remains to be seen how patient the Albanian people are with what is happening in their political scene. We would want to see quicker steps. The Albanians deserve it, the country deserves it, and this will serve to the progress and the regional security”, Wollfarth declared.

Top Channel