Scandal with Albanian embassy in the US

“This is a very serious issue. I feel sorry for our ambassador that is facing such a problem. The state is the one that thinks about the embassy funds. Albanian diplomats and their embassies are great public assets, capital for our country, especially when they can do a lot for the image, from which our country has suffered a lot. Abandoning the most important embassy in the world means that you are not thinking about the good relations with this great world power, and that you do not deserve to be represented in the world. This is a very difficult situation. That embassy has always had problems, but at least not to this point. I think this is a unique case”, the former Ambassador declared.

According to Mr.Tarfia, the money that the Albanian government is paying to Patton Boggs and Podesta are absurd.

“1.5 million USD is too much for lobbying. It doesn’t fit to the budget of our embassy in Washington. This is equal to the annual budgets of maybe all Albanian embassies in the EU countries. This is an absurd payment used for the image of one or two politicians, but not for the public interests of our country or Albania’s national interests. This is unjustifiable. When I was serving as an ambassador, the Albanian government used to lobby even at that time, but not to this extent. The result was positive, because Albania became a NATO member”, Tarifa declared.

Tarfia says that the situation caused in the Albanian Embassy in Washington gives a very non serious image of our country in the USA.

“Our government is not poor to the point of leaving our ambassador in Washington without funds. This is a shame and it shows that we are not serious, especially with our own partner, the USA. We cannot close an embassy that is crumbling down. It is a property of the Albanian state and it was bought 1.7 million USD. Today, the lobbying companies are paid with the same price of the entire embassy building”, Tarifa declared.

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