In an interview for the "Te Pashoq" podcast, the chairman of the Euro-Atlantic Democrats, Lulzim Basha, said that he has no regrets about his decision to expel Sali Berisha, stressing that he took it "for a great public and political interest ".
Basha also said that the decisions he took on September 9 came after a long period of talks with Sali Berisha to preserve the interests of the DP, but without finding a solution.
He also said that he is always "ethical, grateful and loyal" but has never agreed to put personal interests above the public interest.
Part of Basha's statement:
How can I regret a decision that I made with great sacrifice for a great public and political interest. Of course, those who have decided their personal interest over the public interest, over the interest of the democrats, and by doing so they have also decided over the interest of Albania, should be sorry. What are we seeing all day today, the consequences of a government that is corrupt to the core, of the most irresponsible prime minister that Albania has known since 1912, which is certainly the product of 12 years of irresponsibility and the links to crime of Edi Rama and the Socialist Party . But it is also a byproduct of the irresponsibility and selfishness of certain individuals in the opposition.
Q: Did you think any of the many things that happened next that your decision-making produced? In the sense of everything that happened after that, with the group that Sali Berisha created with the developments in the Democratic Party that led to the last hole? So, did you have any consequences in mind?
Lulzim Basha: Undoubtedly yes. This decision did not come overnight, as is already publicly known. I have been in a process of long talks with Mr. Berisha, which has lasted almost three months, to try to find a solution that would not harm the Democratic Party at a very delicate moment. I had moments when I was convinced that we were approaching a decision-making that would accept the placement of personal interests below the great political interests of the DP and Albania. But unfortunately such a moment did not come until I was forced to make the decisions I made on September 9.
Question: You said that you decided in the name and for the benefit of the Democratic Party. What if I were to ask you on a personal, moral, human level, where the main virtue of our being is known to be gratitude. Was Lulzim Basha ungrateful to Sali Berisha, the man who did everything for him, to put it briefly?
Lulzim Basha: Sali Berisha has never found a more ethical, grateful and playful person than Lulzim Basha in the professional, political and personal relationship. What I have not accepted and will never accept for anyone, is to step on those convictions without which I would never be who I am. And the first conviction that I think characterizes me in my political life is to never, never put the public interest, the interest of the Albanians, below anyone's personal interest.