Political debates accompanied the meeting of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Public Administration, where the discussion on the draft budget and fiscal package was accompanied by clashes between Democratic Party MP, Oerd Bylykbashi, and the chairman of the committee, Ulsi Manja.
Bylykbashi leveled accusations against the government and justice institutions, also referring to the allegations made public by Erion Veliaj in his letter made public yesterday, while demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama and the creation of a caretaker government to guarantee free elections.
Bylykbashi: "In recent history, two forms of diaries are famous, the Diary of Anne Frank and Antonio Gramsci's letters from prison. Yesterday we also learned about Erion Veliaj's diary. Beyond this note, what we read yesterday is worth considering. We are facing serious criminal offenses there. Debates and the network yesterday were filled with requests for the Prosecutor's Office to launch an investigation into those promises of serious threats that called into question the physical integrity of a character.
We all know that even a common criminal has a duty to protect his basic rights. That letter yesterday tore apart both SPAK and GJKKO. They can come out today with a statement that what Veliaj said is untrue and unfounded. Practically, both Veliaj and his former boss have understood well what Justice Reform is. The result is that SPAK, on his orders, can increase the charges and GJKKO can rot in prison (Veliaj). With this budget, people will be extorted much more with taxes. Albanians have had time to experience this fiscal earthquake.
That money ultimately distributes a few crumbs for justice. The prosecution, the court and independent institutions try to do something, but in the end the mafia message remains clear. Everything falls into place, not what we have learned. The Constitution has been torn to pieces. The Prime Minister is able to order the courts to imprison his political opponents. How for the same type of accusation one is in prison and the other is out.
The Deputy Prime Minister accused of corruption, the Prosecution does not dare to take her. I have the right to say that the Prosecution is doing politics, because the majority needs 84 votes. It stops the entire session, everything stops to wait for Belinda Balluku to cast the 84th vote. This means that SPAK is playing a game, because it could request the additional measure without even seeing her. It kept Berisha under arrest for almost 1 year without charge, with reasonable suspicion.
Those threats that Albanians heard yesterday confirm even more strongly what has been repeated for so many months: Rama resigns. A caretaker government should come and take steps to ensure that the state does not interfere in the elections. Parliament should guarantee the conditions for free elections and when these are ensured, the elections should be held. Then it is up to the voters. You are getting ready to approve the noose around the throat of Albanians with the budget. This is my position for today's session.
On the other hand, Manja described the opposition's statements as part of a repeated political rhetoric, emphasizing that the majority has the responsibility to continue working on the approval of draft laws and reforms within the framework of Albania's European integration.
Manja: "This is a very important session, the discussion of the draft budget and the fiscal package. This is not something new that Bylykbashi did here, it is even part of a general ritual that the opposition has, which instead of being an alternative to the government, has become a spokesperson for political and social current affairs.
This is part of them, we have our duty to approve the laws that have to do with Albania's path to the EU. There is no caretaker government, because one day they call it that, the next day they call it a technical government. Now it says to self-dissolve, do you understand now? They know very well that this is how the constitutional architecture is. It is a majority that has a significant majority, in the end they have nothing left but to tell it to self-dissolve. But this is another issue.