DREAM / The Prime Minister resigns and wakes up under the Parisian bridge!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

Cyber ​​attacks from Iran, Rama does not retreat for the Mujahideen: Albania has a tradition of sheltering people in danger

2022-09-20 09:04:37Politikë SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Cyber ​​attacks from Iran, Rama does not retreat for the Mujahideen: Albania

"We are Europeans and we want to be part of the EU", declared Prime Minister Edi Rama in an interview with Susanne Koelbl and Walter Mayr of the well-known German newspaper "Der Spiegel".

Prime Minister Edi Rama spoke about the Iranian cyber attack against Albania, the desire for EU membership and the recommendation why Albania should be a paradise for German pensioners.

DER SPIEGEL: Mr. Prime Minister, Albania severed diplomatic relations with Iran a few days ago. The diplomats had only 24 hours to leave the country. What is behind this?

Edi Rama: Iran attacked our country with a massive cyber attack. The goal was to destroy all the digital government services that we have built so hard over many years. Thanks to our IT specialists, experts from Microsoft and the US government, we were able to reduce the damage.

DER SPIEGEL: The background to the attack is, apparently, the presence of several thousand members of the Iranian opposition, who are actively working for regime change in Iran and cooperating with the US, the so-called People's Mujahideen (MEK). In 2013, your country accepted the MEK from Iraq at the request of Washington. Would you prefer to leave this group today?

Edi Rama: No, Albania has a proud tradition of sheltering people in danger. And our strategic alliance with the US cannot simply mean that Washington always has our support. Sometimes we have to help the USA too. Albanians owe a lot to the Americans.

DER SPIEGEL: The war in Ukraine has changed the world and is now threatening the fragile peace in the Western Balkans. How deep is this divide?

Edi Rama: Very deep. More than 80 percent of Serbs think positively of how Putin is currently opposing the West, but in Albania his popularity is less than one percent. This is the result of a survey conducted by our government, immediately after the start of the war. Moscow's influence in Serbia is strong, in the Serbian part of Bosnia-Herzegovina it is even very strong. Russia has a lot of influence on the Serbs. We must be aware that this influence can turn into something terrible.

DER SPIEGEL: What should we be prepared for?

Edi Rama: Putin would be happy if there was a conflict somewhere in the Balkans. The head of the Kremlin bullies and provokes wherever he can. In his speeches, Putin constantly refers to Kosovo, the most painful of the unresolved problems in the Balkans. We must at all costs prevent something bad from happening.

DER SPIEGEL: What do you advise?

Edi Rama: You can't ask for much from Belgrade now. Everything can be turned upside down. Serbia, for example, cannot sanction Russia.

DER SPIEGEL: Putin likes to use the history of Kosovo as a template for the occupation of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk. Does he have the facts that NATO bombed Belgrade and invaded Kosovo without a UN mandate?

Edi Rama: The only reason there was no mandate was that Russia and China voted against it. The annexation of Crimea follows an imperialist model, like the attack on Ukraine, a sovereign and democratic country. The bombing of Belgrade and the liberation of Kosovo at that time, on the other hand, served the purpose of saving the population from ethnic cleansing. And the International Court of Justice finally confirmed Kosovo's independence as an act of international law.

DER SPIEGEL: Has anything really changed in the Western Balkans in the last twenty years?

Edi Rama: The Balkans have always been a tense country, it is fragile. But I contend that the situation is better today than at any other time.

DER SPIEGEL: How can this be determined?

Edi Rama: Despite the differences, the six heads of government of the Western Balkans have agreed since a meeting in Berlin in 2014 that we must turn the tide of history together. It takes small steps to build a larger relationship, just as the Germans and French slowly moved toward complete peace after World War II.

DER SPIEGEL: Does this also apply to your relationship with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić?

Edi Rama: Absolutely. The history of Albanians and Serbs is a history of pain and blood. But when I was elected prime minister, I decided to go to Belgrade. My visit in 2014 was the first of an Albanian head of government to Serbia after 68 years. And then Vucic came to Tirana. This shows how far we have come.

DER SPIEGEL: Is there any hope for an agreement on the Kosovo issue?

Edi Rama: Regarding Kosovo, we agreed that we would disagree. I think that Serbia should recognize Kosovo. But Aleksandar Vucic cannot do that. But, at least we can talk about this topic. And we cooperate in projects like the Open Balkans.

DER SPIEGEL: A kind of mini-Schengen between North Macedonia, Albania and Serbia?

Edi Rama: Yes, where all other Balkan countries are also invited. Vucic has thus accepted the border between Albania and Kosovo. A big step forward and a really big political achievement.

DER SPIEGEL: Only Kosovo does not participate. Why is Prime Minister Albin Kurti against the Balkan project?

Edi Rama: Kurti says that the Serbs must first apologize for what they have done to the Albanians. And I say yes, Serbia should apologize. The only question is when? I think forgiveness will come when the dialogue works. Willy Brandt didn't even kneel in 1946. He only knelt in Warsaw in 1970. Our political life can be polarized today, we often can't even agree on the weather here. But when it comes to membership in the European Union, there is absolute consensus.

DER SPIEGEL: Can the trauma of the Yugoslav wars be healed?

Edi Rama: It takes small steps to build a bigger relationship, just like the Germans and the French slowly moved towards complete peace after World War II. Open Balkan is a platform for that and I think my brother Albin Kurti should face the Serbs there. But he lets the opportunity pass. This is unfortunate.

DER SPIEGEL: Like Albania, Serbia is also trying to join the European Union. However, Belgrade continues to buy gas and weapons from Russia. Can such a balancing act succeed in the long run?

Edi Rama: Serbia follows the tradition of non-aligned communist Yugoslavia's foreign policy, it wants to be welcomed all over the world, in Washington and Brussels, in Beijing and Moscow. When it comes to Russian gas, I have to say the Serbs are in good company!

DER SPIEGEL: Where did the unity come from?

Edi Rama: Our entire history has been shaped by regimes and empires that we did not choose, by the Ottomans, communists, kingdoms, totalitarian systems. We have always been obliged. The EU means a free choice for the first time.

DER SPIEGEL: So, why is Albania still not making any significant progress with reforms, 30 years after the end of the dictatorship, in terms of governance, the fight against corruption and the reform of justice?

Edi Rama: We have to do many things here that we have never had. Albanians have never had a judiciary independent from politics. We have never had a state with a solid tradition. After all, we were an isolated dictatorship, the North Korea of ​​Europe, where it was still dangerous to listen to 'The Beatles' in the late 1980s. So I claim that in absolute terms we have achieved more in these 30 years than any other country in Europe.

DER SPIEGEL: In any case, isn't it said that you lack self-confidence?

Edi Rama: Imagine where we were at the end of the dictatorship, four kilograms of meat were given per family per month. At one o'clock in the morning, people lined up for a bottle of milk. And look at the large number of Albanians vacationing abroad today or the cars on the road.

DER SPIEGEL: We see many new cars, including a large number of black Mercedes. At the same time, five percent of Albanians still do not have enough food. All in all, this seems like a huge disparity.

Edi Rama: No one is dying here, but there is still poverty. So far we have not managed to get our economy on the right track. Most transactions are still settled in cash. Immigrants send money from all over the world and legalizing this money is a challenge for us even if it does not come from criminal activity.

DER SPIEGEL: Meanwhile, people are fleeing en masse, especially in Germany. Can't you convince your citizens to build the Albanian economy here?

Edi Rama: How can I stop them as the government of a developing country, when the most developed country in Europe is only an hour and a half away? 50,000 Portuguese leave their country every year, 500,000 Croats have left their country since the country joined the EU.

DER SPIEGEL: People are also fleeing because the state has offered them nothing. Even a visit to the doctor must be secured with a bribe. Can't eliminate it?

Edi Rama: Our administration is already completely digitized to make corruption impossible. Please record such progress as well! An entrenched system is hard to break. Embrace seatbelt free driving. In Germany, an Albanian gets into a car and of course fastens his seat belt. Why? Because there is a law that no one opposes.

DER SPIEGEL: In a country with a population of only 2.8 million, this war must be won with little willpower, right?

Edi Rama: Small countries are no less complicated than big ones. After all, we are all connected here. Cousins ​​must judge cousins ​​and cousins ​​must put their cousins ​​in their place. It's hard in a country where everything is so personal.

DER SPIEGEL: Albanian politics has always been made up of the same names since the beginning of the 1990s: your predecessor Sali Berisha, former president Ilir Meta and Edi Rama. Have you been in power for a long time?

Edi Rama: I have not been in state politics as much as the other two, but now we have a whole new generation in parliament and a cabinet with the highest percentage of women in the UN table. This is actually quite progressive.

DER SPIEGEL: You often say that women are the best. What brings you to this belief?

Edi Rama: I am really convinced of this. If you ask a man to do a certain project, he usually says yes, but often nothing happens. With a woman it is the opposite. She hesitates at first, but once the project is decided, she carries it out with confidence.

DER SPIEGEL: Unlike women, your relationship with the media is considered to be quite strained. You like to call journalists 'boilers' and 'charlatans'. How does this fit into an open democracy?

Edi Rama: I think that forgiveness will come when the dialogue works.

DER SPIEGEL: Albania has been waiting for EU membership negotiations for eight years, North Macedonia for 17 years. The first talks finally took place in July. How long will your patience last?

Edi Rama: When it comes to EU membership, our patience has no end. We want to be there. We are Europeans. Our political life can be polarized today, often we can't even agree on the timing. But when it comes to membership in the European Union, there is absolute consensus.

DER SPIEGEL: What exactly are you talking about?

Edi Rama: Recently, an article was published in "Guardian" about the construction of many high-rise buildings in the center of Tirana, where it was claimed that the construction project is money laundering and that these high-rise buildings will remain empty. This is all wrong.

DER SPIEGEL: Isn't it correct that the old national theater in the center was destroyed in an operation to build these new buildings? And, couldn't it be said that the demolition and construction procedures were not very transparent?

Edi Rama: No! A new one is being built where the old theater was demolished. And it's only about seven tall buildings. The future owners are all well-known businessmen. They are among the biggest taxpayers in Albania. Purchases and sales are processed through banks. Some now claim it's drug money. The truth is that these people have received loans from banks for financing, all sales transactions are verified. Our statement probably does not fit into the trend of the article

DER SPIEGEL: For the construction of the port in the southern coastal city of Durrës, you have won over the Emir of Abu Dhabi as an intermediary for Arab investors. What do you expect from this?

Edi Rama: This fantastic project will bring our tourism in Albania to the top of the world. The old port of the city turns into a tourist port. For years we were looking for an investor willing to invest two billion euros, but we couldn't find one. Mohammed bin Zayed supports the project generously and has found sponsors.

DER SPIEGEL: Albania is ranked 110th by Transparency International, can you give us three reasons why entrepreneurs should still invest here?

Edi Rama: Albania is one of the safest countries in the world. Our crime rate is better than the UK, Greece or Italy and of course the US, with one of the lowest homicide rates in Europe. The tourism industry needs to invest because the nature and the coasts are breathtaking. And German retirees should come here to spend their old age by the sea. According to an old saying, "the home of an Albanian belongs to God and a friend".


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×