TIRANA, Feb. 23 – The alleged influence of influence of billionaire U.S. philanthropist George Soros in Albanian politics has made new headlines in the small Balkan country.
The former leader of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, accused Soros of being a “great threat to Albania’s democracy,” and EU and U.S. officials of being involved in such actions.
The statement led to reaction from the rapporteur on Albania in the European Parliament, Knut Fleckenstein who urged Berisha and his political party to put an end to “Soros fairytales.”
“I respect Berisha, but I would prefer he stops talking about these Soros fairytales. It is the same story I heard in Macedonia as well,” Fleckenstein said in a press conference on Wednesday.
The MEP added that in his experience, “only the weak need such fairy tales” and that to his knowledge, “Berisha is not weak.”
Following the statement, Berisha took to social media and insisted that Soros had corrupted several institutions in Albania. Responding to Fleckenstein’s comments, he said that his statement related to Soros was not founded and based on documents published a long time ago.
“My statements on Soros and his gang, as a major threat for Albanian democracy, are not just assumptions. They are based on authentic documents issued from those who want to believe the truth,” Berisha said.
He accused the U.S. billionaire as the biggest speculator of the world and urged the European Parliament and other countries to launch a transparent investigation and reveal the shocking truth of Soros’s interference worldwide.
The influence of George Soros made news last month as well, following the publication of a survey sponsored by Open Society Foundation that revealed the level of public trust on institutions in the country and the fact that the foundation had worked with U.S. Embassy and European partners to draft the justice reform bills.
The former prime minister, Berisha, has also accused the Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama of being a “Soros puppet.”
Soros’s Open Society Foundation was founded in 1992 with the aim of creating and consolidating an open society in the country, and contribute to the democratization and further Albania’s EU integration.
George Soros visited Albania in 2005 regarding the implementation of a program for the social and economic integration of Roma community. During his first visit, he met with Berisha, then prime minister, and Rama, then Tirana mayor. At the time he was also awarded the “Honorary Citizen of Tirana” title.
In December 2014, Soros reportedly had a working dinner with Rama and a meeting with Democratic Party chairman Lulzim Basha.
