TIRANA, Nov. 10 – The EU’s Enlargement Commissioner, Johannes Hahn, who visited Tirana on Friday, met the leader of Albania’s opposition, Lulzim Basha, for a two-hour meeting that reportedly saw the two men meet alone without any aides or other officials in the room.
The meeting focused on Albania’s Justice Reform and the necessity to begin working on the vetting process, towards which Basha expressed the Democratic Party’s will to actively participate in ridding the justice system of corruption.
“Basha and Hahn discussed the evolution of organized crime which, through the support by the [Prime Minister Edi] Rama government, is laundering dirty money and incriminating other economic segments, including construction and the banking sector,” a DP press statement said.
Basha, who only a few days ago insisted again that the vetting process should start in the ranks of the government and the Prime Minister himself, reportedly informed Hahn of the ties between politicians and criminal groups, and also brought up as an example the buying and selling of votes during this year’s election.
Hahn, who also expressed his stand through a press conference at the end of his visit, reportedly told Basha that all political parties’ main aim should be Albania’s integration, qualifying it as the primary national goal. For Basha, on the other hand, narcotics’ trafficking remains the biggest danger for Albania and its European integration.
“Basha and Hahn share the same opinion that Albania’s European integration should be merit-based and that the country needs to strongly prove the impartiality of applying the justice reform, and the concrete results of its fight against corruption and organized crime, so that no-one is ‘untouchable’ any longer in Albania,” DP’s statement noted.
