Rama in Strasbourg for European help

TIRANA, March 10 – Main opposition Socialist Party leader Edi Rama, also Tirana mayor, went to Strasbourg at the European Parliament to get support for his party’s request on election probe and also to press Europe on giving the free-visa regime to his country.
Rama met with the leftist parliamentary group in Strasbourg asking their help to press Tirana government of Democratic Party Prime Minister Sali Berisha to agree on a recount of a number of ballot boxes in order to achieve the transparency of the June 28 vote.
“Europe should support the electoral transparency in Albania and also the visa liberalization for Albanians,” he said from Strasbourg.
Martin Schulz, head of the European Socialists grouping, said that vote transparency was indisputable for Albania. Hannes Swoboda, another leftist parliamentarian, said that election investigation was the basis for the political dialogue in Albania.
Accompanied by two other Socialist lawmakers he met with a number of leftist European counterparts to talk on the country’s political situation.
Urging Europe not to delay the decision on free visa regime for Albanians seem to be the other playing tool for the country politics.
“It is very important that Europe Šgives an end to the Albanians’ isolation,” he said.
Tirana is expecting Brussels to decide on the visa-free regime this summer. The European Parliament also decided in favor of such a move for Albania and Bosnia that were not included together with Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia in that regime since last year.