TIRANA, March 11 – A meeting between U.S. Embassy officials and the U.S.-Albania Parliamentary Friendship Group has been postponed due to a political dispute in the Albanian parliament, the embassy said in a statement.
“The inaugural meeting of the US-Albania Parliamentary Friendship Group was postponed due to the current political climate in parliament and the unwillingness of the Democratic Party to participate in the meeting,” the embassy said.
The statement came as the inaugural meeting of the group was postponed twice. Albanian media had alluded to the fact that two or more lawmakers, including Tom Doshi, whom the embassy sees as having alleged ties to the criminal world, were part of the list of members of parliament scheduled to attend.
A story that first appeared in Rilindja Demokratike newspaper, published by the Democratic Party, referred to a list of nine members of parliament that were deemed “non grata” by the U.S. Embassy.
The story is “a complete fabrication,” the embassy said in a statement. “The embassy does monitor closely issues of crime and corruption across all political parties, but the embassy did not compile that list.”
It added that the embassy reiterates the statement of March 2 and “encourage all political parties in Albania to remove individuals involved in criminal or corrupt activities, and we strongly support the work of the parliament to develop legislation in accordance with the Resolution of December 24, 2014.”
The March 2 statement came following Doshi’s accusations that Parliamentary Speaker Ilir Meta had ordered the assassination of two members of parliament, including Doshi. Those allegations are currently under investigation, but officials have described them as “fiction.”
The Democratic Party has started to boycott all parliamentary activities since, asking for Meta’s resignation.
Doshi, one of the parliament’s wealthiest MPs, made the accusations after being expelled from his Socialist Party’s parliamentary group over a spat with Prime Minister Edi Rama, who had refused to comply with Doshi’s requests to hire his voters in state institutions, among other things.
“The United States welcomes the decision of the Socialist Party of Albania to expel Mr. Tom Doshi, who is alleged to be involved in criminal activities,” the embassy said at the time. “The United States takes seriously the threat of crime and corruption to free and democratic societies. We encourage all political parties in Albania to remove individuals involved in criminal or corrupt activities.”
