TIRANA, Nov. 14 /ATA/ – Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Saturday that preparations for Albania’s European Union accession treaty were a major political indication of the country’s direction, rejecting claims that the government was suppressing critics or undermining judicial independence.
Addressing the Socialist Party’s National Assembly, Rama described the drafting of the accession treaty as the final stage of a historic process built through decades of effort.
He argued that Albania’s progress towards EU membership was incompatible with claims that the country was heading towards economic collapse, pointing to growth in the economy from less than 10 billion euros when the process began to nearly 30 billion euros today.
“Albania is entering the final chapter of its EU accession journey by preparing its accession treaty. These two realities cannot coexist with the claim that the country is falling into an endless abyss,” Rama said.
He also rejected allegations that the country’s progress was being achieved at the expense of the fight against corruption, saying the government fully supported independent justice institutions in pursuing corruption cases, including at the highest levels of political power.
Rama said the existence of independent judicial bodies capable of investigating and prosecuting cases within Albania demonstrated that judicial independence was protected.
He dismissed claims that the government was seeking to silence its critics, calling them another “major urban legend”.
Citing figures on media coverage, Rama said around 60% of content across Albanian media outlets was critical of the government, nearly 30% was neutral and about 10% was supportive.
He added that these figures, along with other data, could also be useful to those who had drawn parallels between Belgrade and Tirana.
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