Statement of Prime Minister Edi Rama after the conclusion of the Assembly session:

 

Mr Rama, are you happy that the Parliament voted most of the points of the agreement you reached with Mr Basha?

A lot has been said about the Vetting, I’ve repeated it incessantly. We’ve worked and fought hard in order to succeed, and I’d like to tell you that I’ve been waiting for this moment when I would be coming out of the Parliament door and tell the Albanians that the Vetting will begin, that the corrupt judges and prosecutors have their days numbered, and that now Justice Reform cannot be stopped.

It is an emotional moment also at a personal level because it makes you say out loud that politics really is a force for good, when used for good intentions, and what politics can do in favour of the people, nothing else can do. Of course, provided that politics works for the good of the people.

How will your day be tomorrow, with half of the cabinet being of the opposition?   

You have listened to the opposition say that they would never vote the Vetting, and would never do many other things, and having the opposition vote the Vetting today together with us, at the “price” of having access to government with a group of ministers who will be guardians of the electoral ethics, this was the least I could do to have the Vetting done. It is really a fantastic moment of my political life; the final battle begins after today. But with the same passion and stubbornness we fought for and succeeded with the Vetting, we will fight and succeed in boosting economy, employment and having Albania sit at the EU table.

Is there room for jealously, as doctor Berisha said, in terms of the SP-DP relation?

I don’t want to comment, but today we could see more clearly what I’ve said, that Blushi is a weak version of Sali. It’s not worth dealing with Blushi. It was the day he had to enjoy the last session in Parliament.

How will Justice Reform dictate your campaign? Will it be used as an electoral card? And since you mentioned that you will work as hard for economy, do you think you will win the elections of June 25?

What I have never discussed and will not discuss today either, not because I cannot but because there is nothing to discuss, is that the SP is first. We will fight very hard to get 71 seats in order to guarantee ourselves a full autonomy in leading the reforms. Meanwhile, what I have hoped is what has happened, and it is that before the SP wins the elections, it is Albania that has won thanks to the SP who has been determined not to oscillate in relation to the Constitution, in relation to the law, in relation to the philosophy of making statehood, where everybody must be equal, and where the parties must behave like good citizens before the law, and not like masters who can do whatever they want with the law; therefore have the elections take place within the constitutional and legal framework. One even more important thing is that after the elections, we will have one winner and one non-winner, and the result will be indisputable. This is something the Albanians have dreamt much more than they have dreamt of the victory of the party they vote.

The commitment of the agreement is that the guarantee of these elections and the joint efforts to minimize the phenomena that have overwhelmed us in the past, phenomena which have actually overwhelmed Albania because post-election periods have been dramatic, are part of the commitment to opened negotiations with the EU. For the first time, the government and the opposition will speak out in Brussels with a unified voice to defend Albania. Some fantastic things have happened in these days and nights, and it is proof that very often we have been able to transform impossible things into utterly possible things. Right now, we have been able to make possible something that seemed completely impossible.

The Vetting was unlocked today, and let’s not forget that the whole process for the implementation of the reform is not a process done merely and only by the Albanians. It is a process done by the Albanians, starting from the representatives of political parties, and continuing with totally independent to-be-elected experts, but it is closely monitored with constitutional mandate by friends and international partners, a group of American and European prosecutors and judges who will closely supervise the Vetting and the whole process.

I assure you that the Albanians will look at the results they have been waiting for many years, not only to take revenge, in a moral sense, for all the injustices that have taken place in 25 years, but they will also look at how, when they enter the court doors starting next September, they will feel much more respected and far less blackmailed by those who kept this people hostage in their clutches for 27 years.