Press release of Prime Minister Edi Rama:

The Democratic Party rejected also the compromise formula proposed by the United States and the European Union, through the Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland.

After it exhausted the Albanians and the strategic allies of Albania with the article 88, and after it took everything it asked for, the DP came up with something else, thus unbelievably questioning the reliability, the integrity and the role of our international partners in the scanning process of the Albanian prosecutors and judges.

I wasn’t surprised, and neither was anyone of those who know very well where the fear from justice lies. And fear is the opposition’s Chief Adviser on Justice Reform. On the contrary, the allies of Albania were justly surprised, because they have massively invested, as never before, in a reform in Albania in the last quarter of the century.

The new request of the Democratic Party and yesterday’s scream out of despair in the Assembly of Albania to defend the country’s sovereignty against “the new Euro-American threat” are a shrill testimony of the truth that our opponents did not dive into the Venice waters to take justice out of the mouth of the shark that wanted to seize justice by means of the reform. Their claim, through article 55 in winter, and later through article 88 in spring, was but an alibi mounted with the idea that we will not pave the way for a compromise, which, however, in the end does not violate the essence of reform. When this alibi fell like a sand castle, after the compromise formula presented by the Assistant Secretary of State, the DP demanded 48 hours to recover and build a new alibi. This time even more absurd than the first one: the Euro-American threat.

Aided by sovereigntists who depend on money not declared to the media, it launched a desperate attempt to convince Albanians that the Vetting of prosecutors and judges in the sovereign Albania can be done better by Gjin Ndreca or Vladimir Jonuzi than by the International Monitoring Operation which, according to the opposition grasped by the panic of an iron operation of cleansing up the justice system, is a threat to the sovereignty of Albania.

Actually, yes! There is a truth here, the involvement of Albania’s partners in this reform through the Vetting process is an unbearable “threat” to the sovereign power of corruption over our courts; to the power the killers of justice who stroke their gavel on the heads of the mothers mourning their boys killed by the state crime or the ordinary crime; on girls and women raped by criminals freed by equally criminal judges; on families stolen and deprived of the property right by a band of criminals dressed in the judge’s black robe; on an entire people who shudder anytime they have to address to a court.

This is true! This is absolutely true!

Supported by the internationals, the Vetting permanently takes away the gavel from these criminals and breaks down a large part of the sovereign power of the political and financial corruption over justice in Albania. I’m saying a large part, because the fight against corruption in justice begins with the Vetting, but it doesn’t end with it.

These opponents terrified of justice to the point that they have already started the war against Albania’s strategic allies, do not care at all about an as simple as important truth for this reform: this is neither a social nor a sports reform that we, our community here in Albania, can do by ourselves and for ourselves.

This is a reform for European Albania which we want to build and make a member of the European Union. In such reforms, our sovereignty is relative, not absolute, because no EU country, or any country seeking membership in the European Union, does have an absolute sovereignty to read and understand the norms, standards and the requirements the European Union the way that is most convenient to them.

No former communist country has become a member of the European Union by choosing what they like and by refusing what they don’t like of the modernizing reforms in the accession process. This is one of them.

There is no justice reform implemented in other countries of the European Union that has used the sovereignty sword to keep international partners away from the castle of justice corruption.

How come that the European Union has imposed the condition of Justice Reform to launch negotiations for Albania’s EU accession?

Because, without this reform, we can continue being sovereigns in our home, but there is no chance that we can ask for negotiations to enter the big home of the United Europe.

Without this reform we will remain outside the door of that big house that inspired the collapse of the dictatorship. Do you remember? “We want Albania like the entire Europe!”. This is Europe. It has motivated our country on the strenuous journey of this quarter-century.

While by refusing this reform, we will not only remain outside that door, but will return in a very suspicious shadow in the middle of Europe. We will be seen as a country ruled by the fear of the corrupt, and as a people subject to the sovereign power of corruption. We will waste many other years. Nobody can tell how many years it would take to be again where we are today, at this moment, in the eyes and on the minds of our strategic allies, one step away from the launch of negotiations with the European Union.

I’ve heard our sovereigntists say an absurdity such as: “What do we want the European Union for? Did the British leave the EU because they were fool?”

I’ve heard them comment offended in their patriotic self-love: “How can we allow the judiciary power be seized by internationals?” Or even raise choirs of craziness and preach on how capable we are to do this job by ourselves. One of them would even say: “What if internationals were as corrupt as our people? To whom will we complain?”

Of course, we cannot make a phone call to internationals and tell them: “Close an eye on Gjon”, “Mind Gjin”, “Take care of Ladi”, “There is this Jonuz Jonuzaj, we would rather have him pass!”, and so on and so forth. You cannot do such a thing with internationals.

Can anybody tell me why we didn’t do such a useful job in 25 years in a row, and for which some say “We can do it by ourselves!”, “We are sovereigns”, “We have our people. We cannot offends such big minds and then put their heads in the grip of the international control”?

Why did we wander for a quarter of century in the fields of corruption, and built in the very heart of the square a justice system that is the most corrupt and discredited in the European continent?

If we didn’t succeed in 25 years, how can we succeed now and clean up the justice system from this corporation of rich who altogether can buy even Lionel Messi and make him play for Xhelal Mziu’s Kamëz?

All this is the same as saying: “We want to play, but we must have our sovereignty over the game rules. It must be us who decide the size of the field, of the goal post, at what extension the goal keeper has the right to touch the ball, and even, if possible, if we don’t score, we will have the right to beat the opponent goal keeper, and also have our own referees. We cannot be refereed by foreigners.”

Actually, I’ve known since the first day that this day would come. I’ve warned everybody, even our partners that we were going to see many odd things when the draft got close to the Assembly’s threshold. And we are hearing many odd things, as well.

I knew that we were going to be in front of the wall of fear and absurd constraints of the Democratic Party. But to be honest, I cannot take the credit of having thought that posters against the Euro-American threat would be appended on that wall of fear. I did not predict it, because the opposition has always demanded a thorough international involvement as a guarantee to protect justice from my “clutches”.

Now it turns out that the problem consists in the big clutches of the superpowers who want to attack the meek lambs of the justice system and devour them, thus taking them from the fold where they barely gathered them, and which they built and are maintaining with a lot of hardships.

After we listened to them drivel about the need for consensus, and after we accepted to the letter everything they demanded in the name of article 88, yesterday I made a new proposal which I am going to repeat in a clear and distinct manner, because yesterday it was just a 140-character tweet.

We are ready to vote on July 21 everything the Democratic Party will put in the Justice Reform draft, provided that it is accepted by the USA and the EU as in full compliance with the standards required by Albania for reforming justice in Albania, in view of keeping on with the European integration. Do you know any clear and better consensus than this one?

I was delivered a report of the comments on this proposal. To be honest, I laughed a lot with the sovereigntists who hurried to give the news that “I finally gave up, and the honour of Albania was trampled by me in collaboration with some underclass foreign officials – read here ambassadors, for they speak with the big minds, but there is no such a big mind in the world who can understand what the Democratic Party is asking for – now the honour has been restored.” Very well, I do not want to deal with them.

But I have a message to convey to every Albanian citizen who has the right to vote, among the 4.4 million Albanians, and every Albanian who does not have the citizenship of the Republic of Albania but want the historical reformation of justice in this country.

My collaborators and I did everything we could do to have a comprehensive reform that would free justice in Albania, and possibly be adopted together with the opposition. We have exhausted our imagination to find solutions acceptable to the opposition. We have allowed everything without touching the essence of reform. But even after we met the request of the opposition with regard to article 88, and allowed it to come out of the Venice waters, get dry, dressed and come in parliament and vote happily, we find ourselves in front of an invitation to start a war, along with the Democratic Party, side by side, against the United States and the European Union. This is how I understand, this is how we understand the request, in the name of the sovereignty of our country, to exclude our international partners from taking part in a crucial process, without which the reform remains without foundation, the Vetting of prosecutors and judges. We understand it as a declaration of war against those who actually are not seeking to invade Albania – for Albania has been invaded by others, by those who tremble in front of the justice reform, and are guided by the fear of letting go the key tool of their invasion, which is the corrupt justice system. No! Our partners are trying to help us clean up the justice system in Albania, and include us in their family, so that we can sit around the table of the European Union, just like we did in the NATO’s. Therefore, we consider this invitation to come together as Albanians, as patriots, as sovereigns, and show the boundaries to the United States and the European Union, a craziness that will be listed among the many crazy things done by the Albanian politics.

On the other hand, we do not accept any more to be in an absurd process of negotiation only to give the Democratic Party the opportunity to continue lying to the Albanians saying that it is not us who want to reach a compromise, but on the contrary, that it is us who are hindering the compromise. Not at all! The field is free.

God willing, they will become lions and will come and vote the Judiciary Reform, after they have removed or added anything they want to the draft reform, and the product of this last intervention will be assessed by the USA and the EU as totally acceptable, and that Albania will be applauded worldwide and receive an invitation to launch negotiations. I am saying that this will be a consequence, not that the lions will ensure us that we will receive a declaration for negotiations. Not at all. Just this: they have to accept that “YES, this is the reform, we are OK with it, vote it”. If the United States and the EU accept this, the DP can write anything it wants, anything. Until July 21, anything it wants. We will let it pass without any procedure, without discussions, and we will even tell it: “Thanks a lot, because you saved our honour which is being compromised because of you every day”.

I do not believe that the United States and the European Union are ready to call them lions, if they’re not and accept the skeleton of the reform to be deformed, because it is not them who want to integrate with Albania. Let’s not forget this. They haven’t been chasing us and begging us “Please, let us integrate with you, for we want to leave like the Brits, but we don’t have where to go. Let us come there and make Tirana the centre of the world”. It is us who want to integrate in the European Union.

But if the European Union gives up and accepts that time has come to join Albanian and build a new justice model based on corruption, then we will talk again. Absolutely! I will come out and say what I think, but I won’t hinder the reform.

But it can also happen the contrary, and I really mean this. Maybe under new conditions created by this new proposal, the field is free, no party that is hindering. The DP is enlightened by a spark of genius and really comes up with some solution of which nobody could think until today, so that the draft will not only be acceptable, but will also improve and make everybody happy, and we will move all together to the next stages of the reform.

I invite Lulzim Basha, starting from today until July 21 at 10 am when the session begins, to let me know immediately, at any time of the day and of the night, he has my phone number, so that we can meet, provided that he comes up with anything new that can be considered acceptable by the United States and the European Union.

I will vote it, we will vote it, without requiring for a single comma to be changed. This is a consensus signed on white paper.

They can write whatever they want, provided that it has two seals: those of the United States and of the European Union.

Many thanks!

And let’s wait!