In an attempt to minimize the reputational damage caused by the Dutch Parliament’s decision to ask the Dutch government to request application of the “emergency break” procedure to suspend the visa liberalization, the Rama government started yesterday an all-out attack on one of the four MPs that proposed the motion, Christian Democrat MP Madeleine van Toorenburg.
MP Taulant Balla, Chief Whip of the Socialist Majority in Parliament, claimed that Van Toorenburg was “a close friend of Lulzim Basha. The populists use every means to denigrate the Albanian nation. […] Basha lobbies for this in the Netherlands.”
Exit reached out to Dutch MP Van Toorenburg, asking her whether the allegation of the Albanian government, that she was a friend of Lulzim Basha, was true. In her response, Van Toorenburg stated:
“I am not a lobbyist, I don’t even know these people. This says more about Albania than about me. Our police and prosecution office ask for the reintroduction of the visa regime to get a better view on guests from Albania, because they are now constantly confronted with people committing crimes or are climbing into trucks, who say upon arrest that they’re simply a tourist.”
