Yesterday, EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi was in Tirana for a series of meetings with officials and leaders. This came after the amendments to the Electoral Code on 5 October and the publishing of the EU Progress Report for Albania.
Parliamentary opposition MP Ralf Gjoni accused Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi of lying about the government’s achievement reflected in the 2020 progress report.
“Varhelyi has said some untruths in the latest report of the European Commission [..]. He said that extraordinary efforts have been made for the electoral reform in Albania and praised June 5. That’s untrue I would say to Varhelyi now if he were here today. Extraordinary efforts have been made to play with the electoral reform and there have been efforts to preserve the status quo”, said Gjoni after the end of Varhelyi’s speech in the Assembly.
Gjoni said that the commissioner should “speak with the voice of truth and without inferiority complex and tell him some truths in the eye.”
He accused Varhelyi of seeking “an autocratic Albania, this Hungarian loyal to Viktor Orban? What does Varhelyi want for Albania to remain with pensioners like Spartak Braho ”.
Spartak Braho was a Socialist Party MP who also worked as a judge during the Communist regime. He was one of those who proposed legal changes banning scholars from researching communist crimes and he also made public threats against academics, resulting in one seeking asylum in Switzerland last year.
Prime Minister Edi Rama said during a press conference that he asked Varhelyi that Albania not be penalized for the condition of forming the Constitutional Court. It is currently dysfunctional and is unlikely to be formed before the end of the year meaning Albania would not fulfil this condition.
“Albania cannot be penalized because we have done a great cleansing. We don’t have a Constitutional Court because we have done a purge that no one else has done,” he said.
The Commissioner met with President Ilir Meta who informed him that he would not decree the unilateral changes to the electoral code, as voted on 5 October.
He confirmed this on social media after their meeting:
“Focusing on electoral reform, defined as a basic condition for the start of membership negotiations, I informed the Commissioner that I would return the unilateral amendments to the Electoral Code for reconsideration in the Assembly.”
He said this decision will give the one-party assembly to withdraw from undermining the electoral process which would have serious and long-term consequences for Albania’s European integration.
Varhelyi then met with IOM Chief Genoveva Ruiz Calavera to discuss the progress of the justice reform. In a Twitter post, Calavera wrote:
“Important visit to Albanian vetting institutions with EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi. Vetting continues with the same professionalism and commitment to ensure that justice reform delivers the best for Albanian citizens. Unjust attacks must stop.”
Varheyli then met with Chairman of the Democratic Party Lulzim Basha on Wednesday night as well as with other representatives of the opposition.
EU Ambassador Luigi Soreca was also in attendance.
Following the meeting, Basha wrote that he spoke to the Commissioner about the extremely difficult economic situation in Albania and the pervasive corruption that is keeping Albanians in poverty and dissuading foreign investors.
Basha also informed Varhelyi that the electoral reform was changed and approved unilaterally, in violation of the constitution.
