The European Union has criticised the media’s critique of the European Delegation in Tirana after New Media accused them of “misinforming Brussels”.
In a Twitter post, Peter Stano, spokesperson for the European Commission’s foreign affairs office assured the public that the position of the EU and the EU Delegation in Tirana are the same.
” Albania: The claims of some media that question the work of the European Union in Albania are completely baseless. The positions expressed by the EU Delegation in Tirana are the positions of the EU. We fully support the excellent work of the delegation, including the work on electoral reform led by Ambassador Luigi Soreca and his team, to bring Albania closer to the European Union, ” he wrote on Twitter.
The article in EU newspaper New Europe which Stano is referring to accused the Delegation of watering down the behaviour of the Rama government in their reporting to Brussels.
It mentioned the lack of acknowledgement of the 15 accession conditions by the Rama government and EU Ambassador Luigi Soreca’s failure to mention them at the National Council for European Integration meeting on 9 June. It also said that the EU was not properly informed about the situation on the ground regarding the mass production and export of illegal drugs in the country.
The article continues:
“The practice of the EU delegation to provide limited and often misleading information to Brussels continues under the new management. The Tirana EU Delegation and the Directorate-General of the Near and the European External Actions Service have both been regularly criticised by the Member States, which have their own embassies in Tirana and who get an objective picture of the situation, rather than the far too rosy reports that the EU’s mission regularly passes on about Albania.”
Stano’s comment does not actually address the fact that the position of Brussels is created by the position of the EU Delegation meaning one comes after the other. Therefore the positions are only the same because of the information the EU Delegation gives them. This means that if the EU Delegation is indeed watering down the reality of the situation in Albania, Brussels are agreeing with something that is not a real reflection of the truth.
