TIRANA, June 9 /ATA/ – By Maela Marini/ Minister of Defense, Niko Peleshi, reacted on Thursday in parliament in connection with the statements of the opposition against the “Open Balkan” initiative.
Peleshi said that by claiming that the ‘Open Balkan’ poses a threat to the Albanian economy, the opposition promotes the thesis of protectionism, of closed market.”
“You claim that if we open up, economies that produce more than us, or are more competitive will lead us to the verge of bankruptcy. In a nutshell, by attacking the Open Balkan you are also against the EU, because that is what the EU is all about. If you stand up for free movement of people and capital, you should also support integration within the Balkans. Moving freely, exchanging more goods and, of course, culture and economy, because they are also preconditions for more stability in the Balkans,” added Peleshi.
“On one hand you are against the ‘Open Balkan’ and on the other you stand up for integration in the single European market. How will our businesses compete with businesses from more developed countries in the European single market? “Exactly that pressure will increase competitiveness, to export more just as we are doing right now,” Peleshi said.
According to the Minister, the first positive result of the “Open Balkan” is the increase of exports and growth of economy, which the opposition regards as the biggest risk and conspiracy, which is the Serbian economy.
“Even there we have a very positive balance so far,” said Peleshi.
Peleshi also reacted to opposition statements against the boards established to discipline oil and food prices.
“Only the opposition tries to convince the citizens that the prices are not rising due to the war. This war has taken its toll on economy, world markets and elsewhere. We have to accept the source at least. We thought that in this situation of war there should be some sort of state control to prevent uncontrolled price increase and speculation,” Peleshi said.
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