TIRANA, September 26 /ATA/ The Special Commission “To combat disinformation and other forms of foreign interference in the country’s democratic processes” held today its routine meeting.
Head of this commission Erion Braҫe expressed his regret that the opposition MPs failed to join the meeting.
Likewise, Braҫe said that, in support of the work of this commission, there will be experts from the EU, the Council of Europe and the OSCE who will show their practices.
Braçe said that an EU delegation will support the work, too.
“In response to the request of this commission for expert support, the commission was informed that the EU delegation is supporting the work of this commission.
Also, Braçe said that during the months of July and August, there were events that brought to light the work of this commission, specifically phenomena of malicious foreign intervention, but also of misinformation.
He singled out the cases of relations between Kosovo, Albania and Serbia and the attacks on tourism.
“First of all, there was the “news piece” that spread rapidly in Albania as far as the developments related to Serbia, Kosovo and Albania are concerned. The Serbian media, the tabloids there close to the Serbian government, issued a statement which was later amplified by the Albanian media, and which had to do with the possibility of announcing the invasion of Kosovo by the president of Serbia. A whole chain of misinformation that arrived in the territory of the Republic of Albania and that brought to our attention the fact that disinformation spreads even within the territory of the Republic of Albania, implicating Albania and the Albanians in the region and of course creating great concern within the country as well.
Braҫe also emphasized that, during the months of July and August, tourism has been under attack by special malicious foreign groups to divert attention from Albania.
“Events that happened during the months of July and August draw attention to the existence of disinformation campaigns, especially in terms of strategic sectors of the economy. Tourism has been under attack and it is already verified that special malicious foreign groups have attacked the websites of accommodation units in Albania, with the aim of diverting attention and bookings from these accommodation units from time to time”, said Braçe./p.s./
