In his remarks, Boçi highlighted that, “The OECD has identified a specific fact: schools with fewer than 21 students eligible for the PISA test were not contacted to conduct the assessment and, consequently, did not participate.”

According to him, this is not a detail to be overlooked.

Boçi stated that the interpellation aims to secure precise, documented answers regarding the exclusion of schools hovering around the 21-student threshold from the PISA test, the rationale behind this decision and the financial and technical details of the process.

According to him, public interest demands full transparency—not just regarding the published results, but also which students were represented, who was excluded and who must hold accountability for this situation.

/m.q/j.p/p.s./

Opening today’s plenary session, Speaker of the Assembly Niko Peleshi outlined the agenda and announced that the scheduled interpellations with Prime Minister Edi Rama and Minister of Interior Besfort Lamallari were postponed to a future date due to official commitments

Today’s parliamentary session included an urgent interpellation requested by Democratic Party deputies with Prime Minister Edi Rama. However, when the Speaker called for the presentation, the Prime Minister was not present, having delegated the response to the Minister of State for Relations with Parliament. As a result, the requesting MPs were absent from the hall in protest.

Meanwhile, the Assembly continues its proceedings by holding two interpellations with Minister of Health and Social Welfare Evis Sala, requested by opposition MPs Erisa Xhixho and Saimir Korreshi.

MP Erald Kapri has also requested a Q&A session with Minister of Health and Social Welfare.

The agenda also carries two interpellations with Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Enea Karakaçi, requested by MP Erion Braçe. MP Ina Zhupa will also hold an interpellation with Minister of Education Mirela Kumbaro.

The session will continue with an interpellation with the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Andis Salla, requested by MPs Agron Shehaj and Erald Kapri. /p.s./

Gazment Bardhi, chairman of the Democratic Party’s parliamentary group, had argued in his request that Rama should have dismissed Balluku following her court suspension, rather than referring the matter to the Constitutional Court, calling the referral unconstitutional.

Parliament Speaker Niko Peleshi said the issue is already before the Constitutional Court, which is reviewing whether the case is admissible for a full hearing.

“Any attempt to produce a political decision before the constitutional review is completed could undermine the principles of institutional independence and the rule of law,” Peleshi said.

Parliament Speaker added that it was essential to wait for the court’s final ruling and to respect the legal and constitutional procedures intended to safeguard justice and the proper functioning of state institutions.

He said parliament should not take political action while the court is assessing a matter related to institutional powers.

Lawmakers voted 74-17 to reject DP’s request after the Speaker declined to admit it under parliamentary rules.

/gj.m/j.p/u.sh/

In response to the request of the Chairperson of the Parliamentary group of the Democratic Party Gazment Bardhi for an interpellation with Prime Minister Edi Rama regarding the “Becchetti” affair, Spiropali said that, “An interpellation is a written request addressed to the Prime Minister or any other member of the Cabinet on the motives, goals, positions of the government regarding important aspects of its activity”.

Spiropali underlined that, “The request must be based on the truth, on the need for Parliamentary control and not on the need for propaganda of the day based on false facts”.

“We are ready at any time; I will definitively exercise my constitutional duty. But, please, request interpellations that are in line with the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly and they will all be included on the agenda”, said the Speaker of the Parliament.

“Do not take false facts that are not based on any Albanian state document, copy-paste them into a request for an interpellation, and present it to the Speaker of the Assembly who in any case has presented it to the Chairpersons’ Conference”, said Spiropali.

“No interpellation request has been left untreated, but interpellations that are based on facts and on the request to bring to light the public interest will definitely be discussed and addressed”, said Spiropali. /p.s./

Responding to the opposition claims at an interpellation session in parliament on Thursday, Health Minister said that budget for chemotherapy treatment has increased four times, whereas investment in procuring linear accelerators have cut patient waiting time from three months to just two or three weeks.

Two doctors and five other medical workers at the Oncology Hospital in Tirana were indicted for a scam involving cancer patients most recently.

Health Minister called on justice bodies to investigate into anyone involved and bring before justice any individual found guilty for abusing with the doctor’s sacred mission and for harming the patients’ health.

She said that the accused do not belong in the public health sector.

“We have set a new and unique standard that is applied equally to everyone. Whoever is found guilty, they have nothing to do with this government and with this political family. This standard also applies to the doctors who stand now accused,” Koçiu stated.

Health Minister condemned attempts to politicize the incident and cause divisions between doctors and the health system officials.

The Minister of Health and Social Protection Albana Koçiu was questioned at an interpellation session of parliament demanded by the main opposition Democratic Party MPs.

/k.s/u.sh/

The interpellation session takes place just a few days after a recent scandal at the Oncology Department at the Mother Teresa University Hospital Centre.

Agenda of today’s parliament session also includes the annual 2023 report by the Central Election Commission; the annual report by the Information and Data Protection Commissioner; annual report by the Financial Supervision Authority; as well as the annual report by the Commissioner for protection from discrimination.

Lawmakers will also discuss and vote on a series of bills, including  the draft law on ratification of the agreement between the Republic of Albania and the European Union on participation of the Republic of Albania in justice programme; the draft law “On some amendments to the law “On the protection of the environment”, amended”; Tthe draft law “On some amendments and additions to the law “On environmental impact assessment”, amended”, the draft law “On some amendments to the law “On the protection of air quality in the environment”, as amended” and the draft law “On some amendments and additions to the Law “On the Protection of Biodiversity.”

/u.sh/

The Assembly will review the draft law “On the approval of the normative act no. 3, dated 12.3.2022 “On changes and additions to law no. 115/2021,” On the budget of 2022.

Meanwhile, the Albanian Parliament announced the vacancy after resignation of MP Alqi Bllako.

Deputy Speaker of the Assembly Ermonela Felaj informed today, at the beginning of the plenary session, that the Assembly has notified the Central Election Commission about the announcement of this vacancy.

Two days ago, the Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime submitted to the Assembly the request for authorization for the arrest of MP Alqi Bllako. The request follows investigation launched for abuses in the construction and operation of waste processing plants./m.m//a.a/p.s./

Mr. Shehu, I would like to thank you for providing me this opportunity, as I believe it is never sufficient to discuss issues of common national and public interest and, moreover, all the political forces are obliged to do more and listen to one another.

The Open Balkan initiative is neither a substitute, nor alteration or a transformation of the Berlin process into something else, or a substitute for Albania’s European Union integration itself.

The Open Balkan initiative is a mechanism to deliver on the Berlin Process and the speed up the EU integration process, as it practically addresses the need for the benchmarks of the Berlin Process, currently on paper only, to be transformed into the kilometres of the path we together have embarked on towards delivering on this process’ vision, as well as to address the direct needs of the citizens, manufacturers and exporters of this country.

Do you Mr. Shehu and anyone else participating in this debate know the number of Albanian exporters to North Macedonia and Serbia? Concretely, Albania has 371 exporters to North Macedonia and 165 exporters to Serbia. Since Serbia is the essence of this debate, I would provide one more data that might help to elaborate the idea and illustrate the need for this mechanism. Fifty seven out of 165 Albanian exporters to Serbia export fruits and vegetables and they have been operating for several years now, regardless of what we discuss or not and regardless of the political panorama, based on which hasty and sometimes wrong hypotheses are often developed just to object further regional cooperation expansion.

The Berlin Process’ idea and vision, I believe, is clear to everyone, whereas as far as the Open Balkan mechanism is concerned, I would like to inform you that we, Albania, are the first ones to begin with the framework agreements to materialize the Berlin process, and two agreements on one stop shop have been signed with Kosovo and Montenegro under the Berlin Process or one stop shop border management with North Macedonia, and in the meantime we are ready as stipulated by the bilateral agreement already signed at Tirana Regional Summit.

The fact is that we live in a geographical region that we couldn’t choose and we need to do utmost efforts to promote spur production, exports and interactions in this geographical space.

However, these incentives are about a fragmented market, forcing the regions in the country to isolate themselves in closed spaces over the years, failing to support production growth, direct investment increase as would be the case with a space of common interactions.

Data from the Transport Community and the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) show that trucks spend 28 million hours waiting at borders of this region every year due to the multiple administrative and bureaucratic barriers, as well as due to the lack of a common regulatory framework among the countries in the region.

What is this regulatory framework among the countries in the region, whose absence, according to the international institutions, the waiting hours at the border alone costs 1% of the region’s GDP. This regulatory framework is neither more nor less than the common regulatory framework of the European Union, a framework based on the four EU freedoms, namely the freedom of movement of people, goods, capital and services. So, the regulatory framework is neutral to all the reasons of political irrationality of a country or another.

Taking notice that you cited the Foreign Minister of Montenegro, I would provide an example. According to data from our own exporting companies, the veterinary check cost alone is estimated at 80 euros, plus 20 euros charged by the customs agencies. This means that everyone has to pay 100 euros every time they cross the border. This is without taking into account the cost of long waiting hours at the border. Having said that, I would like to add that the Open Balkan mechanism and all these agreements we are making and starting to implement – some of which will be signed here in Tirana after few weeks, ahead of the year-end holidays, will lead to an increase in the number of Albanian exporters to around 500, and exponential growth if considering the difficulties they encounter today. I would suggest that you contact and ask the Albanian companies involved in producing and manufacturing activities in the territory of our country and, as I said, 57 of them are fruit and vegetable exporters, and we all know that fruits and vegetables are vulnerable when it comes to the time it takes to transport them.

You are asking why I think that such an initiative launched by Vucic could turn out to be useful in our regional cooperation process, with EU integration lying at the very heart of the process.

First of all, I have said it earlier – and you can refer to the archival records to verify my words – this is an issue that has been raised at the Berlin Process summit in Paris in 2015, if I am not wrong, where I and the President of Serbia separately focused on the danger facing the Berlin Process if the adopted documents were to remain on papers only. And that was the case indeed.

In the meantime, I will cite a part of the last European Commission Report on Albania, namely the political criteria focusing on Albania’s relations with the neighbouring countries, clearly noting that in terms of the commitments to the regional common market, to which you and Open Balkan rejecters refer, Albania has played a proactive role and in the meantime Albania is one of the six countries in region that has respected and has taken forward all the pending agreements on the common regional market.

Why are the agreements on the common regional market suspended? This is a question to which the Open Balkans initiative provides a concrete answer and response, because it is impossible for our allies to do the job we should individually do in our states and for our own interests in this region. They are our allies, they are our partners and precious friends, but they have a lot of things to do in their own countries and they can’t take over management of our countries or our region. What actually happens, if you are to look at the schedule of the summits as part of the Berlin Process – and I can’t exactly recall how many of them have taken place since 2014 – you would see a huge void, because the region has yet to deliver on what has been discussed and decided at the summits.

The very same report, since you referred to CEFTA, underlines that Albania successfully chaired CEFTA in 2019, during which, among others, the sixth additional protocol was signed to further ease free movement of the services in CEFTA member countries. This was precisely the case under Albania’s chairmanship, when the member countries also agreed and the validity procedures on mutual recognition of the authorized economic operators. Albania on its part ratified the sixth protocol in April 2020. Today, two years after the protocol endorsement, the protocol has yet to be ratified by most parliaments in the Western Balkan countries. What is then Albania supposed to do and which is the answer we should provide and actions we should make to tackle the problems of those interacting in the region as Albanian companies, to tackle their needs, as well as the country’s needs to boost capacities, expand markets, expand the space so that our manufacturers and tradesmen can interact and certainly increase their income and therefore contributing to the national economy growth, employment and so on and so forth.

You claim that the fact that Serbia has assumed a leading role, although it has yet to offer its apology for the war crimes few years ago, as well as establishment of Serbia’s hegemony at the political as well as at the economic aspect – it is actually unclear what your question is, but I can tell you that, not according to me or the government of Albania, but according to the international financial institutions, the regional economic cooperation and establishment of a common regional market, because we don’t differ in opinions, neither regarding the Berlin Process, nor the common regional market or the CEFTA. The only aspect we differ is “how” not “what.” It is very clear when it comes to “what”. We want precisely this, a common regional market, where the four freedoms of the European Union are fully implemented, but seven years have already passed and the common regional market has yet to become a reality and this is for a reason. Others can probably contribute to discover “the why” or other elements of this “why”, but what matters most is its implementation. So, no implementation process is underway by the states, the governments and state bodies, but this could become a reality through the Open Balkans initiative.

According to international financial institutions, the country’s GDP could grow by 6.7% through such a cooperation process. Can we afford depriving ourselves from this potential? What are we all doing? We are seeking to find new sources of economic growth and not rely on the existing sources only. One of the new sources of economic growth, the most important untapped source and potential is precisely the regional cooperation and, again, I would invite you to hold a hearing session with the Albanian business community currently involved in the regional market. There are many economic operators involved in this market for years now and there are some new stakeholders of this market, but I would call on you to listen to them, their interests that are the interests of the Albanian economy itself.

You ask: “Doesn’t the Premier figure out the relation between this initiative and the ideas about “a New Yugoslavia” that Serbia has proposed several years ago. I don’t know whether there is any correlation between this initiative and the so-called “New Yugoslavia”. I can’t see any correlation between them. When I tell you that this is all about a space, which is nothing else but a space where we are seeking to implement the four EU freedoms. If the free movement of the citizens, goods, capital and services was something granted by law in Yugoslavia, then it would mean that the EU itself is a Yugoslavia.

This is an absurd, unnecessary and incomprehensive comparison, but simply a play on words to precisely undermine this initiative. I think this initiative is in best national interest, it is in best public interest and – since the time available for me to speak is expiring and since I don’t want to abuse with it – I would like to add something else and if you think I didn’t answer to all of your questions, you can ask for more once I take the floor again. I am telling you this, because it is about some questions concerning geopolitics, Russia, China or I don’t know what. I don’t know how the Berlin Process can be a Russian or a Chinese project. What I know is that the Open Balkan initiative is an implementing unit of the Berlin Process and I know that we have invited all the countries in the region to join it and I know that Kosovo is wasting a chance, also in terms of the biggest problem we as two states face with Serbia, by boycotting that table and I know that history tells us – without explaining history behind so many conflicts – that building economic relations and promoting economic interactions have been used as a catalyst to resolve political issues. Thank you!

* * *

Reply

Mr. Shehu, you said that you listened to me attentively, but you had this sentence written in advance too. This was also the case with your reply, regardless of my remarks, that you read carefully from beginning to end. This means, you didn’t listen to me at all, while I listened to you very carefully and I regret to say but you are talking to yourself and speaking about yourself, doing precisely the same thing you keep doing as a political party over so many years, thinking that you can fool Albanian citizens. Even now as we speak, everyone in your party is talking to themselves and speaking about themselves, and still Albanians are told that they are talking about them. However, it is up to you.

Nobody in Brussels, Washington, Paris or The Hague rejects the Open Balkans initiative. It is true that everyone says that Open Balkans should be inclusive and participation of three other countries in the region is very welcome. This is something I have already stated and I am constantly reiterating since day one.

Yet, I am not going to engage in a debate neither with you nor with anyone else over with who are the United States and Europe siding with.

It is extremely important what our allies think, but it is more important what we all together do for our country and what are Albania’s interests in this process called the Open Balkan initiative. The common regional market defends and further strengthens these interests. Open Balkan initiative is a mechanism to deliver on the common regional market. Like it or not you and others thinking like you, the Open Balkans will continue because it is in Albania’s interest, it is in Albanians’ interest and Albanian citizens have trusted us, the Socialist Party, with protection of their interests.

Thank you!

/u.sh/

During the interpellation that Shehu requested with Prime Minister Edi Rama, Shehu said that this interpellation is important because it concerns issues and strategies related to regional relations, economic exchanges, NATO role and European vision.

“As such, it includes a wide range of events for Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia with the interests of our partners who, among others, are involved in the region in a number of comprehensive integration development initiatives, such as IPA, CEFTA and up to the Berlin Process “, said Shehu.

“So, a wide discussion is needed on this topic that should have been done before the announcement of this initiative as a Mini-Schengen in Novi Sad and which tends to obscure community initiatives in the region. And even worse, it targets their replacement with such an initiative in which Vucic is the protagonist. And the prime minister became a supporter of this initiative. There is no better way than this to destroy community initiatives, the only ones essential for the development, cooperation and European integration of our region”, he said.

Shehu added that, “A few days ago, the Foreign Minister said here in the Assembly that this initiative is not prepared in the offices of the Socialist Party. I absolutely agree with the fact that this initiative is not prepared in the offices of the SP or the Ministry Foreign. It was not even prepared for a broad dialogue within the country; it was not discussed either with the countries of the region; it was not prepared for discussion with our partners in Brussels, Washington, or with those important countries like Germany, Italy, Greece, France, Austria”.

“In fact, it was conceived by Vucic, based on the reminiscences of Serbia’s dream for a New Yugoslavia after the breakup of the old one. So, it was created on a political basis of nationalism as well as for economic interests and domination. It was created in accordance with the geopolitical vision of Serbia as a signatory of Serbia’s Eurasian union, diametrically opposed to the EU,” said Shehu.

Likewise, Shehu added that, “In fact, it is combined with another Serbian idea that used to be before the independence of Kosovo carrying its redistribution within the territory of Yugoslavia or the creation of Greater Serbia through the exchange of territories Kosovo-Serbia after independence. So here, we are dealing with an overlap of two projects that of Greater Serbia with a new Yugoslavia trying to weaken the sovereignty of Kosovo whose remnants could be allowed to be merged with Albania. And you, Prime Minister, became its supporter. In fact, your finger was on the first project of the exchange of territories, but as a result of the active intervention of our EU and US partners, it was rejected.” /j.p/p.s./

MP Tritan Shehu forwarded the request for the interpellation with the prime minister.

Likewise, the Assembly will review the Normative Act, “On the approval of the text of some changes in the agreement for production and supply by and between PFIZER EXPORT B.V. and the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Albania, the Minister of State for Reconstruction and the Institute of Public Health.

The draft law “On some changes and additions to law no. 9917, dated 19.05.2008 “On the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing” amended “” and the draft decision “On a change in decision no. 166, dated 16.12.2004 “On the approval of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly”./j.p/p.s./