Meloni in defense of Rama "Il Fatto Quotidiano": Albania painted as a narco-state

Giorgia Meloni's statement, where the prime minister attacked the "Report" show on RAI3, which published a report on the agreement for immigrants Italy-Albania, has caused a stir in the Italian media.

" Il Fatto Quotidiano ", writes that Sigfrido Ranucci's show was not even original. This is because since 2020, there were those who accused Albania of being a narco-state, even in Italy

"When we made an open agreement with Edi Rama, the left proposed to exclude him from the European Socialists. Instead of thanking him for acting in the name of European solidarity, they lynched him,"  said Meloni, who then added:  "Even Tele-Meloni, you know him, do you know Tele-Meloni? He created a report on Albania in which he portrayed it as a narco-state. Help me send our solidarity to Rama and all the Albanian people" -  she said, followed by a long round of applause.

But after checking the recent news, we can say that Sigfrido Ranucci's show failed to be original either. This is because since 2020, there were those who accused Albania of being a narco-state, even in Italy. Then it was not the show "Report" or any exponent of the left. In an article for "Il Giornale" on April 2, 2020, the right-wing intellectual and president of the Tatarella Foundation, journalist Francesco Giubilei, claimed that the 30 doctors sent from Tirana at the time, to support Italy, which was fighting the pandemic, were in reality a propaganda operation by the government of Edi Rama.

An "unconstitutional" government due to "irregularities in elections", according to the statements of the then president of the Republic of Albania, Ilir Meta, were the theses used by Giubilei. "According to former president and former prime minister Sali Berisha, "Albania has turned into a kind of dictatorship based on drug trafficking, a real narco-state" - Giubilei reported at the time, a thesis which he also explained in his profile his on Facebook.

A prolific writer, at a very young age Giubilei published the book "Giovinezza". In his later years he dedicated an entire volume to Giorgia Meloni, whom he called "one of the most beloved political leaders by Italians". It was still 2020, when the head of the "Brothers of Italy" had not yet asked for applause for Rama and did not claim friendship between Italy and Albania in any case.

Today, things have also changed for Giubilei, who talks about an "important result" regarding the agreement with Tirana. In short, if in the middle of the pandemic he claimed that a "Trojan horse" had come from Tirana as a gift, today he no longer does so. With all due respect we are giving more details of what he wrote then.

"Every year in Albania, a fund of billions of dollars is created for the laundering of drug money, also thanks to the very close cooperation with the South American cartels. Tons of drugs are exported to Italy and Europe. Understand that for the Italian anti-mafia, the heroin traffic is almost exclusive to the Albanian mafia. A narco-state cannot be created without the cooperation of politics",   the article says, quoting Berisha.

He wasn't the only one who thought so. "According to Fatos Lubonja, one of the leading Albanian intellectuals and former political prisoner for 17 years in the communist regime: "There is a triangle of power between the political, economic and drug trafficking worlds". "In Albania, the immune systems typical of democracy are missing. The power is in the hands of the gangs, there is an unstable economy and there is no perspective for the future," Giubilei wrote.

Last but not least, in the Giubilei article he explains that Rama also had justice in his hands. And speaking about an Albanian investigative journalist who has received threats precisely for reporting on drug trafficking, he adds: "It takes a lot of courage to publicly denounce the logic and dynamics of the Albanian system." And in fact, now that Rama and Meloni are great friends, Giubilei is careful not to do that.

"Giorgia is incredible. We can say that a friendship was born" , we read in one of the many interviews that the Albanian Prime Minister has given to the Italian press in recent months. "But above all - Rama repeats on several occasions - she is a concrete politician, far from being a fascist danger". At least for this, Giubilei will be able to find the courage to agree.