Bardhi: The Albanian Embassy in Rome is pressuring immigrants, the government is also afraid of the diaspora

The head of the Democratic Party Parliamentary Group, Gazment Bardhi, has reacted through a post on social media, accusing the government of using state institutions to hinder the participation of the diaspora in anti-government protests.

According to Bardhi, the main Albanian associations in Italy have been contacted by the official number of the Albanian Embassy in Rome, with the request not to organize and not to participate in the diaspora protests. He claims that the reason given was that these protests "damage the image of Albania."

In his reaction, Bardhi describes this action as an indication of the government's panic in the face of citizen protests at home and abroad. He emphasizes that embassies are financed by Albanian taxes and cannot be used as party instruments or to limit citizens' democratic rights.

The Democratic MP underlines that the diaspora cannot be treated as an electorate that must be controlled or intimidated by the state administration, adding that the right to organize and protest is a fundamental right that must be respected.

WHITE'S REACTION

Edi Rama has reached a new level of panic.

With hundreds of thousands of protesters demanding his resignation every day in Tirana and major European capitals, propagandists, administrations, and patronage agents are no longer enough. Now, Albania's main diplomatic headquarters have also been involved in the campaign.

These days, the official number of the Albanian Embassy in Rome has been calling the main Albanian associations in Italy to ask them not to organize and not to participate in the diaspora protests against the government. The reason? "Albania's image is being damaged."

How absurd, how cynical, and how shameless do you have to be to use state institutions against your own citizens and then hide behind the alibi of "Albania's image"?

The embassies of the Republic of Albania are financed by the taxes of Albanian citizens. They are not branches of the Socialist Party nor instruments to hinder the exercise of citizens' constitutional rights.

The Albanian diaspora cannot be treated as an electorate that must be controlled or intimidated by the state administration. The right to organize, to protest and to express one's opinion is a fundamental democratic right that cannot be violated by anyone, much less by representatives of the Albanian state. Therefore, any official who has used state institutions for party interests must be held accountable.

As for Albania's image, it is not damaged by the youth, civic, peaceful and democratic protests. On the contrary. Albania's image has been damaged by the Prime Minister himself.

It damaged it when it declared people connected to international drug cartels as strategic investors.

It damaged it when it granted permits for resorts and casinos that serve to launder drug trafficking money.

It has been damaged when SPAK files and materials referred to by foreign authorities document meetings with senior Albanian state officials in Aruba, linked to real estate projects in Albania and with persons suspected of international drug trafficking, including the suspected owner of the land for the project in Zvërnec.

It has damaged it when it has transformed corruption into the only mechanism by which the Albanian state moves.

It has harmed it when, as the European Parliament says, it defends Belinda Balluku's corruption with a vote and becomes an obstacle to Albania's European integration.

It damaged it when it restored the party-state model and election theft. And today it is damaging it again, using Albanian embassies to prevent citizens from exercising a fundamental democratic right: to protest.

A government that is afraid of the diaspora no longer has any moral authority to govern. There is only one way out: resignation.