French Embassy Tells Albania’s PM It Isn’t Appropriate to Attack a Friendly Allied Country

The Embassy of France in Albania has reacted to the criticism of Prime Minister Edi Rama regarding the policy pursued by the EU towards the Balkan countries regarding the anti-Covid vaccine.
The Prime Minister in a TV show described as selfish and cynical the holding of stock by France of a large amount of vaccines, while the embassy considers untrue his statement through a letter sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs carried by local media on Saturday.
The embassy adds that “the information can be very sensitive to people’s minds”, while considering that “it is not appropriate to attack a friendly and allied country in this nominative way”.
Further, the reaction clarifies that the EU is the largest donor in Albania with more than 100 million euros in many sectors, while regarding the pandemic the statement referred to the announcement of the European Commission, which clarified on January 8 that the EU global portfolio of 2.3 billion doses was not only for Albania, but also for neighboring countries.
“Funding was provided to the Western Balkan countries with 70m euros from the IPA program,” the French embassy explained in the letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party (DP) said through its senior official Tritan Shehu on Saturday that Rama’s attacks on the EU and France express his anti-West and anti-Europe orientation.
“I understand the French Embassy when it asks Rama how he can accuse a friendly country! But the question I think should now be put differently: does he consider France, the EU, friendly countries?” Shehu asked in a post on social media on Saturday.
/argumentum.al