TIRANA, March 2 – After many absences, PM Edi Rama appeared at the Assembly session on Thursday to face the opposition for the first time on the McGonigal case.
From the beginning, he avoided the prime minister’s chair by taking a seat next to Pandeli Majko in the parliamentary hall where he faced the arrows and accusations of the opposition.
“I am here for a series of questions, there are 30 but there should be 130 that the Parliamentary Investigative Committee must answer. Without receiving an answer, Albania will only have chaos,” said the chairman of the Democratic Party (DP), Sali Berisha.
But it seemed that Berisha’s warnings sounded funny to the prime minister’s ears.
“You are under investigation, you have committed a crime, we don’t know how long the diplomatic immunity will last, but we will do everything to remove it. Stop manipulating Albania’s relations with the US,” warned Berisha.
The opposition asked for 24 hours for the motion with debate, interpellation and question session with the Prime Minister, but Edi Rama did not take more than 40 minutes to deny his connections with the former FBI official, and left the Assembly hall.
“The most absurd motion in the history of this Assembly. In all the lines of the indictment there is no charge and no other data other than the correct reporting of my meetings with the senior American official or the true fact that he spoke to me about the Russian danger,” said Rama.
The name of the prime minister is mentioned 14 times in the American indictment. Rama accepted meetings and lunches and dinners with the former American official, but appeared convinced that there is no fact implicating him in the crime.
“The indictment does not talk about any conversation, but it says what I am reading, then imaginary conversations are another thing,” he said.
Rama denied having a hand in the Russian financing scandal of the Democratic Party, claiming that he had no information at the time. The Prime Minister suggested the Democrats refer to the CIA reports.
The Prime Minister left, leaving many of the opposition’s questions unanswered, while setting the next meeting for May 14 with the warning that they would soon learn the name of a new non grata.
“Success in life and for other non grata,” Rama told the opposition while leaving the parliamentary hall.
The plenary session continued with other statements of deputies of opposition and majority as each side held strongly to their different positions.
In the meantime, DP will hold a nationwide protest on Friday as it was announced a few days ago. /Argumentum.al
