By Ryszard Czarnecki
Albania is associated in Poland with tourism and being the homeland of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Older generations recall that during the “communist” era, it was the most isolated country in the world, ruled for decades by the communist dictator Enver Hoxha.
Knowledge about contemporary Albania, especially its politics and politicians, is nearly nonexistent. That’s a pity.
This country, with its unique language on the European continent, serves as a sort of testing ground where progressives and globalists experiment with how far they can push their agendas. It’s worth paying attention to Tirana for many reasons.
A week before Poland’s presidential elections—on the Sunday between the first and second rounds of Romania’s presidential elections—Albanians voted in their parliamentary elections. There was no surprise.
The socialists won for the fourth consecutive time. In this regard, Albania, under the left-wing Prime Minister Edi Rama, resembles Helmut Kohl’s Christian Democratic Germany or Angela Merkel’s later Germany, both of which also secured four consecutive victories.
The same can be said of Orbán’s Hungary or the United Kingdom, where the Conservatives held power for four terms, albeit with different occupants at 10 Downing Street. However, no opposition leader in Berlin, Budapest, or London has ever referred to their country as a “narco-state.” Yet, this is how former President and ex-Prime Minister Sali Berisha, leader of the Democratic Party, which last won elections in 2009, publicly describes Albania.
His party is part of the European People’s Party (alongside Poland’s PO and PSL), but the EPP leader, Manfred Weber, openly criticizes Berisha. Why? I’d say for his “right-wing nationalist deviation.”
I have a good memory and recall how, in late autumn 2016, the newly elected Republican president supported Albania’s opposition Democratic Party in their elections, which later became a source of jokes about Trump backing… Democrats.
Alex Soros Jr. regularly visits Tirana. Edi Rama always makes time for him, just as… Rafał Trzaskowski does, as evidenced by numerous photos with George Soros’s son easily found online. This is precisely why Berisha also calls his left-ruled country, among other things, a “Soros state.”
Albania is one of four or five Western Balkan countries that could join the European Union the soonest (though likely not until the next decade).
It will probably lag behind Montenegro and North Macedonia but may be on par with Serbia.
Alongside Kosovo, Albania is the most pro-American country in Europe. U.S. presidents, even those still alive, have monuments and streets named after them here. And if Albania joins the EU, it will be the first member state with a Muslim majority!
(Ryszard Czarnecki, Former Vice-President of the European Parliament)
