Rama and Ursula von der Leyen asked about the former SHISH chief, the prime minister responds

Prime Minister Edi Rama and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, were asked at their joint press conference in Tirana about SPAK’s measure against the former director of SHISH, Vlora Hyseni, and whether this issue had been discussed between them.

Rama said that what in Albania is treated by some as regression is seen by the European Union as progress, linking this to the fight against organized crime and corruption.

“You should ask yourselves why the European Commission, why the European Union, sees events that in this country are treated as a means to strike and spread waves of despair as reasons to consider Albania a very serious partner and a country whose aspirations are tied to the fact of a daily effort in all aspects, and in these aspects with the evidence of an uncompromising fight against crime and corruption. You should ask yourselves this question, because what is seen by many here as regression is seen by the European Union as progress. It is not simply progress, but transformation. We live in an era of transformation like never before. As far as I am concerned, we are more than ever before on the right path and, as I said and I repeat and will repeat whenever I am given the opportunity, until yesterday corruption was the system; today, for the first time, this country has a system that is gaining a self-correcting, self-cleansing, anti-corruption ability, which every democratic system has thanks to the separation of powers, where each power does its own work. As for sensitive information, I think it should be left to the court and not to the sporadic reading of investigative materials that are put out to confuse public opinion. Therefore I think it should be left to the court to see whether there are things that have harmed credibility with partners or national security. The news I have for you is that no such concern about these materials has reached us so far from any partner. And of course I spoke about the partners who were left speechless, I said about the partners in the security system, who have worked and work with the Service. Speechless because what was done to the Service with that method is unprecedented in the history of the world. I expect the prosecutors to do their work, the court its own, and in the end the result will come out,” Rama said.