By Sali Berisha

The Special Operations Command for Europe, SOCEUR, based in Germany, announced it has decided to open an operations center in Albania for the Special Operations Forces.

This is a decision of utmost importance for peace and security for Albania, the region, and NATO.

Indubitably, Albania’s integration into the North Atlantic Alliance, against which Edi Rama protested, is the determining factor that led to such a decision.

That’s why I’d like first to welcome this very important decision of the Pentagon that makes Albania, the region, and NATO safer and shows the trust of the United States in our country as a friendly country and NATO member. This decision is also the most deserved response to the Kremlin’s efforts to extend the Russian influence in the region directly and through Belgrade.

Secondly, I’d like to condemn Edi Rama’s irresponsible attitude, who – after plunging the Albanian Armed Forces into a miserable state with a budget that’s not even the half of what is requested from NATO to the member countries – misuses this important news to cover the extremely difficult financial situation in which he and his government left our Armed Forces in the recent years.

Mr. Sali Berisha was Albania’s Prime Minister when the accession to NATO took place in 2009