Former Speaker of the Albanian Parliament Jozefina Topalli believes the United States may lift its ban against Sali Berisha and his close family. Asked whether it would be easy for the Democratic Party to be led by someone that has been designated as non grata by the US Department of State, Topalli, a former vice chairwoman of the Democratic Party, said that Albanians showed with the latest mayoral by-elections the do not connect their trust with decisions taken outside Albania.

“My political experience allowed me to see Sali Berisha in the same position in 1997 too and he became the most trusted ally of the United States culminating with making Albania a NATO member and with the liberalization of the visa regime (for travels in the Schengen area)”, Topalli said.

“Everyone has their own problem, I didn’t think I’d ever see what we saw in the Capitol”, Topalli said, referring to the January 6, 2021 incidents. “But the US knows how to make amends and this is what democracy is about. I believe things can change and the designation can be removed because it is quite disproportional”.