Democratic Party Chairman Sali Berisha started his weekly press conference today with a statement focusing on the massive departure of Albanian citizens from the country and the reasons that push them away. In his statement, Berisha also sent a message of support to the United Kingdom government, parliament, and media after the attacks of Albanian Premier Edi Rama against them.

Berisha’s statement:

There is a serious concern in UK, in the media, parliament and the government, about the unprecedented flux of the Albanian migrants that cross the Channel, with the hope of a better life in that country. This year, 12,000 Albanians have reached UK through small boats, compared to 800 in 2021.

Undoubtedly, this would be a serious situation for any country, and the controversy surrounding it is understandable and inevitable.

Disagreeing with any unfair labeling of Albanian migrants by the UK media or certain politicians, the Democratic Party takes the opportunity to thank His Majesty Charles III for his noble words and intervention in this controversy.

The Democratic Party rejects and denounces as irresponsible Premier Edi Rama's statement in which he blames the British authorities for the situation created, pointing specifically at the British conservatives as the culprits.

The Democratic Party of Albania also invites the UK government, Parliament, and the political forces to take a break and analyze the real causes of the transformation of Albanians into “dinghy people” by the current government of Edi Rama, because this can help them in their interest to better understand what is happening with Albanians in Albania.

The Democratic Party of Albania declares that: The fundamental cause of the rapid depopulation of Albania, of the departure according to EUROSTAT from this country, since 2014 - 2021, only to the countries of the European Union, of 744 thousand 417 Albanians, or 26% of population, not including those who went to the USA, Great Britain, Canada and other EU countries, is:

1. The fictitious voting of Albanians because of the massive violation of the elections by Edi Rama through the establishment of the old system of patrons, the use of the state administration as an electoral machine, the massive purchase of votes and the use of criminal gangs in the electoral campaigns.

With the fictitious elections, Edi Rama has killed the hope of the Albanians that power can be changed by voting. Only during 2022, a year after the fictitious elections, the flow of migrants from Albania to Great Britain increased 15 fold compared to the previous year. The support of Edi Rama's victories by the international mafia and his mentor George Soros has had devastating effects on Albanian democracy.

2. Establishment of absolute monism or one-party state rule in Albania thanks to fictitious voting. Today, Edi Rama controls all the powers in Albania, the executive power, the legislative power, the constitutional institutions such as the Presidency, the State Intelligence Service, and others. With the Soros-backed justice reform, he has full control over the judiciary. He has 10% more power than the last communist dictator Ramiz Alia in 1991. Albania's law enforcement index according to the latest World Justice Project Report ranks 4 countries below the communist Vietnam.

3. Edi Rama's terrible ties with crime, drugs and the replacement in Albania of the rule of law with the first and only narco-state in Europe. Albania, according to US Department of State reports, has become the operational center of regional, European and world criminal organizations.

4. Embezzlement of public funds and assets, the establishment of a system of corruption in the country, the High State Audit, the constitutional institution for the control of budget expenditures, has proven that in 7 years, 8.2 billion Euros have been stolen and wasted, this is equal to a lot almost with 2 budgets. With the corrupt system and theft of public funds established by Edi Rama, public works in Albania cost 7 to 10 times more than in EU countries. 1 km of field highway in Albania costs 24 million Euros compared to only 3 million Euros in the European Union countries. Building a school with funds from the state budget in Tirana costs 3 to 6 million Euros, while building the same school with donor funds from UNDP in Tirana costs a total of 680,000 Euros.

5. Edi Rama took office as Prime Minister while being accused by the OSCE presence in Tirana of having 200 million Euros hidden in offshore banks. Edi Rama never made efforts to debunk the accusations. He signed, in flagrant violation of the country’s laws, for the benefit of his company, the contracts for the construction of three waste incinerators costing 430 million Euros. Today none of the waste incinerators is working.

6. While the Albanians have today become a “dinghy people”, Edi Rama lives as the most expensive Prime Minister in Europe. He has made 137 chartered trips, including trips to attend American football matches in Florida or expensive vacations in Paris, etc. Only these trips have cost Albanian taxpayers 22 million Euros. He ordered a 4 million Euro wooden installation in the inner courtyard of the Prime Ministery that no one sees except him and his guards.

7. The progressive impoverishment of Albanians due to rampant corruption and the policies pursued by Edi Rama and his government is another major cause of the dramatic depopulation of Albania. In 2013, Albanians had the highest average salary in the region, higher than Bulgaria, Romania and EU member states. Today, after 9 years of the corrupt government of Edi Rama, they have the lowest salary in the region, 15-20% lower than Kosovo, while the prices of basic food products, according to Eurostat, are 7-10% higher than the average in the EU member countries.

Oil in Albania is sold at almost the same price as in Switzerland and Germany. Finally, an indisputable role in the mass exodus of Albanians from Albania is sometimes played by the international, political, monetary and erotic corruption of the official Tirana, to ensure undeserved political support for its monist regime.

The Democratic Party considers the Albanians citizens that leave Albania as victims of a regime that does not allow them to vote as free citizens, that steals and robs them to the core, that has turned their great public assets into a curse for citizens of this country and has replaced the rule of law with the first and only narco-state in Europe.

The Democratic Party is committed to work hard and made possible for Albanians to vote freely and transform Albania, the country of great wealth and endless resources, into a country where Albanians can build their beautiful dreams, the future they deserve.