In an interview he gave to the Italian news agency “Italpress”, Prime Minister Edi Rama spoke about membership in the European Union, the migration agreement with Italy, and the internal controversies over the tourism project challenged by the “Flamingo Revolution” movement.
Rama dwelled at length on the “Flamingo Revolution” protests against the tourism project in southern Albania. He dismissed the accusations and said they were damaging the country’s image.
“For years I have been accused of all kinds of things. I don’t know if there is anything left that hasn’t been attributed to me,” he said, adding that this “causes me deep pain. Because at that point it’s no longer just about me, but about Albania.”
According to the Albanian Prime Minister, an unfounded narrative has been built around this issue.
“How can anyone respond? We have reached a point where a fundamental principle seems to have been overturned: it should be those who make accusations who provide evidence, not the accused who must constantly prove their innocence.”
This so-called Flamingo Revolution initially seemed almost like a movie plot. Today it seems to me that the protest has taken other directions and shifted to other issues.
If they accuse me of surrendering these lands or of damaging a beautiful part of Albania’s coastline, then they should bring the evidence.
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“However, so far no evidence has been presented. No one, so far, has proven anything. There is no evidence because the process is still ongoing,” he said, adding that “we have not signed any agreement yet, because the negotiations have not been completed.”
As for the other investment, on private land, “the state and the government have nothing to do with it: there is still no construction permit and a procedure is underway. We have truly reached a paradoxical situation.”
Rama said that he nevertheless understood the reasons for those who had taken to the streets, but challenged the way the issue had been brought to the international stage.
“Having said that, I completely understand those who came out to protest,” Rama added. “I have said it publicly: if I had been among them and had heard everything that was said, I would probably have felt the same dissatisfaction and the same indignation.
But if I had then heard the other side – in this case the government – say: “Come, I will show you that there is nothing to what you have been told, there is no evidence,” I would have felt reassured and returned home.
Unfortunately, today the issue has gone beyond that and people don’t even talk about flamingos anymore. Flamingos have become a useful symbol for those who want to take this issue to the international stage.
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“If at the local level it is an issue that involves different groups in society, including the opposition, at the international level it becomes a battle against Donald Trump,” he concluded.
Regarding Albania’s European path, Rama described the country’s trajectory as irreversible. “As Churchill said, one should never waste a good crisis. I believe there are things to learn, things to reflect on, but in the meantime, no one can stop Albania’s process towards the European Union,” he said.
The Albanian Prime Minister also returned to the agreement between Italy and Albania on migrants, which in recent months has been at the center of a heated political debate.
“There was so much noise about something that, in the end, was nothing more than a good-faith effort, an attempt to find direction and solutions.
“The fact that this has been accepted today is not a victory, but another example of time wasted in battles that are often not even real battles, but meaningless confrontations in the public arena,” Rama said.
“The time elapsed before we reached a common position is, instead, the real problem we need to address,” he added.