The leader of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, described depopulation, the economy and the influence of organized crime as the main problems facing Albania.

During a meeting with the Albanian diaspora in the US, Berisha said that over 46% of Albanians have left the country in the last ten years. He linked this phenomenon to what he called a “drug regime” and the influence of drug money on the economy and institutions.

"This regime has a poisonous power unprecedented in our history, and this poisonous power is drugs," Berisha said.

According to the Democratic leader, the influx of dirty money has also affected the exchange rate. He stated that the euro has depreciated by 35% and the dollar by 32% over the past ten years in Albania, arguing that this has hit exports, businesses and remittances.

"Thousands of companies have been destroyed and bankrupted by this," he said.

Berisha also linked the weakening of the currency to what he considered a consequence of "narcoeuros," saying that the Albanian economy is facing a deformation caused by drug money.

In his speech, he accused the government of organized crime influencing state institutions and elections.

"This nomenclature that has these billions in its hands, it decides everything. It decides the ministers, it decides the police directors, it decides the officials, it decides the elections," declared Berisha.

He said that organized crime is hindering political rotation and called the elections a "farce."

Another concern he raised was depopulation. Berisha warned that if the exodus of Albanians continues at the same pace, the demographic consequences will be severe.

"If it is not stopped, in a few decades we will be a minority in our own country," he said.

Berisha asked the Albanian diaspora in the US to engage with American institutions and international partners to denounce, according to him, the links between organized crime and the government.

He assessed the US administration's approach to the fight against drug cartels as important and said he will seek US support for strengthening the rule of law and guaranteeing free voting.

"I will do everything to present Albania's reality to our main partner," Berisha declared.

At the end of the meeting, the leader of the Democratic Party thanked the Albanian diaspora in the US for its contribution to supporting Albania and the liberation of Kosovo, inviting it to continue its political commitment to the country.

Full word:

Thank you for your extraordinary support and your presence today at this joint meeting, I remain very grateful and appreciative.

With full confidence in the extraordinary role that you have played in the past and will play now, so that we can overcome a situation on the national existential level, among the most difficult ever recorded in history.

In 10 years, since the great evil that has befallen the country, over 46% of Albanians are no longer in Albania. Some of my friends have spent these three or four days in the deepest depths of the Alps. What impressed them? Forget it, where would they find Filipino, Egyptian and other nationalities workers.

Now, this regime in Tirana, by the way, is not a totalitarian dictatorship. No, there are no concentration camps, no prisons, no firing squads. But this regime has a poisonous power unprecedented in our history, and this poisonous power is drugs. Which, to understand its importance, I will tell you this: in no country in the world in 10 years, have the two most powerful currencies on the planet, the American dollar and the European euro, suffered a dramatic decline, respectively 35 and 32%, as they have in Albania.

All the country's exports have been so devalued, with this they have been destroyed, thousands of enterprises have gone bankrupt. I'm not talking about the devaluation of remittances and aid that you send to your people to this extent. So this extraordinary power, which is a planetary problem, we cannot say that it is only an Albanian problem.

But in Albania, in the economy and in finance, it has had the most devastating effect than in any other country. The euro has been devalued by 17% in Mexico, the dollar has been devalued by 12% in Mexico. I stopped at this aspect, not to mention the other aspect, that this nomenclature that has these billions in its hands, this decides everything.

It appoints ministers, it appoints police directors, it appoints officials, it appoints elections. One of the most prominent representatives of the European Parliament, who headed the team of European deputies in observing the elections, told his colleagues in parliament that in Albania organized crime does not allow the rotation of power. And the truth is that this dictatorship is a kind of like the first one, the elections are a farce.

I was talking to a friend of mine, David Philips, who I am very grateful to for all his friendly feelings towards the Albanians in Albania, Kosovo, and he said to me, what is the problem? The fundamental problem for us is presenting this devastating problem for Albania to our friends, our partners, as it is. This regime, this autocratic dictatorship, is light years different from the totalitarian one. Communication is not easy because it has an extraordinary propaganda power and it has an unlimited lobbying power.

 I won't dwell on it any longer, but the role and importance of you, of each of you, in presenting this reality to your representatives, to the officials of this country, is the greatest help you can give to Albania and I believe you will give it.

You have done an extraordinary job for the freedom of Albania and for the liberation of Kosovo. But I must tell you here, in the 10 years that we have left behind, from these factors that I mentioned, the Albanians who have left Albania are more than twice as many as the Albanians who have left Kosovo in implementation of the Çubrillović platform, which had one goal, one purpose, the expulsion of Albanians from Albania. Today, under these same conditions, the whole of Albania has turned into a one-man fiefdom, where investments in rural Albania do not exist, where services were destroyed, as the platform predicted, municipalities, communes were removed, a centralization never seen before.

What, how should we take this? We must take this and we take it as an obligation to continue this battle with all our capabilities and thank God. Because if you decided to fight the first one, in 90% it would give you the prison doors or dig a grave. This second one gives you the opportunity to fight, you can lose your job, you can suffer things, but you don't suffer what you suffered in the first one. That's why we are very determined to continue this battle. But my call to you, who have always been the most important diaspora of the nation with a very big role, to contribute, to inspire friends, from which I am mentioning some names that I have here, like Harri Bajraktari, Sergio Bytyçi, I would like to mention many others, who in the 90s and onwards did everything for Kosovo and Albania. A second time is to try to do everything, otherwise this demographic shock we have suffered, if not stopped, in a few decades we will be a minority in our country.

There is never room for pessimism. There is one very important thing, that this (US) administration has taken the fight against the cartels very seriously and this is a great fortune. Therefore, we will do everything to return to Albania the rule of law, the rights of Albanians to vote freely and not in an electoral farce.

I am very confident that your contribution will be, at the level of love you have for Albania, of your patriotism, and I guarantee you that we too will do everything to part with this great evil.

I am coming here for a visit after a few years, I will do everything to present the reality of Albania to our main partner and in fact I have great confidence in the support and assistance of the United States since in this case it is also in the great interest of this country. Albanians, dear friends, today are the main transporters of cocaine from Latin America to Europe, far from others and all this is in the machinery of power.

So, I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to come and meet you, with the greatest confidence in your contribution to restoring to Albania the constitution, the law, and the basic rights of Albanians.