DP spokesperson Floriana Garo, in a statement to the media from the blue headquarters, accused the Government of censoring international reports and blocking the opposition.

Referring to David McAllister's letter to Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos regarding the real role of the opposition in Albania's EU integration process, Garo said that 'DP believes that the country's integration into the EU, as a fundamental process for Albanian society, should not be a closed and exclusionary process as it is today in Albania, but an open and transparent, inclusive process, in which the country's parliament, as emphasized in the latest report of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, should have the central role.'

In the DP's assessment, the country's integration into the EU "must necessarily be a process based entirely on performance and merit, and not on corrupt lobbying and facade, as Edi Rama and his government are trying to lead it."

statement
In evaluation of the report of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee on Albania, on the central role that the parliament should have in the country's EU integration process, and of the letter of the Chairman of this Committee, the Honorable David McAllister, addressed to the Commissioner for Enlargement, Her Excellency Ms. Marta Kos, regarding the real role of the opposition in the process of Albania's EU integration, the Democratic Party of Albania declares the following:

Firstly, I would like to thank the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament for its objective report and its important recommendations, as well as the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of this Parliament, the Honourable McAllister, for his letter based on the issues raised by Ms. Tabaku in her letter to him regarding the ownership of the integration process by the government and the exclusion of the opposition from its constitutional role in this process.

Secondly, the Democratic Party believes that the country's integration into the EU, as a fundamental process for Albanian society, should not be a closed and exclusionary process as it is today in Albania, but an open and transparent, inclusive process, in which the country's parliament, as emphasized in the latest report of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, should have the central role.

Thirdly, for the Democratic Party, the country's EU integration process must be a process based on deep and comprehensive reforms, implemented with seriousness and determination for the functioning of the rule of law and the market economy, and not on laws and reforms that are merely superficial and on paper, as in the corruption cases of Balluk and Karçanaj, which were fanatically defended by Edi Rama in flagrant violation of the Constitution.

For the Democratic Party, the country's integration into the EU must necessarily be a process based entirely on performance and merit, and not on corrupt lobbying and facade, as Edi Rama and his government are trying to lead it.

In this context, the Democratic Party strongly condemns all unconstitutional attitudes, practices and acts used to date by Edi Rama and his government to establish ownership over the integration process and to exclude the opposition and its role in this process.

Thus, to achieve this goal, the government, through an unconstitutional, closed procedure, without any consultation and already rejected by the Constitutional Court, changed the structure of parliament only to remove the opposition from the leadership of the Integration Committee, which it had responsibly led for years and years.

In this context, any request for a parliamentary debate or interpellation with the prime minister on integration issues is rejected without any legal basis and in violation of constitutional obligations by the leaders of parliament, of course on the orders of Edi Rama.

We add that the latter has signed, together with Aleksandar Vučić, the public letter in which, without any consultation with the country's institutions, parliament, the opposition, or even the public, de facto demands, as a continuation of the Open Balkans, a partial membership process for Albania and Serbia in the EU, and this solely for the interests of their power.

In addition, the Albanian government applies a code of complete silence and keeps as a state secret all concrete issues that arise, requests and recommendations that are presented at meetings of its representatives by representatives of the European Commission, the European Council and the bodies of these institutions.

In fact, in an irresponsible act, it managed to completely censor, through the media it controls, the latest report of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, despite the great value of this report's findings and recommendations for Albania's EU integration process.

Finally, by rejecting all the fabrications of the government and its corrupt lobbyists who claim that the opposition does not have integration on its agenda, it guarantees Albanian citizens and our partners that it, as the driving political force of integration processes since its establishment, considers the merit-based integration of Albania into the EU as the major objective of its program and as the best future for Albania and Albanians.