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From the protest square of the opposition and Albanian citizens and those from Kosovo, the historical leader of the Democratic Party (DP), Sali Berisha addressed Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic telling him that he is not welcome to Tirana. Berisha said that the “Open Balkans”, promoted by Rama and Vucic, is a project of Serbian hegemony.
Berisha, who joined hundreds of protesters at the DP Headquarters on Monday afternoon and marched to the Premier’s Office, told the protesters that with this initiative Albania becomes a vassal of Serbia and the region in Putin’s area of influence. Serbia today, said Berisha, is a “little Russia” which endangers stability and peace in the Balkan region and beyond.
The creators of the Open Balkans initiative– the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, and the Prime Ministers of Albania and North Macedonia, Edi Rama, and Zoran Zaev are attending a meeting starting on Monday ending on Tuesday. Ahead of the summit, the Presidency of Serbia revealed that six agreements are expected to be signed. The previous meeting within the Open Balkans initiative was held in Belgrade in early November when the President of Serbia announced that a Memorandum of Understanding regarding work permits could be signed in Tirana. It is also expected that an agreement on cooperation between accreditation bodies in the Western Balkans will also be signed.
A meeting of the three officials and members of the delegations with the representatives of the Atlantic Council will be held in the Palace of Brigades in Tirana on December 21 at which the Strategic Plan for the Open Balkans 2022 will be discussed. In the end, the three leaders will hold a joint press conference.
“Although the Open Balkans Initiative has so far included only Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia, it has been and will be open to all members of the Western Balkans. We use this opportunity to once again call all our neighbors to offer to their citizens the benefits we offer to our citizens,” the three leaders wrote in a joint letter published by the media in Tirana and Belgrade.
“This is a protest against a project that threatens the interests of all Balkan nations, except Belgrade; it is a project which has been categorically rejected by Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo, and has been declared a threat by Croatia,” said Berisha. The Open Balkans, according to him, is not supported by America either because it only supports cooperation between sovereign countries.
Further on, he said the Open Balkans is the project through which Vucic and Edi Rama have surrounded Kosovo with hostile tongs and seek to destroy its independence.
In addition, Berisha said, Vucic came to Tirana as the leader of the Open Balkans, as the leader of the trilateral Belgrade-Skopje-Tirana alliance. Moscow is behind the initiative, which is an idea of Greater Serbia. Berisha stressed that the project of the Open Balkans has George Soros as Godfather and it will be rejected when the DP comes to power.
“Serbia should apologize and not deny the genocides because those who deny genocide should have no place in the civilized world,” he said.
The Open Balkans is not supported by America; the US only supports cooperation between sovereign countries. “Soros is the godfather of the Open Balkans. I want to call on the United States to stop the policies in diplomacy dictated by George Soros. Betrayal and theft were committed together with Rama at the helm,” declared Berisha.
The former PM emphasized that the protest was also organized to protest against “terrible theft” by Rama’s government through incinerators and other schemes.
Berisha closed the speech warning of other protests. “Democrats and Albanians will be in the square until the overthrow of the narcostate. Let us bring back the hope and future for Albanians wherever they are.”
There were many police forces on standby but everything went peacefully. / Argumentum.al
