Albanian President Ilir Meta has called on the country's citizens to take part in a mass protest in the center of Tirana against Prime Minister Edi Rama's government over proposed reforms that, according to the president, risk returning Albania "to 30 years ago
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th February, 2020) Albanian President Ilir Meta has called on the country's citizens to take part in a mass protest in the center of Tirana against Prime Minister Edi Rama's government over proposed reforms that, according to the president, risk returning Albania "to 30 years ago."
Relations between Meta and Rama's government have become strained amid a number of proposed legal changes, including now-postponed laws that would establish a state administrative body to monitor news content, as well as changes to the country's Constitutional Court that would remove the need for judges to swear an oath before the president.
"I invite you all on March 2 to the Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard [in Tirana] to give a final warning to this criminal group that commits daily violence against the country's constitution and laws," the president wrote.
The prime minister's proposed media reforms drew particular attention from European observers such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The government postponed a vote on the laws in late January amid widespread public discontent.
Meta warned that Rama, whose Socialist Party has a majority in parliament, could push through the laws which, he stated, "will return the country to 30 years ago."
"The resurgence of the aggressive offensive against all independent structures of the country is a bitter reality that we see daily. Their tenacity to seize the Constitutional Court at all costs clearly indicates a coup to establish a dictatorship of the minority. It threatens Albanians' freedom and seeks to ruin democratic opportunities for change and responsibility," the president wrote on social media.
Albania was rocked by anti-government protests in 2019 that forced the president to cancel local elections this past June. Opposition groups have accused the prime minister of committing electoral fraud.
