Elly Schlein’s Democratic Party is ready to call for the expulsion of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and his Socialist Party of Albania from the European Socialist Party (PSE). He announced this to Republic Giuseppe Provenzano, head of PSE Foreign Affairs, in view of the PSE congress that will take place in Malaga in the coming days. The main accusation against Rama is the agreement signed with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, which provides for the transfer to Albania of a considerable number of migrants intercepted by Italian ships, up to 36 thousand per year, to be housed in facilities in the port of Shengjin and to Gjader. The Italian Democratic Party states that this agreement violates international law and the values of the European Socialist Party: “The agreement – said Provenzano – violates international law and “also the values of the socialist family”.
Edi Rama, with his Socialist Party of Albania, is an observer member of the PSE, but appears unlikely to participate in the congress in Malaga. Italy will try to apply the same expulsion procedure that was used for the new Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico, expelled from the PSE in October due to his pro-Russian positions and his alliance with the far right, shortly after winning the elections in Slovakia.
A political expulsion of Rama from the family of European socialists could have repercussions on Tirana’s candidacy for the European Union, an idea supported by both Rama and Meloni. Despite criticism and internal opposition, Rama continues to defend the agreement, reiterating that it does not violate international law. At the same time, he underlined that other European countries also requested similar agreements in the past, but Albania refused such requests. Rama’s position is that of a country that is committed to supporting Italy given the lack of a solution among European Union members for managing migration flows.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
