FLASH NEWS
"You will eat grass..."/ He promised that it would be removed, today marks 5 years since Sali Berisha's "Non Grata" declaration
2026-05-19 22:45:16 / POLITIKË
Today marks five years since the US State Department announced that Sali Berisha, former president, former prime minister and one of the figures who has left his mark on post-communist Albania, had been declared "Non Grata".
The State Department, at the time, motivated the decision to declare Berisha and his family "non grata" through a detailed explanation, where he was described as a politician involved in high-level corruption, misuse of public funds, interference in public processes, as well as favoring his political allies.
After being declared persona non grata, Sali Berisha called the decision orchestrated by his political opponents in Tirana, in collaboration with Soros. He also made strong accusations against then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, claiming he was involved in the affair.
The "non grata" declaration made Sali Berisha return strongly to active politics, after he had been somewhat "withdrawn" for a long time. This brought a strong reaction from the US, where Ambassador Yuri Kim gave the message to the Democrats to distance themselves from their leader, using the famous metaphor that "you will eat grass", which meant that with Berisha they would never be able to come to power.
This led Lulzim Basha to first suspend and then expel him from the party. Basha's decision was harshly received by Berisha, who accused him of treason and held several meetings with the Democrats. He created the Re-establishment Group and then held the National Assembly of the DP, where he also dismissed Lulzim Basha. After a long battle, he returned to the leadership of the DP in April 2022.
In November 2023, Sali Berisha was arrested by SPAK and placed under “house arrest” for the “Partizani” case. Berisha called the arrest political and accused SPAK of acting politically motivated. He was released from custody in late December 2024, just six months before the elections.
Just a few months later, Berisha ran for prime minister, but lost by a wide margin to Edi Rama.
Despite promising several times that the "non grata" status would be reviewed, it appears that the US remains firm in its decision.
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Nga Bato Kosova
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