FLASH NEWS
"I had no intention of entering politics", Fredi Beleri interview for the Associated Press
2024-06-28 10:05:13 / POLITIKË
The elected mayor of Himara, Fredi Beleri, has recently conducted another interview for foreign media. This time, Belri spoke to the Associated Press news agency, where he said that his election as a member of the European Parliament will help put the spotlight on a major problem facing Albania, which is the rule of law.
Fredis Beleri, a member of Albania's ethnic Greek minority, had no choice. Last year, he was elected mayor of a city in southern Albania – a candidate for membership in the European Union – but lost the job and is now serving a two-year sentence for vote-buying in that election, AP writes.
The case soured relations between the Balkan neighbors and led to the election of the dual Greek-Albanian citizen on June 9 to represent EU member Greece in the European Parliament. He ran on the ticket of Greece's center-right ruling party.
"I know (my election) will help put the spotlight on a major problem facing Albania, which is the rule of law," Beleris told The Associated Press in a phone interview Thursday from prison.
"Here, the judiciary is the long arm of politics," he added. "I think these problems should be highlighted - the lack of respect for the rights of the Greek ethnic minority, such as the right to own property ... and to be governed by the people he chooses.
Members of the legislature enjoy substantial legal immunity from prosecution within the EU's 27 states, even for crimes allegedly committed before their election. But Albania is not a member of the EU and unlike Beleris, the young Italian member of the European Parliament was not convicted in court.
Athens described Beleris' detention and trial as politically motivated and hinted that Albania's prospects for joining the EU would suffer. The issue is complicated by tough Balkan politics, minority rights and property disputes on a key stretch of coastline in what is marketed as the Albanian Riviera, the country's top tourist destination.
Beleri, who won as a Greek MEP, has stated that he had no intention of entering politics in Greece, but said he did it out of necessity.
"I had no intention of entering politics in Greece, it was because of the need to highlight this big problem," said Beleri, who emphasized that "anyone who knows me knows for sure that I would prefer to be president municipality".
Beleri said that he believes that at the center of his case are "big financial interests in terms of tourism development".
"But it is also that the Albanian prime minister does not want the ethnic Greek population to participate in that prosperity," he said.
"This is a direct violation of our human and minority rights."
Until now, the EU Commission has treated the Beleri case as a bilateral dispute, AP writes.
"I think that Albania should join the European Union sooner or later, but ... with the rules and rule of law that suit a European country," Beleri said.
Happening now...
America may withdraw from Europe, but not from SPAK
Nga Gentian Gaba
ideas
top
Alfa recipes
TRENDING 
services
- POLICE129
- STREET POLICE126
- AMBULANCE112
- FIREFIGHTER128