VLEN: For 22 years, DUI did not approve the law on representation, and now it is trying to block it

VLEN has responded with a statement to the media following DUI’s accusations of undermining the Ohrid Agreement and the rights of Albanians, InfoShqip reports.

According to VLEN, DUI is trying to present the Ohrid Agreement as its own property, although, the party says, it used it in practice for party interests. VLEN stresses that DUI, which once described itself as “green” as well, is now obstructing progress on one of the agreement’s key principles: fair and adequate representation.

“For 22 years, DUI had every opportunity, with ministers, members of parliament and full power at its disposal. It could have approved the law at any time, but it did not. Not because it lacked knowledge, but because it lacked the will,” the response states.

VLEN claims that, in the absence of a law, jobs were distributed by DUI as if they were personal gifts from Ali Ahmeti. According to the statement, political support determined whether a citizen would find the door open or be left outside, which is why, the party says, it was not in its interest for fair representation to be established by law.

The party says that now, when the Law on Fair and Adequate Representation has been presented, DUI is once again using institutional mechanisms to block it. In the statement, the Badinter mechanism, created to protect the interests of communities, is accused of having been turned by DUI into an instrument of party pressure against any solution that does not bear its seal.

“They are not interested in what Albanians stand to gain; their aim is to prevent VLEN from achieving success,” the party further states.

VLEN adds that DUI’s positions change depending on whether it is in power: when it is in government, everything is presented as being in order, while when it is out of power, the party says, it tries to block even the functioning of the state. “That show is over,” the response states.

In conclusion, VLEN stresses that the Ohrid Agreement is not the property of Ali Ahmeti, DUI or the “seat-holders of Small Reçica,” but the result of the sacrifice of an entire people. According to the party, fair representation is not a political gift, but a right of citizens and an obligation of the state.

“For 22 years they did not approve the law, and now they are trying to block it. The law must move forward, without blackmail and without blockades,” VLEN’s statement concludes.