03/10/2025 | 12:07:50 Thank you, Honourable President, I would like to speak about the international reports on Albania. Just days ago, the United States State Department published its 2025 report on Albania’s business climate. Its findings are alarming: Albania remains plagued by systemic corruption and a massive influx of illicit funds, especially from drug trafficking, which distort competition and block foreign investment. Corruption in procurement, the abusive use of PPP contracts, insecure property rights... 03/10/2025 | 10:10:38 Good morning, Mister Chair. Artificial intelligence (AI) has already changed our world. The way we live, how we learn, work, do business and how we educate our children, as well. It is a remarkable achievement. Yet its full impact on the labour market, on the gender pay gap and on equality still needs careful studying and evidence. Of course, I support the use of AI, but we must be prudent where rights are at stake. In my own country, a so-called AI minister was introduced, raising... 02/10/2025 | 16:43:06 Thank you. Dear President, First, I want to congratulate the two rapporteurs for their excellent work. When I last spoke in this Assembly, I warned that diplomacy doesn't work with authoritarian leaders. That if we treat regimes like Georgian Dream as if they respect our values, they will only push further. Sadly, that warning has come true. The situation in Georgia is worse than when we spoke last time, here, in this Assembly. Since April, the repression has escalated - jailing opposition... 27/06/2025 | 10:30:16 Dear President, Dear colleagues, What may seem like a domestic Albanian issue is, in fact, a European and transatlantic security threat. Recent investigations by Radio France and German Die Zeit reveal what many Albanians already witness daily: Albania has become a central hub for laundering drug money, serving international trafficking networks whose operations extend into many EU countries. One of the biggest media in the US, Fox News, two days ago called the Albanian PM "Ramaduro". There... 26/06/2025 | 18:21:17 Thank you, dear President, dear colleagues, my dear friend, Emanuelis. From my experience, dictators and authoritarians organise perfect elections. Everything happens before people go to the boxes. The most violated elections, those that are not free and fair, are organised by dictators. This is my personal impression. Grave and alarming news continues to reach us from Georgia. Only in the past week, four democratic opposition leaders were thrown behind bars. Not for committing crimes, but... 26/06/2025 | 15:26:26 Thank you dear President, Dear colleagues, We are here today to discuss a report that presents both progress and the backslide in the state of women’s rights across Europe. Statistically, the numbers look encouraging: increased female participation in public and economic life, more women in parliament, more women in leadership roles, more women involved in decision-making processes, but despite this numerical rise, the reality is different. Higher numbers have not translated into better... 26/06/2025 | 10:23:35 Dear Chair, dear colleagues, I rise today with both conviction and deep personal understanding of this crisis. The report before us is a powerful reminder. Many routes migrants used to arrive in Europe, the Mediterranean and other sea routes, have become deadly paths. Since 2014, thousands of migrants have died at sea. The Adriana shipwreck in June 2023, where 600 people perished, was not an exception. It was the result of systemic failure. Large-scale search and rescue missions were... 23/06/2025 | 16:56:33 Dear colleagues, Thank you for the Council of Europe's presence during the 11 May elections in Albania, which offered a valuable view into the reality on the ground. The report acknowledges serious concerns, but the truth is much more alarming. When the vote is not free, democracy does not exist. There must be no double standards for EU members and for candidate countries like Albania. So I ask you, can elections be democratic when most of the Copenhagen criteria were systematically... 09/04/2025 | 11:21:49 Thank you very much for giving me another possibility to speak on an issue that is very problematic in the whole region, but especially in my country, Albania. So that's why I requested to have this chance to speak. It's time to speak loudly about a plague that silently consumes nations from within. So, corruption. Corruption is not a political issue. Corruption is worse than every other phenomenon. It's like a disease that has metastasised across all layers of society; that destroys all... 08/04/2025 | 17:52:33 Thank you. Today I attended an event titled Democracy in Danger. The question that my colleague Ms Zanda KALNIŅA-LUKAŠEVICA asked to distinguished guests was how to protect democracy. In many countries there is a rise of authoritarian leaders that question core values of democracy and use traditional but also digital and new means, every mean to stay in power. They do not stop unless people stop them. They manipulate opinion digitally. They patronage and control voters. They intimidate and...