Engel: Albania's political class in “qerkok”

American congressionalwoman Eliot Engel, at the same time chairman of the House of Representatives' Committee for Foreign Relations, has called on all parties in Albania to stay away from confrontation, show maximum restraint and stop all acts of violence. ”

Engel has raised concerns about the tense situation in Albania, where, as he said, political leaders appear to have reached a “qersokak”.

“Albania has made great steps since its years under Hoxha's dictatorship, and the Albanian people have invested a lot to see the roots of their democracy. The US-Albania's strong and warm relationship has helped spur these developments. Therefore, I am very concerned by what I see in the last days and weeks, as Albanian political leaders seem to have reached a dead end of”, Engel has said.

He, calling on all sides to stay away from all acts of violence, invited them to settle disputes with dialogue.

“This dispute can only be resolved with dialogue and under rule of law”, Engel said.

Albania, Engel says, is a NATO member and deserves a European future, but repeated crises over elections undermine its moving forward.

The opposition has been protesting against the government led by Prime Minister Edi Rama for months and has pledged to boycott the June 30th local elections.

Although the elections have been cancelled by President Meta, such a decision is being ignored by the Socialist Party, whose leader is Rama.

On Friday, President Meta set 13 October as the new date for holding local elections in the country.

Prime Minister Edi Rama has reacted immediately to Twitter, calling it “the president's” decision and reiterated that the only election date in Albania is June 30th.