Bushati rejects Albin Kurti: I'm not leaving the SP for Vetevendosje

In an interview for the VOA, Bushati said there is no reason, no longer the ambition to move from the Socialist Party.

Voice of America: They've been circulated recently in the media and hypotheses about a possible departure from the SP and a commitment or involvement in the Vetevendosje Movement. What is truth?

Ditmir Bushati: This is a three-day toll created mainly by political technologists and false news distributors. A precious friend from Kosovo would compare him to the similar situation in the former Yugoslavia and to the technology used at the time for the Idiopolitical definition of people who were politically liquidated. I believe we don't have the luxury of being a neo-Yugoslav matrix. With Vetevendosje, with Albin, but not only, with the entire Albanian political spectrum in Kosovo, northern Macedonia, Montenegro, in the Presevo Valley, I have cultivated professional relations, above all good people, even because of my former state functioning as foreign minister. I wish them success.

I have no reason, no more ambition to move from the Socialist Party, which I consider the largest political family in the country. I've been supported unconditionally in all my functions, as foreign minister but also in political functions, by colleagues, by Socialist Party membership, and today more than ever I think we need to take another step towards further democratisation of the SP, to prove that we are able to self-compliance and speak, not simply aspiring to the ballot box, but above all those who could rightly have lost hope from the mistakes we've made for the six years in governance of the country.

Voice of America: Mr. Bushati, can we talk about narrowing democratic spaces within the SP?

Ditmir Bushati: It's important that we create mechanisms and rules of clearer play, not just within the SP, but within our political families. I know that public opinion is more attentive and respected by the Socialist Party because of the good tradition the SP has had in this regard. It is our duty to be vigilant, solid and understanding, but always putting Socialist Party member into the decision-making centre. Not in any case, decisions imposed from above can have the right effects on practice. We, of course, can be and should be the promotional party of change. At present, we operate in an even more specific context. The burden on us is even more severe, because of the central government's central government responsibilities, in almost every decision - making link. So we need to be more patient, first of all. We need more imagination to touch the horizon. We also need the capacity for more compromises, both within our political family and with the political and parliamentary opposition, because the country faces new challenges. /oranews.tv/