Balla: History will punish us too if we do not defend the KLA today

According to him, this year's draft resolution is among the most positive over the years, as it assesses progress in the integration process and confirms the advance in opening all negotiating groups.

He stressed that the goal of closing negotiations by the end of 2017 depends on implementing reforms and reducing political polarisation, welcoming commitment to co-operation in special commissions for electoral and territorial reform.

Balla also stopped at developments in foreign policy, naming Albania's first Peace Board meeting in Washington, initiated by US President Donald Trump, where Prime Minister Edi Rama has been selected as one of the key speakers. He considered this a major achievement for relations with the US and for Albania's new international role.

In this context, Balla listed as a success Albania's representation of the UN Security Council, the OSCE presidency and preparations for the NATO summit in Tirana, demanding the law vote on foreign service as part of EU membership preparation.

In the end, he raised the case of the Special Court in The Hague, calling the KLA's charge as a criminal enterprise unacceptable. According to him, Albania has moral and political responsibilities to protect the purity of the liberation war and the innocence of former KLA leaders, including Hashim Thaci, Kadri Veselini, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi.

He stressed that, according to him, protecting KLA history is the national and political obligation for Albanian representatives in any international contact, writes eunews.al.

Full word:

The first one, there is no report in the European Parliament, there is a resolution that is annual, made by the European Parliament, by the rapporteur on the basis of the findings of the European Commission report. And since you said that and I got into this because I had no intention of speaking, it's the draft of the resolution, in my assessment that once I compared it to previous years, it's still the best in many years. Because first, and I start quoting, open my fingernails: “thought progress achieved in the integration process”.

The second, the country's advancement is confirmed at the opening of all negotiating groups. And it underlines that the road to the closure of negotiations by the end of 2027 will no doubt depend on the implementation of reforms that we are committed to, and in the function of what the chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee said in the European Parliament, our invitation to address the next point that comes that it is extremely polarisation of political discourses, and the need to address all key priorities together, key reforms, we have told them, and I welcome the fact that its Democratic Party, its parliamentary group and other parties are positively represented as part of the joint work that needs to be done in the two individual electoral reforms, and the territorial reforms.

The second, not to waste time on this, is today an important day for Albania's foreign policy. Maybe it would have been good for you to ask the foreign minister for the first peace board meeting programme today in Washington. From 8:38 to Washington's hour, which takes place sometime around 14:38 in Albania's hour, opens the works for the first time, this peace board initiated by United States President Donald Trump, where Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has the great honour of representing Albania, and must have been selected as one of the key speakers today at the peace board meeting. You poor bastard, I'm giving you the program, you read it. Look, you're the only one, you're the only one not responsible for what you say. And you have a lot of, you have, you're the one that said, that January day here, we forgive, on this meeting today, if you want to give it up, then just come out manly to apologize, you've got... Even after the king's speech, the president, the first prime minister, is not all the countries to speak.

The poor us for you, thanks to us who have poor Albania that has you, well, well, okay, okay, okay, okay. You said, sir, a few weeks ago here that can't go on, so that's when you're ashamed, and I believe that this is a big accomplishment for our relationship with the United States, as our strategic ally, is a historic moment for Albania's engagement, Prime Minister Rama will speak in the same group that the leaders of countries are directly involved in long-term peace issues in Gaza associated with an important investment plan in that region.

Albania will not contribute financially to the engagement in Gaza, but Albania through its prime minister will contribute to establishing the bridges of dialogue between the parties, due to a new role that Albania has taken, and here I find a chance to congratulate every diplomat of the Albanian Republic's foreign service, who have their credit, to some of these important achievements, as was Albania's participation in the Security Council, which was a historic achievement in a century, and let us say the turn of the countries taking it for two years in line with Albania full co-ordination with the United States, with other countries, the European Union played a very important role in the Security Council, which I speak to our next year's most important presidency, and perhaps the next year's future, when we face the OSCE summit, and the OSCE's most difficult goal of the next year, and the next year, when we've become the next year's meeting for Albania's co-term.

Summit NATO in Albania is crowned after several important summits such as that of the Council, of course that the Western Balkans and the EU summit, and of the European Community, last year, so dear opposition colleagues, I think it is up to you to vote the law on foreign service, has been seriously worked for months, and some changes have been made that have been reflected both by the Commission for Europe and Foreign Affairs, have been reflected by the Government, and by the Government, to grant Albania's foreign service to the European Union within this Government mandate, which has entrusted us with Albanians.

And finally, not in importance, because the most important is the Peace Board, it relates to Albania's role, but I believe that each of us, every time we get the opportunity, even in the application of that statement we adopted together a week ago, I welcome the Government's commitment to the Parliament Declaration a week ago, regarding the purity of the Kosovo Liberation Army's Liberation War.

It is unacceptable to the sister and brothers the special court's attempt at The Hague to call the Kosovo Liberation Army a criminal enterprise. It's unacceptable how this accusation, which is neither based on evidence, can be attributed to a liberation war, and more serious than that, is how it can be concluded that the victim is more guilty than the rapist, and like the one who today bears responsibility for 1600 Kosovo Albanian brothers who in that vile bureaucratic language are considered missing, but unsold. And in this respect, I think that every time we are given the opportunity to speak with strangers, to speak with international partners, it is our duty to be moral, national political, to raise the issue of innocence of the four KLA leaders, President Thaci, the heads of the Assembly Kadri Veselin and Jakup Krasniqi, Interior Minister Rexhep Selimi, who have had the great honour not only to fight for the freedom of Kosovo, but have had the great honour to contribute to the creation of the state of Kosovo. At the historic moment of Kosovo's proclamation, and here I want to remind you some of you that on February 17th we were here in this assembled hall, it was one day in case we were all gathered in this hall, just to be followed by Albania, the parliament of Albania, the historic moment when President Thaci kept his word of declaring independence.

Today a charge arises against leaders and shame belongs to prosecutors, who today consider Kosovo state founders members of a criminal enterprise. This is a responsibility that belongs to all of us, and if we can't do everything we have to do to stop this shamelessness, history will make us guilty of failing to reach the moment that Albanians had chosen us to be their representatives to defend the bright history of the Kosovo Liberation Army. Thank you.