Page 60 - bneMag Dec22

60 I Southeast Europe bne December 2022
PROFILE
Edi Rama, the Albanian PM who took on the UK government over migration
Clare Nuttall in Glasgow
As a political storm raged in the UK over migration after the firebombing of a migrant centre and the right-wing press whipped their readers up into a frenzy about illegal Albanian immigrants, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama weighed into the debate on November 2, taking British government ministers to task for scapegoating Albanians for what he said were their own failings.
In typically outspoken and eloquent style, Rama – a prolific poster on social media – took to Twitter to accuse UK politicians of ignoring the facts. "Targeting Albanians (as some shamefully did when fighting for Brexit) as the cause of Britain’s crime and border problems makes for easy rhetoric but ignores hard fact. Repeating the same things and expecting different results is insane (ask Einstein!),” Rama wrote on Twitter.
He compared the British approach unfavourably to Germany’s, making the same point a day later when he was asked about the issue at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“[I]nstead of igniting a mad narrative
of invaders and gangsters to cover up completely failed border and crime policies, British representatives should come to Germany and quickly learn and fix their own problems,” he said, going on to explicitly link the problems the UK is having controlling its borders to Brexit.
“If there is a problem in the Channel between France and the United Kingdom, let them find a solution, let them try to solve it. I know that Brexit has made such a thing more difficult, but this was the decision of the British people, not of the Albanian or French
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people ... we must not accept this kind of rhetoric at all.”
Not mincing his words, he added:
“To target a community and talk about gangsters and criminals doesn't sound very British. It sounds more like a scream from a madman.”
Rama’s outburst against the UK government was nothing new. His unconventional appearance – among suited international peers he stands out
every nation was scrambling to secure coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines.
The vaccines issue clearly still rankles; only last month he talked of Albania’s "terrible experiences” with the EU when the pandemic started. “In the first round of vaccination, we were completely forgotten,” he said.
Artist, basketball player, politician
Like many of today’s leading politicians in Southeast and Central Europe, Rama
“To target a community and talk about gangsters and criminals doesn't sound very British.
It sounds more like a scream from a madman”
for his casual yet flamboyant style – is matched by his willingness to voice his opinion. He previously took on the EU over both the slow enlargement process and the failure to support aspiring members in the Western Balkans when
was a critic of the communist system. He was born during the Cold War, when Albania had arguably the most hardline and definitely the most isolated regime in the communist bloc.
In the deeply polarised political environment in Albania, Prime Minister Edi Rama and his Socialists have retained the upper hand for the last nine years.