The New Albanian Minister of Interior, Taulant Balla Pledges to Fight Corruption, Crime, and Narcotics Trafficking

Tirana, 18^th July 2023

H.E. Taulant Balla; Albanian most recent Minister of Interior, assumed his responsibilities yesterday by holding a meeting with Ministry directors and Police leaders. He commenced his speech by saying, “I speak to you today with the feeling of having the biggest responsibility of my public life and the deep gratitude for the trust of the Prime Minister of Albania, the President of the Republic, and the parliamentary group of the majority, for taking by my side the office of your Minister”.

He called for raising community policing, and cooperation with police experts and institutions of local communities, municipalities and central directorates, schools, and religious communities, to a new level.

The new minister emphasized that the fight against corruption does not start from the outside, but from within their ranks, explaining that the Police Supervision Agency was created by virtue of a law prepared in cooperation with their international partners. He added that the parliament has considered it a law of special prominence, stressing that he is personally very familiar with this law and well aware of the expectations they had when they approved it.

He promised Albanian citizens to fight corruption, eliminate crime, and continue his battle against the cultivation of narcotics, stressing that he will further change, which Albanians want and deserve.

Balla asked the police command to listen to people, solve their problems, and get closer to them rather than distancing themselves from their problems. In addition, he explained that he will give care to increasing the police officers’ standard of living and improving the service conditions of every police officer, from financial conditions to housing conditions when they serve outside their residence or create new families.

“In the first meeting with the General Director and the Police Director of Tirana, my first request was the arrest as soon as possible of the brother and son of Rrahman Rraja the deputy of Fushë-Kruja, who is my friend and former colleague.  Having handed over the mandate, he did his duty to the citizens, punishing himself morally. In the meantime, the State Police has not yet done its duty to legally punish the two aforementioned individuals”, he added.

Referring to the recent violent incidents which took place in Fushë-Kruje, Albania, which led to the dismissal of the former Minister of Interior, Mr. Balla said, “The ugly scene in Fushë-Kruje shows a much more significant message to the State Police than the apprehension of its perpetrators. Because that scene speaks of a situation that was exacerbated before, by the unacceptable tolerance of the police of that area, who failed to listen to the complaints of the residents and therefore chose to become a shield of lawlessness, behaving as strong with the weak and weak with the strong”.

“Today, the new management has just been appointed there. But the causes of that failure are still there and are not only in Fushë-Kruje, but also in some other peripheral areas of the country, where the eye of the general directorate or the district directorate has been myopic”, he explained.

“Citizens are not only the reason why the State Police exists, but they are also our irreplaceable partners in the protection of the country and of every individual, from any kind of unlawfulness, from organized crime to ordinary crime and to crime against public and private property”, he added.

Mr. Balla expressed that the non-reaction of the law enforcement forces to the citizens’ denunciations, are the alignment of the police against them, against the state.

The new Minister of Interior went on saying, “There can be no fiefs or fiefdoms in the territory of this Republic, where the strong are above the law and above the citizens. The legal order and security must be in place to everyone in every community of Albania, under the State Police care and guarantee”, while praising the prodigious endeavors made so far by the State Police against the cultivation of narcotics, stressing that the fight continues even harder, especially with continuous planting of cannabis.

The Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, has announced the appointment of His Excellency Taulant Balla, as Minister of Interior, on the 7^th of June 2023, to support his efforts in building the country.