The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Balkans, Alexander Kasanof, says that "the cases pursued by SPAK will reach wherever the evidence leads". In an interview for the Voice of America, Mr. Kasanof says that in the meetings he had during his visit to Tirana, he emphasized the importance of the rule of law, underlining that no individual is above the law. Regarding the developments in Kosovo, Mr. Kasanof says that he cannot comment on the positions of the future administration
Voice of America : Mr. Kasanof, this is your first visit to Albania, since taking office. Can you share with us what were the main issues discussed with the Albanian authorities?
Alexander Kasanof: First, Armand, it's a pleasure to be with you today. Thank you for the invitation to your program. I want to say that it is a great pleasure to be here in Tirana. It's really my first visit here, but I couldn't be happier to make this important visit at an important time. You know, we do a lot in partnership with Albania. We support the government and the reforms it is pursuing on the road to EU membership so I thought it was important to dedicate a separate trip to Albania in my new role, as you mentioned, to make sure we have the opportunity to talk with the government as well as people outside the government and to express our support for ongoing reforms, especially in the rule of law and the judiciary sector as well as our support for the independence and mission of institutions such as SPAK, which, as you know we strongly support it, and we want to see them continue their work. For this reason as well as some other reasons that I will talk about in a moment, I thought it was important to come to Albania to carry out these discussions.
We talked with various officials, including the Prime Minister, regarding his leadership in the reform process for the EU. And in this regard, I congratulated him for the government's continuous efforts to carry out those reforms and the results they have provided for Albania, including the opening of a second group-chapter, which is truly commendable.
We talked about justice sector reforms and the importance of their continuation. We talked about our partnership in many areas around the world, including in the context of NATO, but of course also about the work we do together in a number of multilateral institutions such as the UN and how grateful the United States is to have a partnership of such with Albania.
At SPAK, I made sure to talk about the continued and very strong support for the work of that institution. It should be noted that in my public and private meetings, I spoke about the importance of the rule of law and that no man or woman is above the law and that the cases pursued by SPAK will go wherever the evidence leads and that is something that we support not only as a process, but also as a series of facts on the ground that help to fight corruption and eradicate organized crime, an effort that Albania is going through and that other countries have gone through, including my country, and an effort that we have to earn it and therefore it is important to see the success of SPAK.
So these are some of the issues we discussed. I really appreciated all the time given to me by the officials I met with. I look forward to returning.
Voice of America: You mentioned that the US has been a strong supporter of SPAK. But it appears that other law enforcement agencies are still facing challenges. How do you evaluate the current justice system in the country, 8 years after the justice reform?
Alexander Kasanof: I think that as you know, Armand, it is important for the United States to continue the support that we are giving to the government and independent institutions like SPAK, but also others, to move forward with the work to reform the energy sector. justice and improving the rule of law. It is a difficult challenge. And it is a difficult challenge for any country. And it is a challenge that needs our continued support. So it's unfinished business. Of course, this is also pointed out by some of the reforms that the EU has underlined that should be carried out here. The United States is trying to help wherever we can, both the government and its reform packages, but also independent institutions to remain independent and take appropriate measures to root out corruption and organized crime, which, as I mentioned earlier, they are an extremely important result that we want to see realized in Albania.
Voice of America: Mr. Kasanof, the former president and prime minister of Albania, Sali Berisha was determined by the State Department in 2021 for major corruption. At that time he was only a deputy, while now he is the leader of the main opposition party. Can this change the relationship between Washington and Mr. Berisha?
Alexander Kasanof: Listen, Armand, normally I don't talk about specific people and details of those cases. What I would like to reiterate here is that the United States sees the designations as an important tool to help reform the justice system and pursue anti-corruption and organized crime issues. These tools are built to help local agencies on the ground, especially agencies like SPAK, to achieve their mission, but they are also built to help improve the rule of law and ongoing reforms in the justice system. This is what we emphasize. And that will remain our emphasis and our continued focus.
Voice of America: However, there is a high expectation among the opposition that the new administration of President-elect Donald Trump may have a new approach to Mr. Berisha. And there are voices of the opposition who expect that the "non grata" designation can be annulled. Is there such a possibility?
Alexander Kasanof: I cannot speak for the incoming administration. It would be inappropriate. But, I can reiterate for you that in the current administration, we will continue to focus on these reforms and focus on helping institutions like SPAK fulfill their mission.
Voice of America: Albania will hold general elections next year. Some of the main concerns in the past have been vote buying, misuse of state funds by the ruling party and the influence of organized crime in this process. Do you share the same concerns and what are your expectations?
Alexander Kasanof: Our expectations are the same as for any country holding elections, that we expect to see free and fair elections and that the will of the people will be respected. Also, we strongly hope that we will see candidates who are completely untainted by corruption or ties to organized crime. We think it would be the best result for Albania.
Voice of America: At the end of last month (November 29), an explosion occurred in northern Kosovo that damaged the country's key water supply infrastructure. How much can this affect the already complicated process of normalization between Kosovo and Serbia?
Alexander Kasanof: That was a terrible attack. We have condemned it in the strongest possible terms and I will reiterate here that we condemn any such attack. We are helping Kosovo and the government of Kosovo to carry out the investigation. We have helped by making resources available for this purpose. And we think it's critically important that any investigation follow the facts on the ground, properly review all the information there, and work with international partners in this context to ensure that a credible investigation is established. What I can say is that such acts are not only terrible but are clearly designed to create instability and we reject them in the strongest possible way.
Voice of America: During your previous visit to Pristina, you emphasized that the uncoordinated actions taken by the government there complicate the possibilities of the United States to successfully support Kosovo. Now that there will be a new administration in Washington which did not have very friendly relations with the first Kurti government, do you think this will affect the approach to the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue?
Alexander Kasanof: I repeat, Armand, it is not appropriate to talk about a new administration and what its policies will be. This administration, even as it approaches the end, will remain focused on helping Kosovo, supporting Kosovo, not only for the reforms and efforts they are making on the path of integration with the Euro-Atlantic structures, but also while working on issues that are at the heart of the dialogue mediated by the EU. We support a successful conclusion and will continue to urge both governments in Pristina and Belgrade to continue to make all possible efforts to make progress in that dialogue. We will continue to help in this direction./ VOA (A2 Televizion)
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