Albanian PM Edi Rama: "EU is the only option" as TikTok ban takes effect ahead of elections
On Thursday, Albania officially banned TikTok for 12 months, citing a "danger for public security." Authorities justified the decision by warning that the platform is responsible for "inciting violence and bullying, especially among children," prompting the government to take decisive action.
The next parliamentary elections in Albania are going to take place on May 11th and the government is aware of possible foreign interference into the elections, learning a lesson from Romanian experience (in Romania, the second round of presidential elections was canceled, because of possible russian interference by sponsoring political and anti-EU campaigns on TikTok).
- We asked the platform several times to implement regulations, especially context information and a ban on hate speech, but it didn’t happen. That’s why Albania decided to make that decision, said Etilda Gjonaj, a member of the Albanian government, during the NextGEN Voices for Europe forum in Tirana.
She noted that platforms have the ability to introduce specific changes, similar to how Meta incorporated context information.
Albanian road to the EU
Albania is one of the candidates to join the European Union. During today's NextGEN Voices for Europe conference in Tirana, Prime Minister Edi Rama clearly stated that Albania wants to join the EU and must stick with European allies.
- Others can offer you money, vodka and caviar, but will not respect your rights. There is no plan B, the only choice is the European Union. (…) Look at countries like Poland and the Czech Republic and where they are now. Those are good examples – said Prime Minister Edi Rama.
As he mentioned, Albania is still quite idealistic about the European Union, but there is "no better choice" for his country. It’s worth noting that Albania is a NATO member since 2009.
- If you want to turn your back from Europe and allies from the West, look at what happened in Afghanistan and Iran. Our decisions will affect next generations, those who are children now – he added.
Dr Jurgen Linden, chairman of the Charlemagne Prize Society also shared his statement concerning the connection between Albania and European Union. - Beeing in Europe is a choice. We make that choice everyday, I do it for all my life, so quite long. For my children and 6 grandchildren. For future generations. We will not leave anyone alone, because Europe is stronger together. And united countries have much more power, also economical power. We can't forget about that in tough times and new reality that we are facing now - dr Linden commented.
Additional help for Ukrainie
One of the hot topics during the conference organised by the Albanian government, the German Embassy and the Charlemagne Prize Foundation were current decisions of Donald Trump and his administration.
Martin Schulz, former President of the European Parliament, said, "It can't turn into a disaster. What are we facing? Trump is behaving disrespectfully and turning it into strategy."
All the panelists, including Dr Jurgen Linden, chairman of the Charlemagne Prize Society, and Veronica Tsepkalo, representative of the Belarusian opposition and winner of the Karlspreis 2022, agreed that support for Ukraine is essential.
- Europe did a good thing standing with Ukraine. Maybe God saved Trump [from the assassination attempt– red.] to not make America great again, but to wake up Europe – the prime minister of Albania.
Gabriela Jelonek, Journalist of Wirtualna Polska, Tirana, Albania
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