Socialists have not been invited by the United States
The Socialist Party is the successor to the Communist Party of Albania
The State Department says that the Socialist delegation that will visit Washington this week was not invited by Secretary of State Warren Christopher; nevertheless, the delegation, headed by the chairman of the State Department, will hold meetings with American officials and many senior congressional officials and senators.
This was a necessary clarification for Albanian public opinion and even more so for the opposition, eager to seize on any kind of statement, action or opinion that draws Washington's attention. Washington said this week that a delegation from the Socialist Party, headed by Servet Pëllumbi, will visit the State Department. The American official stated that excited State Department members made it clear that the invitation to meetings did not come from the Secretary of State. “The Secretary of State does not invite party delegations to come here. These will be meetings with designated State Department officials,” said State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns.
When the reporter asked whether the United States views the Socialist Party as a communist party, the spokesman said: “I am not sure how we view the Socialist Party in Albania, but it is clear that we see it as a political party rooted in the old communist party.” “It is a successor to the communist party,” he added. Burns also said that the Socialist delegation that will visit Washington consists of “senior party members,” but he did not give specific names. According to him, these visits include talks with officials in the government, at the State Department and in Congress, as America does with many political organizations from around the world.
Speaking on this issue, the head of the Department for Foreign Relations in the Democratic Party, Tritan Shehu, said that “from a practical standpoint, politically there is nothing surprising about these kinds of meetings.” “We are in favor of developing broad contacts with party institutions from the United States,” Mr. Shehu said. He added that “there should be no misunderstanding whatsoever about the nature of these talks. This is not about recognition of a democratic force, but of a force that is the successor to the Labour Party.”
The Socialist Party continues to present itself as a social-democratic force, but according to American statements it remains perceived as tied to the communist legacy. This official American statement has been used as an argument in today’s Albanian political debate.
Voice of America