The Democratic Party of Albania hired the Podesta Group in Washington to lobby the government and the United States Congress on its behalf. The news is announced by documents published by the US Department of Justice under the Aliens Register Act.
According to the published extract, “Podesta will advise the Party on Revolutionary Policies and Congressional Activities, will seek and analyze specific issues, and will be able to organize meetings with US Executive Officers, Congressional Members, Media and nonprofit organization. “The duration and cost of the contract for the Democratic Party is expected to be published later. The contract was signed on March 8, 2016. But today (March 15th), Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha left for an official visit to the US.
Podesta, a lobbying company in the US led by Anthony T. Podesta, is not an unknown company for Albania. The government of the Democratic Party hired him in 2011 until 2013, with a $ 60,000 monthly fee, which was paid with Albanian taxpayers’ money. Officially, Podesta had to lobby for improving political relations between the governments of both countries. However, a previous BIRN investigation revealed that Podesta had lobbied on some US conservative pages to make negative writings against Edi Rama, then leader of the opposition.
Albanian political parties have tried in the past to influence US government positions towards them by paying expensive lobbyists, especially during periods of various political crises or during election periods.
Ilir Meta’s Socialist Movement for Integration Party hired the Global Security and Innovative Strategies LLC, GSIS, with a monthly $ 30,000 bill. (Click here to see the document)
The purpose of this contract according to documents made public by the US Department of Justice is “Education of the US Government and its Officials through Contacts and Communication Related to the SMI Commitment to Implementing Justice Reform.”
The Socialist Party enlisted lobbyist Rasky Baerlain, who at that time sent dozens of requests to international media in 2010 in an effort to organize interviews and promote coverage of the political crisis of that time in Albania./Reporter.al
