The Socialist Movement for Integration has shown little of the spending on its lobbying company in Washington, providing high-level meetings with US officials and members of Congress.
Data provided by BIRN from the US Department of Justice show that only during the first six months of 2016, the Socialist Movement for Integration party spent $ 123, $ 761 in favor of the US Global Lobbying and Innovation Strategies, GSIS .
Late payments to the US lobbyist have made the calculated voice for consultations and surveys in the 2016 draft budget of the Socialist Movement for Integration to triple from 5 million to 15 million lek, accounting for 26.1 percent of the declared party spending .
GSIS is a consultancy company based in Washington D.C., which includes among its partners former senior US officials, as former head of Secret Service Mark Sullivan and David Aguilar – the former head of the US Department of Customs and Border.
On its form as a foreign agent deposited with the US Department of Justice, GSIS underlined that it “advised the LSI about its relationship with the US government and its political leaders, while the Republic of Albania made progress with constitutional reform and modernization of the economy. ”
The US company has provided a series of meetings for SMI leader Ilir Meta and Agriculture Minister Edmond Panariti in the US.
The Department of Justice’s records indicate that GSIS has assisted Meta during his visit to Washington from May 11 to May 16, as well as during a second visit in June 6-8. Meanwhile, the US lobbying company has provided US meetings for Panaritin on July 12-13.
GSIS has enabled the LSI president to meet with members of the US Congress, meetings with officials from the Department of Justice and the Department of State.
With the assistance of GSIS, Meta met on 11 May with the Chairman of the Committee on Laws and Procedures at the American Congress, Pete Sessions and Chairman of the National Security Commission, Michael McCaul.
According to a press release of the Assembly office, during the meeting, “the security issues and priorities of the United States of America and Albania were discussed, stressing the need to strengthen co-operation and co-ordination of the fight against terrorism, with special attention to the crisis refugees and developments in the region and middle east. ”
On the same day in Washington, his lobbying company secured the chairman of the SMI with a meeting with the head of the Subcommittee on Agriculture at the American Congress, Robert Aderholt, as well as with the Foreign Service Administrator at the Department of Agriculture, Phil Karstings.
On 12 May, with the help of GSIS, Meta dined and held a speech before members of the Truman Center for National Policy and met with Assistant Attorney General Bruce Swartz.]
Meta’s visit to the US continued on May 13 with a stop at the Heritage Foundation, and later meetings with Congressman John Katko. On the same day he met Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Hyot Lee, and Deputy Secretary Alan Bersin from the Department of Homeland Security.
Meta has finalized his visit to the US on May 16, with a meeting with Senator John Cornyn and a speech at the Institute for Progressive Politka – also the latter provided by his lobbying company.
Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta returned to Washington for a second visit on 6-8 June, where his meetings with US officials were again mediated by GSIS. During this visit Meta met with Deputy Secretary William Brownfiled at the US Department of State, as well as with US trade representatives Timothy Wedding and Bill Moller.
At the end of his second visit to Washington within a one-month period, Meta attended a round table at George Washington University,
Meanwhile, Panariti’s visit to the US was realized a month later, with the help of GSIS on July 12-13, he met with Phil Karstings from the Department of Agriculture and Congressman Robert Aderholt.
PD: zero cost, zero results
The Socialist Movement for Integration was not the only Albanian political party that has chosen to engage a lobbying company in the United States during the first six months of this year.
Justice Department documents show that the Podesta Group company was also registered as a Democratic Party lobbyist for the period of 1 month from 15 March to 15 April, which coincided with the visit of PD leader Lulzim Basha to the US.
But unlike the LSI lobbyist, Podesta Group has not reported payments from the Democratic Party, and its customer service activity has been much more limited. [Click here for document]
According to the form as foreign agent deposited by the Podesta Group with the Department of Justice, the latter advised the Democratic Party “on foreign policy of the United States, as well as informed the executive officials about the developments in Albania.”
In this regard, representatives of the Podesta Group have sent 2 emails and held two meetings with Ana Makanju and Victoria Taylor, from the office of President Barack Obama.
In an interview with Voice of America on March 18, DP leader Lulzim Basha stated that the Democratic Party was not paying for the contract with Podesta Group.
“The company is a company that has previously supported Albania and will continue to support Albania in what it does. For this contract will not spend any amount, “said Basha.
“It’s a contract that does not have a financial bill, but it’s a commitment to a principled matter like free elections that do not only apply to the DP, but also to the SP,” the head of the DP concluded. BIRN