Plarent Ndreca, lawyer for Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj, has claimed that Prime Minister Edi Rama personally called him and engaged in a tense exchange involving accusations and insults.
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“Rama called me today. We had a tense conversation, filled with accusations and insults. He believes I am the person encouraging Erion's independence,” Ndreca said.
According to the lawyer, Rama questioned his influence over Veliaj and suggested that he had encouraged the mayor to distance himself politically from the prime minister.
Ndreca insisted that he was not Veliaj's only political adviser and rejected the implication that he was solely responsible for the mayor's position.
Dispute Over Gogu's Visit to Veliaj
During the interview, Ndreca also addressed the circumstances surrounding a visit by Minister of Justice Toni Gogu to Veliaj.
The lawyer said he had met Veliaj on Friday, while Gogu reportedly arrived later, at around 10:30 p.m.
According to Ndreca, Gogu described his visit as an exercise of his official responsibilities as a minister and as a personal friend. However, the lawyer questioned why such a visit took place late on a Friday evening, outside regular working hours.
Ndreca said that, according to the information provided to him by Veliaj, the meeting lasted approximately an hour and a half.
“I believe Mr Veliaj because this was not an incident that happened out of nowhere. It came after a message he had sent concerning the Belgrade issue,” Ndreca stated.
He added that Veliaj had written down all the details of the discussion immediately after returning to his room.
The lawyer's statements add another dimension to the growing political tensions surrounding the relationship between Edi Rama and Erion Veliaj, with the reported telephone conversation raising further questions about disagreements within the governing Socialist Party.