Albania's former prime minister, Sali Berisha, in a scathing statement accused Prime Minister Edi Rama of squandering 490 million euros from taxpayers on luxury, corruption affairs and dubious projects, leaving the country completely unprepared for devastating fires.

According to Berisha, with only a quarter of this amount, Albania could have leased 7-10 firefighting planes, 4 helicopters and 180 fire engines, which would have prevented catastrophic damage such as those in Delvina.

He emphasized that for 15 years of administration, Rama has demonstrated complete indifference to fire protection - a critically important issue for the Mediterranean countries. According to Berisha, the aerial firefighting fleet has halved - from 8 helicopters to only 3 operating. At the same time, Rama spent 24 million. euro for 140 luxury flights within two years and 130 mln. euro for the Tyrannian incinerator, which does not exist at all, said the leader of the Democratic Party, quoted by "Agora News".

A total of over 200 mln. Euros went to non-functioning incinerators, Berisha said. He also accused the government of other questionable payments.

"Edi Rama bears direct responsibility for the catastrophic state of the fire-fighting equipment. The damage caused by the fires is a state crime - not because the government caused them, but because it turned out to be irresponsible," emphasized Sali Berisha.

The Democratic Party called for full accountability, emphasizing that with responsible management of public funds, the party was able to build a powerful firefighting fleet and save cities and fires from destruction. | BGNES