'Man of the year', US Ambassador 'engine' of justice reform

"Arrest the Big Fish!"

This is just one of the strong statements made by the US ambassador and it is not known whether Albanians voted for him based on this sentence, or for the fact that he has always spoken "without gloves" and in Albanian!

But what we do know is that Donald Lu was proclaimed Person of the Year by MAPO magazine.

Considering him as the most influential man of 2017, Ambassador Lu has been described as the "engine" of justice reform, a reform that has received a rare consensus from the Albanian political class.

His statement for the clans and groups that command Albania shocked the system of justice, and yet to this day have not received any answer either by the justice system or by other law enforcement agencies.

However it was precisely this statement that supported his work and his several years of commitment to do what all the governments had promised but none had delivered, the Reform on Justice.

MAPO underlines that the strong three-year commitment of the US representative in Tirana to change the judicial system, was the only real effort that pushed reform ahead of the barriers from all sides of domestic politics, judges and prosecutors.

Undoubtedly, in the assessment of the US ambassador as the person of the year, the strong stances against "the drug barons" and how seemingly untouchable they are, have also been considered.

And as always in Albania, where not all the political sides welcome the views of an ambassador, even Donald Lu faced charges from the opposition, with implied messages by its leaders.

This is the third consecutive year that MAPO has conducted their "Person of the Year" challenge, with the previous winner in 2016 the being the head of the Democratic Party, Lulzim Basha.

Donald Lu has certainly succeeded in creating an alliance with most of the Albanians, even singing an end-of-year song in Albanian language.

EMISIONET