“A smuggling operation by two ministers,” Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama called the action on Sunday, at a stage in Bergamo, northern Italy. “What kind of Albanian or Italian are you if you always obey the law?” added the Prime Minister.
Rama asked Italy for help in early 2021, because while the vaccination campaign was then gaining momentum in the EU, his Albania was still without vaccines, pending the covax program for poor countries. “People died like fish on dry land.” He asked the neighboring country for a symbolic amount, in order to at least be able to vaccinate its healthcare staff and give a positive signal to the population.
No, was the initial response from the Italians, because of the contract with Pfizer, which Rama described as ‘very imperialist and capitalist’. The drug’s terms forbid giving away vaccines. So it would be a ‘very serious matter’, Rama recalls the initial Italian objections. “But we did it anyway.” The secret services were also involved in the action, Rama says.
Media offensive
Because the smuggled vaccines were partly intended for a media offensive, the pass-through could not remain silent, and thus could not remain hidden from Pfizer. Lawyers for the manufacturer threatened lawsuits and wanted to know how the Albanians got the vaccines. “From a friendly land,” Rama replied. “I learned from the Neapolitans that you never link a friend to the police,” he added in Bergamo on Sunday.
Although the case is now almost two years old, the question is how happy Neapolitan Di Maio, who sat in the front row during the speech, will be with the revelation. The outgoing foreign minister was not re-elected to parliament two weeks ago and is therefore “a free man,” according to Rama, but declined to comment on the matter afterwards.
Rama’s story is also a remarkable (provisional) conclusion to the political career of Di Maio, who is only 36 years old and before his entrance into politics, he sold drinks in the stands of the football stadium in Napoli. As leader of the populist Five Star Movement, he stormed the Roman political arena four years ago, but left the party a few months ago, partly because it had opposed new arms supplies to Ukraine.
Mario Draghi
Di Maio, to the dismay of many Five Star colleagues and voters, sided completely with pro-Nato Prime Minister Mario Draghi, thereby demonstrating a definitive member of the political establishment they detest.
It was therefore no surprise that his party was stuck at 0.6 percent of the vote in the elections, well below the 3 percent threshold. Presumably, even the Robin Hood-like vaccine smuggling – ‘we did it to save people’s lives,’ says Rama – could have done little to change that result.