Professor Fatos Tarifa published a few days ago his newest book entitled "For the public good", which includes several letters addressed to well-known political figures and not only.
He has spoken about the book and many issues that concern him in a television studio.
As for the Open Balkans, Tarifa said that there cannot be such an agreement without Kosovo.
" I am in favor of any economic, social, cultural integration in the Balkan region. But the big problem with this project is Kosovo. Without Kosovo, there can be no Open Balkans. This is, as I understand it, the objection that Washington has. They want a Balkan integration with Kosovo and not without it ", said Tarifa.
Furthermore, he also focused on the 9 letters that he sent to Prime Minister Edi Rama in his book, emphasizing that the latter does not listen to experts and has occasionally chosen disappointing people in important positions, such as the former minister of Education Besa Shahini or the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gent Cakaj.
" My beliefs have been and will be left-wing. I vote for the Socialist Party all these years. The task of an intellectual is to criticize, not criticism as an end in itself, but because he cannot notice that in society there are things that change for the better and not say his word. The duty or responsibility of a prime minister or a high ranking politician is to listen or not to the criticism that comes to him.
I think this prime minister doesn't listen, he likes himself a lot. He thinks he knows everything, he is undoubtedly a very cultured, well-read person, perhaps among the best prime ministers, the most civic, I would say, the most cosmopolitan, that Albania has had in these 30 years.
This is not enough. The opinion of experts, for example, I consider myself an expert in my field. But there are experts in agronomy, tourism, industry, geology, security issues, arts. They must be heard. Seeing what is happening, the opinion of our experts is ignored.
The point is, higher education is the main problem of a society, no society moves forward without developing higher education forward. That's how it was and that's how it will be, the direction of higher education, of our universities cannot be left in the hands of inexperienced people, as was the case of a minister who only served for two years, Besa Shahini, it seems to me, that came from nowhere led the higher education system, which is in crisis and continues to be in crisis and requires a radical transformation.
Or the foreign ministry could not be left in the hands of a young guy, Gent Cakaj, for whom I have about 30 open letters, because it was completely disappointing. I predicted at that time that this would also be temporary, and so it happened, because he started a reform that was not a reform and did nothing" , said Tarifa.