Spiropal's dismissal, 'collateral damage' or was it forewarned?

Elisa Spiropali was one of the three 'victims' of Prime Minister Edi Rama the day before when he reformed the government cabinet. 

After about 5 months as Foreign Minister, Spiropali was dismissed and did not take any other position within the cabinet. After the furor over the dismissal of Belinda Balluku as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Spiropali's departure, which was to some extent foreshadowed, did not pass without a fuss, but there are rumors that her "elimination" was conditional.

If we go back a few weeks in time, we remember that Rama had expressed reservations about the progress of Albanian diplomacy under the leadership of Spiropali.  

At one of the SP parliamentary group meetings, on January 16, the prime minister told her that in the department she headed, it seemed like only 3 people worked: the minister, the secretary, and the security guard.

" Regarding the law on public diplomacy. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is like the Albanian Public Television. It is another major failure of ours. I have said it and I am saying it again. It is not an institution in function of these challenges because it has never been reformed. Even the one law we made was not a law or a reform, it was a toilet.

"Make-up! The law must pave the way for reform, to bring in fresh air. Albania today has a lot of people abroad in the diaspora. The diaspora is part of an important electorate. The ranks have been taken hostage by the foreign policy anchors of television, it's not even television because they don't even come out. Every time I go to that ministry, it seems to me that there is only the minister, the secretary and the guard there ," Rama told Spiropali. 

On the other hand, Spiropali's departure is also seen as collateral damage, as during the analysis of the changes in the government, analyst Armand Shkullaku said that her dismissal from the post of Foreign Minister was an order from Belinda Balluku, due to the rivalry they had with each other.

" This is a government out of trouble, these are Belinda's tails. This shows that Mamica was burned. Praise for the leader doesn't matter, what matters is the power you have with criminal groups, with the money you circulate and with the votes you collect. Mamica is gone and in all we must accept that she left because Bela put a condition on her.

"We all know that there was a rivalry between Belinda and Elisa Spiropali, because she is convinced that she spoke against Bela, etc. ," said the analyst. 

Journalist Klodiana Lala also expressed the same sentiment last night.

She said that Rama has submitted to Baluk and that Spiropal is her victim.

" First of all, I think that Mr. Rama was forced to make these moves, because he had a noose around his neck, the Balluku case, the AKSHI and the investigation of several MPs. So, due to these circumstances, Mr. Rama was forced to make changes in the government.

"Rama submitted to Balluk, Spiropal was her victim. Spiropal was in Kosovo, he dismissed him without waiting for him to return. They had a strong rivalry with each other, because of a power that they wanted to keep within the SP ," Lala said. 

We recall that the position of Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs will be held by Ferit Hoxha, former Albanian ambassador to the EU.

In addition to Balluk and Spiropali, Pirro Vengu has also left the cabinet. The post of Minister of Defense has been taken by Ermal Nufi, who was Deputy Secretary General in the Prime Minister's Office. Meanwhile, Balluk's other post, as Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, is taken by Enea Karakaçi, who was a member of the Supervisory Council at OSHEE. / S.Gj