Threat or protection? Rama's stances towards SPAK spark contradictions

The 'public protection' that Rama offers to SPAK is seen as declarative and contradictory by political science professors, while the large governing majority is seen as the only threat to the independence and work of justice.

Celebrating the victory in the May 11 elections that gave him his fourth mandate in office, Prime Minister Edi Rama singled out the protection of justice as one of the main goals of his government.

"The independence of justice and its protection at all costs, even with your body, is the only way and we will remain steadfast on the only way," Rama declared on May 25 in front of his party's MPs.

This was a turn in Rama's rhetoric before the elections, which culminated in a verbal attack on the Special Prosecution Office after the arrest of Mayor Erion Veliaj, where the work of this structure was compared to the infamous Sigurimi of communism.

Political experts consider Rama's public discourse on the defense of SPAK to be insincere and contradictory, while it is not clear from whom he will defend it and what undermines the independence of justice besides the government and the majority, which has already secured almost a qualified majority of 3/5 in Parliament.

"The idea is that there is a contradiction, since the relationship between SPAK and the majority lies in the fact that SPAK is threatened precisely by the majority, because its main work is with the majority," says Blendi Ceka, a lecturer in Political Science at the University of Tirana.

According to Ceka, with 83 parliamentary mandates, the majority led by Rama could change the legal framework to make this structure's work more difficult and thus pose a direct threat.

Ermal Hasimja, a political science professor, also sees Rama's statements about SPAK as "defense in his own terms" while considering the head of government as the greatest threat to the independence of justice. A public alliance between the prime minister and the opposition leader would, according to him, be an even greater threat to the new justice institutions.

“It is difficult for the SP to attack and neutralize SPAK without the public support of the DP, therefore the danger to SPAK does not come only from Rama, but from his possible collaboration with Berisha,” Hasimja told BIRN.

Hasimja brings to attention that this type of cooperation that guarantees their political monopoly has occurred previously with the amendment of the Electoral Code or the Criminal Amnesty.

For him, Rama's statements about defending SPAK and justice aim to create a contrast, purely declarative and political, between him and Berisha as an attacker of SPAK.

"But it is clear from everything he has said and done in the past that this contrast is merely declarative. Essentially, Rama and Berisha seem to agree on getting rid of SPAK," suggests Hasimja.

Specifically, he sees the risk in possible legal changes affecting the justice reform laws and the work of SPAK, which, according to him, makes it more difficult and perhaps impossible for the judiciary to crack down on high-ranking officials.

"There is no need to dissolve SPAK," emphasizes Hasimja, adding that "it is enough to change the legal basis or in any other way disable SPAK's ability to strike at those in power."

SPAK, as the 'basis' of the integration process

The Special Prosecution Office is one of the new and most discussed institutions created as a result of international pressure for a reform of the justice system in Albania - in order to enable the fight against high-level corruption and organized crime.

The investigations have so far led to two opposition leaders being charged with corruption, former prime ministers Sali Berisha and Ilir Meta, while senior officials of the ruling Socialist Party are also under indictment, including former Tirana mayor Erion Veliaj, former deputy prime minister Arben Ahmetaj, and former ministers of Health and Environment Ilir Beqaj and Lefter Koka.

The most sensational corruption cases are related precisely to Rama's governance, but according to professor Blendi Ceka, the government also needs his success as a passport in the negotiation process with the EU.

“It is an existential issue for the government to make this project work,” Çeka suggested.

"The first group of chapters of the negotiations is related precisely to the reform of the judiciary and it is this group of chapters that will be closed last, as a form of monitoring that this process is irreversible," he added, while emphasizing that if the EU turns off the light of integration, then the government is the main threat to SPAK.

Political scientist Ermal Hasimja is more pessimistic in his prediction about the threat to SPAK's independence from politics.

While the scenarios are currently unclear, Hasimja estimates that the end of the mandate of the current head of SPAK, Altin Dumani, will be an indicator of the shape that this institution will take in the future.

"The big challenge for SPAK will be the end of Duman's mandate. There we will really see how Rama and Berisha's political will to deal with justice will take shape," he concluded. /BIRN