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KRYESORE

Lipstick on a pig

Politiko 12 Tetor 2019, 19:45

By David L. Phillips

The European Council’s conditional support for accession talks with Albania is a rejection of Edi Rama’s Socialist Party. By thanking Chancellor Merkel for “unsparing support,” Rama and his spin-doctors are trying to put “lipstick on a pig”. Their propaganda cannot mask Europe’s antipathy towards Rama’s anti-democratic and corrupt government.

The Bundestag adopted a resolution on September 24, conditioning Albania’s EU accession talks. Since then-President Sali Berisha finalized Albania’s NATO membership in 2009, Albania has been waiting to start negotiations on joining the European Union (EU). According to the Bundestag, without political dialogue to resolve Albania’s political crisis, “the path to membership negotiations will be significantly hampered”.

Electoral reform is the highest priority. The OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights demands compromise and requires that the Albanian government demonstrate “political will” to implement reforms.

Therein lies the problem. Edi Rama has no interest in compromise and reconciliation. In response to hostility from the SP-majority, DP legislators withdrew from the national assembly. This event had a cascading effect, leading to the DP’s boycott of local elections on June 30.

Formation of the High Court and Constitutional Court is another priority. Local elections cannot be approved without authorization by a competent legal body. Until then, Albania is in limbo.

The Bundestag seeks clean elections. It recommends prosecution for vote-buying and the removal of judges and prosecutors who haven’t passed the vetting process. The absence of a functioning independent judiciary undermines the rule of law.

Albania will never fix its endemic problems with the SP dominating power and controlling all the levers of government. Free, fair and early elections are needed to prevent Albania from becoming a failed state.

Differences should be resolved at the ballot box. Violent public protests have no place in a democracy. Assured certain rights, the opposition would direct its energies towards campaigning as opposed to street protests.

During my recent visit to Albania, I met with opposition parties to facilitate a dialogue on electoral reform. While Albanians must own the outcome, they would benefit from international expertise and mediation supporting the OSCE-led dialogue on electoral reform.

Meanwhile, Albania has become a narco-state, mired in lawlessness, corruption, and money laundering. U.S., Italian and Dutch law enforcement agencies, as well as EUROPOL, have documented the widespread production and trafficking of narcotics in Albania.

Drug money supports the SP, which turns a blind eye to trafficking. Some figures in the SP-led government have established a joint criminal enterprise with cannabis cultivators in Albania, Turkish heroin traffickers, and cocaine kingpins in Latin America.

Criminality thrives in darkness. A summary of law enforcement findings should be released to the public, including well-known links between drug dealers and SP officials.

The Bundestag supports the establishment of a Special Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office (SPAK). It should include an advisory council of international experts specialized in anti-corruption measures and experienced in combating organized crime.

Albania’s democracy cannot wait for national elections until the Spring of 2021. Once an electoral law is finalized, the U.S.should support early elections in Albania no later than in October 2020.

Albania’s politics would benefit from a substantive debate on policies and programs. All parties should develop comprehensive action plans for social and economic progress, giving Albanian voters a meaningful choice.

Regional issues are also important to the Albanian nation. Rama’s support for Kosovo’s partition is inexplicable. All parties should emphatically oppose border adjustment between Kosovo and Serbia, which would destabilize the region and could spark a broader conflict.

Americans have no better friends than Albanians. Having been involved in Albania’s democratic development for nearly thirty years, I am dismayed by the country’s current course. Edi Rama is a bully who has betrayed the democratic ideals that inspired Albania’s revolution against Communism. Albania urgently needs an effective multi-party system that strengthens good government and deepens cooperation with the West.

*David Phillips Director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. He worked closely with Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke and served as a senior adviser to the US State Department during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations. Phillips is the author of many books, reports, and articles on Albanian issues including Liberating Kosovo: Coercive Diplomacy and US Intervention (Kennedy School, Harvard University).