A Standing Conflict

By Jerina Zaloshnja
This week the President of the Republic sent the draft law, “On internal auditing in the public sector,” back to the Assembly for further review. According to the explanations provided by the President’s Office, the draft law passed by the right wing ruling majority in the Assembly is in contravention of the Constitution. This Office upheld that the functions and the scope of action of the draft law proposed by the government are identical to the functions and scope of action of the Higher State Audit, a body that is elected by the Assembly.
The Opposition has argued and voted against this draft law, on the grounds that the Government, through this draft law, circumvents the constitutional institutions which are not under its control. This is not the first draft law to be passed by the parliamentary majority led by the Democratic Party, which is sent back for further work by the President. Since the advent of the Democratic Party to office, almost two years ago, the President has refused to decree a series of other pieces of legislation too. These include the law, “On Legalization and Town Planning,” the Media Law, the law, “On taxation procedures in the Republic of Albania,” nicknamed the “Law on Fines,” the law, “On the Conflict of Interests,” a law that foresaw a moratorium on motorboats, the law on “Political Party Financing,” and the law on “Property Restitution and Compensation.” Several other laws passed by the Ruling Majority on its own, and contradicted by the Opposition, have also been rejected by the Constitutional Court. It is obvious that the above mentioned laws, opposed by the President are related to a number of fundamental reforms for a democratic system, the functioning of State institutions and to the economy. It would be an understatement to say that disagreements exist between the Government and the Presidency. Apart from failing to decree the above laws, the President has also refused to decree a number of candidates proposed by the Government for ambassadorial posts, including the government’s candidate for Ambassador to Washington, who, immediately after having been turned down by the President was appointed Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister by the Government. The conflict between the Government and the President reached its culmination point when the President refused, point blank, to dismiss the General Prosecutor. Months ago, the Assembly, dominated by the Right wing majority, voted for the dismissal of the General Prosecutor on the grounds of allegations ranging from sluggishness in dealing with cases up to involvement with organized crime. A Committee was set up to investigate into the work of the General Prosecutor, and, later on the Government articulated similar allegations against the President. Last week, the Albanian citizens had the opportunity to witness “live” sequences of the conflict between the Government and the President. During a meeting of the Higher Council of Justice, which is chaired by the President of the Republic and which has the attributes of a Government for the Justice System, there were exchanges of marked dissent between the President and the Minister of Justice.
Without any doubt this is a conflict “of no return,” which appears can only find a solution with the expiry of the mandate of the President next month. The Government has made it crystal clear that the current President will not enjoy its support for a second mandate, as against several other voices within the Opposition who see Alfred Moisiu as one of the finest candidates for the upcoming Presidential elections.
If the conflict between the Government and the Presidency is solved next month merely by President Moisiu stepping down and not seeking a second mandate, in essence, the solution of this conflict would lie simply in the result of “the elimination of the other side,” in a certain sense. In this case at hand, the solution of the conflict by the one side “eliminating the other side,” is open to reproof, because there would be no violation of the law if the Majority does not support the current President for a second mandate. However, irrespective of the circumstances, which, in this case, lift the solution of the conflict via elimination of the other side above reproof, the only sole solution is being sought the same way as for every conflict in Albanian politics – by eliminating the adversary.
Conflict and not cooperation and consensus have perpetually been features of Albanian politics over these past fifteen years. And it has not been rare for this permanent conflict to spill over outside of the institutions and rage between individuals and not ideas. The moist typical case of on-going, incessant conflict is the relation between the Leader of the Left Fatos Nano and the Leader of the Democratic Party Sali Berisha. For years, there was not the minimal contact between them, not even a hand shake. But the conflict dissolved the moment Nano resigned. Once again, in this case too, the conflict between Berisha and Nano died out when one side eliminated the other side. For example, think about what kind of a relationship there would be today between Berisha Prime Minister and Fatos Nano, Chairman of the Socialist Party. Would there be, more or less, normal relations between them, as is the case today? What we are witnessing today is merely that the party in the conflict has been switched; Edi Rama has replaced Fatos Nano in the permanent conflict. Between the current Chairman of the Opposition and the Chairman of the Majority there is nothing but war, and there is absolutely no sign of a consensual dialogue. Keeping this continuous barrage of conflict going has been devastating for the development of the country. Moreover, the solution of conflict via elimination of the adversary, as is the pattern here in Albania, is equally as destructive.