By ANDI BALLA
Most Albanians were caught by surprise when a couple of key posts in the country’s government changed last week due to a decision by the government’s junior coalition partner, the Socialist Movement for Integration.
These changes now appear to have been brewing for a while within the party ranks and seem not to be motivated by disagreement over policies but rather a rift within the SMI.
The party has a mere four seats in parliament, but carries just enough weight to make it an indispensable partner for the ruling Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha.
The changes came when SMI leader and Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta essentially had SMI MP Dritan Prifti sacked from the economy minister position in order to take his seat, leaving the top diplomat job to Edmond Haxhnasto, a former ambassador that has largely been absent from the national spotlight.
Although the change itself does not threaten the government, as Prifti said he would continue to support the Berisha government, what remains unclear is why SMI ousted Prifti from the government.
Officially it was to move Meta from heading the Foreign Ministry to take Prifti’s place as economy minister, so that Meta could spend more time in Albania managing the party. Meta argued he couldn’t manage SMI properly when he had to spend a third of his time traveling outside Albania to meet the demands of being foreign minister.
The problem is that Prifti, now the former economy minister, has been at the center of a storm involving corruption allegations that saw him make 1.8 million euros from selling assets in a company he owned. He denies the allegations, saying everything was legal and declared publicly. But with that cloud hanging over the head of Prifti, SMI might have tried to protect the allegations from affecting the party as a whole.
Regardless of the motives behind Prifti’s removal, the move will likely give more fuel to the fire of corruption accusations that the opposition has been throwing not only toward the SMI ministers, but the government as a whole.
There is also another element that needs to be highlighted in the recent government changes. The willingness of Prime Minister Berisha to accept the changes proposed by SMI without offering any challenge shows the government is weak enough that Berisha will give Meta a wide birth with decisions pertaining the SMI cabinet posts as long as SMI stays in the fold.
Berisha is also said to have a closer relationship with Prifti than any other SMI MP, and the prime minister publicly thanked Prifti for his work, while Meta was noticeably absent in offering any praise.
So the move is not very risky in that regard for Berisha, as Prifti was among the first in the SMI ranks to support a coalition with once arch rival Democratic Party.
The two parties come from opposite sides of the political spectrum, so they are not natural allies, but SMI has been heavily rewarded for it position as kingmaker with a lot of senior and junior cabinet posts.
So, for now, the coalition government seems solid. But how long will the current situation last? The two parties have an agreement to run as a coalition in the local elections in May 2011, so no shifts are foreseen until then.
However, Albanian politics tend to lead to parties breaking up and positions shifting rapidly, so no matter what happens, Albania’s government will be a tough ship to manage over the next two years, even if the opposition protests are taken out of the equation.
