Back to square one?

Anyone who is even remotely aware of the situation in Albania knows well that corruption is one of the most serious and debilitating problems the country faces. In the years following the collapse of the Communist regime this phenomenon has spread to all areas of Albanian life and no government has been able to come to grips with it. One of the main reasons for this failure can certainly be found in Albania’s deficient and malfunctioning legal system. And yet although reforming the legal system is one of the main conditions the country has to meet in order to integrate in the EU, success has continually eluded Albania’s politicians.
The main reason for this failure is probably to be found in the inability of both sides of the political spectrum to cooperate and reach consensus even when it comes to issues of such importance where success can hardly be reached within one term in office. For some strange reason though Albanian politicians do not – or do not want to – understand this. Time and again governments have chosen to go at it alone, ignoring the opposition’s views and attempting to impose their version of reform, ultimately ending in failure. To make matters worse it seems that such reforms often give the impression of having been conceived with the aim of hitting political adversaries. For instance the current government that came to power on an anti-corruption platform has repeatedly and menacingly accused the opposition of having a monopoly on corruption and then asked them to support the government’s anti-corruption attempts! Not surprisingly the opposition was not in the mood to follow the government’s line.
The most glaring example of this failure to cooperate – and all that entails for the government’s fight against corruption – is without a doubt the case of the Prosecutor General. Were one to believe the accusations leveled by the government at this gentleman, one would be justified in believing that he has single handedly installed a system of corruption and impunity in Albania. (That of course is nonsense although there are grounds enough for criticizing the Prosecutor.) Not surprisingly the opposition sees things in a different light. They have interpreted the government’s moves at removing the Prosecutor as nothing more than an attempt at establishing control over the last and probably the most important independent institution in the country. Furthermore, as their argument goes, if the government is serious about reforms it should not focus on the removal or appointment of a single individual, but rather on implementing the much needed structural and legislative changes in consultation with the opposition. This is not the place to evaluate the merits of their arguments though it must be said that both sides are right to some extent, but the end result has been that through its efforts to remove the Prosecutor the government has made his and the government’s work so much harder than it was and the opposition more determined than ever to resist. In the process the reforms have all but been forgotten.
Lately however there were some positive signs that the two sides might finally be willing to cooperate. The catalyst of these new winds blowing in Albania’s politics was the new president who invited the parties to sit and talk on the reforms. An initiative to be applauded and there was an almost audible sigh of relief when that happened. And yet, just when it seemed things were moving in the right direction, the president made an unfortunate remark about the Prosecutor General having to resign and risked taking us all back to square one.