TIRANA TIMES EDITORIAL
Back in 1991, when Albania, still under the communist leadership of Ramiz Alia, became member of then then called CSCE, the development marked a significant departure from isolationism and a real sign of expected transformation. It gave hope to those who were expecting change both in and outside the country.
Three decades later one would expect that the fact that Albania assumes chairmanship of the OSCE is a significant achievement, one demonstrating the immense transformation, both politician and social, of the country from the most savage communist regime towards a functional democracy. Alas, this is not the case. This chairmanship is riddled with so many questions, paradoxes and contradictions that it feels more like a pun than an achievement.
How does Albania look today at the helm of this important organization, which comes from the Cold War times and whose main objective is conflict resolution? An extremely weak if not failed state where there is a raging political conflict and a poisoned polarization at every level of society, where regular elections are still a fleeting aspiration, where internally there is no semblance of a constitutional order, where dysfunctional institutions and the culture of the individual authoritarian leader are perhaps as present as when the country joined back in the early 90s. The checks and balance system is completely out of order and the lack of political dialogue has made change impossible.
Weren’t it dramatic it would be funny that just months ago the Albanian President Ilir Meta wrote a letter requesting the Slovak presidency of the OSCE to assist with solving the political crisis in Albania. Suddenly now a few months after, when nothing has changed and the situation is even worse, Albania assumes the role of leading the ambitious OSCE agenda of resolving key inter-state crisis around the world.
Another paradox is the standing of the organization within the country itself. OSCE has been at the heart of the political conflict either when it has shown remarkable indifference to the matters at hand or dubious lack of neutrality. Even today the organization has suffered a hard blow to its legitimacy due to its treatment of the opposition or of protesters.
One cannot disregard a reflection on the organization itself which by letting itself be led by hybrid democracies carrying heavy baggage (and this applies not only to Albania) apparently has failed to reform adequately its mission, ambition and vision.
The current administration in Albania, caught in its obsession over facade and populist show, will drum around this chairmanship as a key foreign policy success. However even the most simple reflection over the facts reveals that it is a just a very costly endeavor with almost zero chances to bring any impact in Albania and much less in the rest of the OSCE community of states.
