EU-organized visit by Italian and Greek foreign ministers follows opposition’s commitment to participate in parliament. Dialogue urged.
Tirana Times
TIRANA, Sept. 8 – The foreign ministers of Italy and Greece will make a joint visit to Albania on Sept. 12, EU officials have announced. They are to promote political dialogue and push Albanian political leaders to implement reforms needed for EU integration. Italy’s Franco Frattini and the Greece’s Stavros Lambrinidis will be in an EU-organized joint mission to boost the slow process of European integration for Albania.
News of the visit came as both internal and external pressure has been growing on Albanian political leaders to work together to promote Albania’s European integration and strengthen democratic credentials.
As a first step toward the end of the deadlock, last week, Albania’s opposition agreed to participate fully in parliament, offering an opportunity for parliament to discuss and vote on a long line of laws that had been held hostage by the two-year-old deadlock.
Opposition back in parliament
Albania’s main opposition Socialist party on Monday resumed its attendance of parliament, giving an end to its boycott and announcing a new strategy fueled by pressure that Albania needs to get a positive answer regarding its application for EU candidate status.
Edi Rama, leader of the Socialist Party, told the party’s lawmakers that the end of the boycott is open the way for Albania to country to join the EU.
“The Socialist opposition will be present in the Albanian parliament to take up its national responsibilities with regards to Albania’s integration into the European Union,” Rama said.
Albanian laws needed for the required steps for the candidacy need a three-fifths majority in the 140-seat parliament. Rama’s party controls 65 seats in the parliament.
The opposition has boycotted the country’s parliament on and off since 2009, when the country held its last general election.
The opposition accused the Democratic Party led by Prime Minister Sali Berisha of fraud and manipulation in the elections. The government denied the allegations and refused to meet the opposition’s demands of partial recounting of the ballots.
The Socialists said they ended the almost four-month parliamentary boycott to help the country’s European Union accession bid, adding they would focus on the adoption of political and fiscal reforms requested by the EU to advance Albania’s membership application.
The Socialists started their boycott in May in protest of what they allege were irregularities in the vote count in hotly contested local elections.
Albania applied for EU candidate status in 2009, but was turned down last year.
The move comes just over a month before the European Commission is due to give its assessment on Albania’s demand for EU candidate status, on Oct. 12.The opposition which has boycotted all votes that require an absolute majority in parliament has been under enormous pressure from Brussels to resume its participation in parliament.
That move speaks clearly that the opposition would not want to be seen as the one blocking EU entry by continuing the political stalemate.
“We will be here to vote in laws that are necessary for the functioning of the real rule of law and to lead a strong fight against corruption that has not only taken the justice system hostage but also some sectors in the Albanian economy,” said Rama.
Despite the good start with the end of boycott political fight is endless between the two opposing political groupings, including at the first session.
The opposition lashed out at Prime Minister Sali Berisha, accusing the ruling parties of electoral fraud in the May 8 local elections, as well as of corruption and outright murder.
“You are the main political and juridical factor behind the masquerade of the local elections on May 8,” the head of the Socialist parliamentary group, Gramoz Ruci, said, adding a bleak picture of the electoral process and accusing Berisha’s government of corruption and of killing anti-government protesters during the violent Jan. 21 opposition protest.
The head of the Democratic Party’s parliamentary group Astrit Patozi said the opposition was unable and unwilling to properly read the ODIHR report on the local elections.
The parliament has been often the scene of harsh exchanges and even brawls in the last two years, while diametrically opposed readings of reports from international institutions have become a long-standing tradition.
Berisha called the opposition as losers in the recent election and his government as the best Albania has ever had. The premier said his government had made huge improvements in the watchdog’s perception index (Transparency International), leaving behind 70 countries since the Democrats took power in 2005, he added.
The Balkan nation has been mired in political crisis since disputed June 2009 legislative elections.
The opposition has never recognized Prime Minister Sali Berisha’s victory at the polls and demanded a recount amid allegations of fraud. It had been boycotting parliament on and off for two years.
Every Albanian election since the fall of communism in the early 1990s has been marred by accusations of fraud.
Albania’s request for EU candidate status was rejected last December when Brussels urged Tirana to step up its fight against corruption and also expressed concern about the political crisis. The opposition and the government and all of the Albanians would really not want a negative answer again.
EU brings Italian, Greek foreign ministers to Tirana
EU officials announced last week that the foreign ministers of Italy and Greece will visit Albania on Sept. 12 to promote political dialogue and push Albanian political leaders to implement reforms needed for EU integration. Italy’s Franco Frattini and the Greece’s Stavros Lambrinidis will be in a joint mission to boost the process of European integration.
Their mission is coordinated by the European Union and EU Delegation Ambassador to Tirana Ettore Sequi will accompany them in all the meetings.
The joint visit’s purpose is to remind Albania obligations it has to Brussels and to encourage Albanian leaders to work hard before the October opinion of the European Commission on the application for candidate status by Albania. Albania faces 12 criteria it must meet, including some that are associated with political requirements related to holding proper elections.
The visit of the top diplomats from Albania’s closest EU neighbors and largest trade partners also aims to urge Albanian leaders to accomplish the reforms through political dialogue, EU officials said.
The two foreign ministers are expected to hold talks with President Bamir Topi, Prime Minister Berisha, Foreign Minister Edmond Haxhinasto and the opposition leader Edi Rama.
Topi urges EU-related political dialogue
Albanian President Bamir Topi has urged Albanian political parties and the parliament to do their utmost for the country’s European prospects. In a letter he sent to the parliament on Sunday, a day before it would resume its work, Topi said the legislative body was “entrusted with the European present and the future of the country.”
“I would like to directly appeal to the conscience of every Member of Parliament, also considering the public interest and the need to regain the wavering trust of the citizens in politics and its institutions,” he wrote.
Topi urged the opposition, which has boycotted parliament very often in the last two years, that the parliament is the place “where politics takes life and laws are approved,” calling to them and any other political party “to completely abandon any form of boycott, because it will have serious consequences for democracy, integrity of the institution, and for all citizens and the country.”
The president urged the political parties “to establish an atmosphere of trust, to not practice condescending and isolating methods for the minority, to not ignore the differing opinions, to make sure that they do not turn this forum into political court or stage to advance petty political agenda, to not use the parliament’s forum to mock individuals or families, different social groups or categories, things which make us all ashamed.”
Topi said that the last two years have been “a permanent political impasse,” in which Albania “lost two years in efforts to gain the invitation for European Union membership.”
“On behalf of the citizens and the national conscience, I urge you to turn these criteria into priorities of the agenda and parliamentary activity. Albania needs a stable and effective dialogue, it needs the long term and effective cooperation between the political parties and it needs to gain lost time through stable and long term reforms.”
