TIRANA, Oct. 8 – Prime Minister Edi Rama has repeated his stance that he is not planning to reshuffle his government, but talk of changes to the cabinet persisted after Rama’s junior coalition partner, Ilir Meta, indicated a reshuffle might be necessary.
With several of his ministers facing an array of accusations from the opposition and other public actors, Rama is under pressure to recompose his cabinet, but he said this week those spreading the news of change in the cabinet were working against the government and its program.
“There will be no government reshuffle. We will keep working hard to bring change to Albania,” Rama told reporters this week after a meeting with Socialist lawmakers following his return from a long trip to New York. “Those who want government changes are not the ones who voted us in power. They live in a media world, making things up.”
Rama added journalists were spreading rumors as news.
Rama has also denied there are frictions with the junior coalition partner, the Socialist Movement for Integration, whose leader, Meta, said this week the government could use some fresh energy but that changes were up to the prime minister, not him.
“The government could use some new impulses,” Meta said this week, without specifying if he meant changes to the cabinet.
Rama and Meta have met twice this week, but both declined to speak to reporters on the issues they talked about.
There have been many voices speaking about possible frictions in the coalition, as Meta faces corruption allegations, which he vehemently denies.
Several Socialist ministers have also faced a barrage of accusations in the media and the political arena, leading to calls for their replacement. The interior minister has been involved in a suspicious vehicle sale to his cousins who face criminal allegations. The health minister has been accused of ruining the health-care and medicine supply system in the country.
Rama insists things are fine and the coalition is solid.
“There are many people in the opposition of today who dream of such a storm. There are people even within the coalition who want this. For different reasons, but always because of personal discontent,” Rama told the local media last month. “Their dream cannot be realized, because the coalition has worked very well with real reforms and this is what makes it useful.”
