In battle for rule of law, signals of a new approach

TIRANA, Oct. 31 – When Shpetim Gjika, the mayor of the southwestern port city of Vlora, was indicted last week on charges of corruption and abuse of power, the news and its timing came as a surprise to most Albanians.
Gjika, a three-term mayor, is one of the most successful local government leaders of the Socialist Party and close friend to Prime Minister Edi Rama, the Socialist leader and Vlora’s representative in parliament.
Rama acknowledged his close friendship with Gjika in a public statement and expressed his dismay at the news but at the same time he publicly said that the government would not interfere with the prosecutor’s office or try to be a “political shield” for Gjika. Rama said that if proved true, Gjika should get the normal lawful punishment.
“The charges and the facts brought forward by prosecutors are serious,” Rama said. “I want to make it clear that we will not turn into a political shield against corruption.”
In a country where corruption is so deeply engraved in society and the politically-connected are often seen as above the law, such statements are deeply symbolic and are part of a wider trend of actions by the Socialist-led government to forge an image that it wants to do things differently.
The trend has happened before with new governments in Albania, notably when the Democratic Party came to power in 2005, but after early successes, the efforts were not sustained and the country fell back on several indicators. Now analysts note that what will determine the current government’s success in implementing strict rule of law will be its ability to keep the pressure up once the early days of government are over.
In the case of Gjika, prosecutors say that he and eight others improperly amended documents, giving permission for commercial construction to go on in violation of decisions of a higher authority.
Gjika stands accused of falsifying records from local council meetings in 2010 in order to give illegal permits for two apartment buildings. According to prosecutors, the two buildings were not granted a permit. But after records of a meeting were falsified, they were issued permits to build them in an area where all construction is prohibited by law.
Gjika earlier denied any wrongdoing and said he was “shocked by the accusations”. But local media also reported that he acknowledges issuing construction permits without seeing the proper legal base for them.
While only time will tell what happens with case, it might prove to be a test case for other indictments in the future which might be even more politically-charged, because the government has signaled it will file charges with prosecutors on several former officials from the previous government for abuse of power.
The government has to act quickly on corruption if it wants to gain points with EU authorities in charge of evaluating Albania’s progress in its bid to join the European Union. All recent reports from the EU mention fighting corruption and organized crime as a key target for Albania in its path to European Union integration.
Just this week, a European Parliament delegation headed by Eduard Kukan said the EU “expects from Albania to fight corruption, organized crime and respect human rights.”
Those goals have not been lost on the new government which hopes to get official EU candidate status for Albania in December and open negotiations for membership in the 28-member bloc next year.
The prime minister started with action on gambling establishments, which had proliferated throughout Albania, many working around the controls set in law for gambling in the country.
Authorities closed more than 500 shops and filed criminal charges on 152 people involved. Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri said gambling establishments were “social and economic wounds for the budget of each Albanian family and a nest of criminality, creating problems for the public order and citizens’ well-being.”
To achieve its aims, the government started with strictly implementing the laws on the books and promised to change them in the future, when it hopes to ban gambling altogether. Experts say it now needs to take that template and apply it to building and enforcing a system that allows no room for corruption and organized crime to thrive.
Many of the government’s early actions were clearly designed as part of a public relations campaign to make sure the voters saw the new officials as people who hit the ground running.
High-rise illegal constructions were demolished in Tirana and Vlora in the past two weeks, for example, and the government has promised it will clean up the country’s coastline, which is littered with illegal constructions.
In a human rights case, several Roma families that were living on a sidewalk were taken to new accommodations with much media fanfare, and one of the new ministers, Erion Veliaj, personally picked up a Roma child and drove him to the hospital.
And the interior minister issued an order to make sure that members of parliament get parking tickets when they break the rules. Soon after, Albanian media featured young female police officers issuing tickets to the MPs in front of the parliament building.
But while most agree with promoting a good image of rule of law, critics warn that unless this action is sustained, the new government risks falling into the same problems of its predecessors, the Democratic Party-led government, which had early successes, but was latter hit with a series of scandals that unraveled its image the eyes of the voters.
The Democratic Party opposition is already voicing strong concerns about how the new government is handling employment in the administration, saying many government employees are being fired unjustly to employee people with political connections to governing parties. It is a charge the Socialists deny, however they argue it was the Democratic Party government that filled public sector jobs with its activists and those who do not meet the criteria for the jobs will be dismissed based on the country’s laws.
The government faces its own pressure from its own activists, as many in Albania equate support for one party with the ability to get a job after the elections. Government officials have made it clear there simply aren’t jobs for everyone – offering competitions for new openings instead.
Political analysts note that Albania’s government is currently in a grace period at the start of its mandate in which the public opinion will support its work almost unconditionally. It also enjoys a super-majority in parliament. New governments usually use this period to tackle the obvious problems – the low hanging fruit – to fulfill electoral promises in order to build up support for the more difficult parts governing plans down the road. These early days indicate the government wants a new approach, but only sustained efforts can lead to success, analysts say.