TIRANA, Sept. 4 – The new parliamentary session began on Tuesday and continued on Thursday with the absence of opposition MPs, while the Socialist majority voiced again the determination to move forward with its plans, despite the opposition protesting against them.
On Tuesday, the united opposition gathered in Shkodra in what it called an extraordinary session to send a message of resistance to the recent crimes that have occured in the city.
On Thursday, it followed the same tactic, gathering in Elbasan – which head of the opposition Lulzim Basha calls the epicenter of organized crime – to denounce and spea of the crime situation in the country again.
In addition to the crime situation, the government and opposition are also deeply divided concerning the new National Theatre bill, which the government wants to pass while the opposition says is corrupt and unconstitutional, the judicial reform, which has left the country bare of courts and judges and the electoral reform, another EU condition for Albania to open accession negotiations within 2019.
Opposition skips parliament, calls extraordinary meetings denouncing crime
In his speech in Shkodra, head of the opposition’s Democratic Party Lulzim Basha said the city is experiencing the most serious criminal situation in the last 27 years of democracy and that in less than three months six mafia murders have occurred and two people have been kidnapped.
Basha accused Prime Minister Edi Rama of collaborating with the criminal gangs and having no control over Shkodra, Durrà«s, Elbasan, Vlore, Fier and Shijak where, he said, criminal gangs have more control than the state.
He also spoke of a common opposition platform to respond to the crime situation in the country, as “the DP can not and will not have a different agenda than suppressing and dismantling crime.”
“Our job is to find ways, action and political platform to end this situation and give the country security, order and democracy,” he said.
While the opposition was meeting in Shkodra, Interior Minister Fatmir Xhafaj said during the first parliamentary session that the opposition’s attack is aggressive and intent on disgracing the image of the police and the country.
Regarding the recent events in the country, referring to the murders in Shkodra, Xhafaj said the police is doing its best job of catching the perpetrators.
“During these months we have made a clear and detailed scanning of criminal groups that were not created today, but many years ago. We have hit some of these groups,” said Xhafaj, promising their blow during September and October.
In Elbasan, Basha said the situation is very heavy and that the opposition needs to act immediately.
“Albania is being destabilized by crime, because crime is ruling Albania. The Prime Minister has handed the country’s control to crime and its collaborators, starting from Fatmir Xhafaj to Taulant Balla. Elbasan is the genesis of co-governing with crime. Xibrika, the cocaine factory, the criminal hook that keeps Rama through his brother, Olsi Rama. The facts of his involvement have been concealed in a criminal way by Saimir Tahiri and continue to be hidden by Xhafaj,” Basha said.
In this context, he also accused Xhafaj of sabotaging the work of the investigative commission regarding the Tahiri case, which he said would reveal alarming facts.
Basha also mentioned a number of open-ended government projects, such as the Tirana-Elbasan road that is still to be finished, and made corrupt officials responsible of stealing from the money aimed at these projects.
“That’s because the subcontractor is a family friend of Taulant Balla – Edmond Bego. Balla’s relationship with Bego is a heavyweight on Albanians’ pockets. Thanks to the relationship between the two of them, millions of euros have disappeared and the road does not end.”
Experts warn ‘nothing will change’
Observers assert that there is so far no sign of understanding among the parties on fundamental issues related to the judicial reform. Political parties are not tolerating anything other than their positions and narrow interests.
“We don’t have a platform for dialogue with the opposition from the government to this day. There are also no signs from the opposition of a historic deal in the function of reforms with the majority. Consequently, we will follow tradition, which is that during electoral years the situation is tense and conflictual. Next year we have elections and the parliamentary sessions will be used by the parties to display very harsh rhetoric, protests and denigration of the political opponent, while rejecting any offer made by them,” said head of the Institute of Political Studies Afrim Krasniqi.
In addition to conflictual politics, Albania is undergoing a critical situation in terms of public order and security. Observers say the situation is delicate with many victims and a few solved cases.
Only in the last two months we’ve had more than five victims of criminal events, as well as some burnt vehicles, two missing persons, a blast of tritol. Only during the last week two unprecedented attacks on media people occurred; in the first case the apartment of a very well-known journalist, Klodiana Lala, was attacked with an automatic weapon, and in the latter case a media employee was threatened in the middle of the day with a gun, face-to-face,” analyst and reporter of crime new Armand Bajrami said.
Krasniqi added the new parliamentary session should normally begin with the fulfillment of the EU recommendations until Albania can receive a positive recommendation. The most important challenge for Albania and all its factors, according to him, remains the implementation of the judicial reform.
“If political factors can embrace this process, for which so far the signs are negative, then all new justice structures can be established by next spring. This would be the best news for Albania. If by spring we don’t have the HJC, HPC, etc, this would be a big problem that could penalize Albania.” Krasniqi said.
While the political side has not focused its attention on the judicial reform enough, the entire judiciary system, prosecutors and judges, are focused on the vetting process and whether they’ll passing the vetting filter, dragging out their tasks of investigating crime and punishing perpetrators.
Bajrami said the state of the judicial system is chaotic with the gaps being created and so the veting should be carried out as soon as possible so that all prosecutors and judges can return to work.
“Moreover, the situation does not seem very promising because the core institutions of the justice system have been hijacked by the veto process. We have a non-existent Constitutional Court, a nearly-blocked Supreme Court. This creates a favorable climate for crime, which does not feel encroached and as if its punishment will be distant,” Bajrami said.
Consequently, the public opinion has its eyes on political actors again this new parliamentary season in the hope that something will improve in their economic, social and health situations, although more than a few people claim they do not expect much of them and are leaving or are preparing to leave the country.
