Newly nationalist prime minister stirs worry

Prime Minister Berisha’s surprise nationalist moves come with worrying implications for Albania’s EU integration and visa-free travel. Few believe simple patriotism is motivating the prime minister, but the cost might be Albania’s to bear.
TIRANA, Dec. 6 – In the last gray and rainy days of an Albanian November, the country’s prime minister, Sali Berisha, found himself a man transformed. Celebrating 100 years of Albania’s independence, in a matter of days he had called for national unification in a massive rally in Skopje, told Albanians he supports historic Albania, which includes Kosovo and parts of every country Albania and Kosovo share borders with, and vowed to give an Albanian passport to any ethnic Albanian who wants one.
These are all things Albanians have heard in the past. They have some support in Albania proper and even more so in ethnic Albanians of the former Yugoslavia. But they have never been part of government policy and have never been uttered by a sitting prime minister. The cost to implement any of these measures would have been too high נfrom ethnic conflict that would destabilize the region again on one extreme end to Albanians no longer having the right to visa-free travel to much of Europe on the other end.
Few believe simple patriotism is motivating the prime minister, but the cost might be Albania’s to bear.
“This type of populism that is ready for everything as long as this guarantees a few more votes, regardless of the consequences and the costs that one will in all probability have to pay afterwards, should give us cause for concern,” says Pirro Misha, head of the Institute of Dialogue and Communication.
Electoral nationalism
Most analysts point out the prime minister has turned nationalist largely for electoral purposes. Seeing a big rise in the polls of the Red and Black Alliance, which will likely take away votes from the ruling Democratic Party and other established parties.
“This increase in nationalist rhetoric should be seen in the context of the next parliamentary elections,” says Albert Rakipi, executive director of the Albanian Institute for International studies. “For 20 years years, the Democratic Party and Berisha himself have claimed a monopoly on the national cause. With the emergence of Red and Black Alliance, that perceived monopoly and the votes that come with it are no longer safe.”
The alliance is a radical, centrist group of mostly young people who have not been involved in politics in the past and see nationalism as a means to show their anger at the political establishment.
Nationalism is at the alliance’s core, however. Some analysts say the prime minister has taken to stealing the alliance’s ideas, as both the citizenship for all ethnic Albanians project and calls for a union of all territories where Albanians live were originally part of Red and Black Alliance program נas is calling for arresting Berisha on corruption charges.
Others believe Berisha sees nationalism as his last hope to survive politically, having used anti-communism in the 1990s and anti-corruption in the 2000s. Two decades after the fall of communism, it is not too late to blame it for all of Albania’s troubles, and Albania’s corruption problem has actually become worse in the last few years Berisha has been in power. This week, the Transparency International annual report on corruption showed that Albania has worsened its position in the ranking by 18 points, going from 95 last year to 113 this year.
The passport promise
Perhaps the only thing Berisha can actually implement is changing the country’s citizenship law, which would make it possible for all ethnic Albanians to become citizens of Albania, regardless of where they live.
The small Adriatic republic has 2.8 million residents and roughly 3.5 million citizens. There are roughly 10 million people with Albanian roots globally, with 7 million ethnic Albanians in the Balkans. So the implications would be huge depending on how the law is worded.
The prime minister says the changes are not aimed at the 2013 parliamentary elections as the law would not be set to come to power before then, but he can still use the promise of such law to gain votes.
“The proposal to give citizenship to ethnic Albanians no matter where they live should also be seen in the context of an electoral campaign for the next elections.This proposal could actually hurt what Albanians see as their national cause,” adds Albert Rakipi of AIIS. “Albanians in Kosovo should be loyal to the state of Kosovo. The same applies to Macedonia. It is also in the national interest to strengthen the rule of law in Kosovo and consolidate Macedonia. The proposal is not just tied to visa-free travel, but there are implications for that as well.”
The move could also have major implications for Kosovo, where citizens still need visas to travel to the EU. Citizens of Albania have visa-free access since 2012, but Albania could very well lose it if it offers its passports freely to Kosovo, who is still in the process of meeting EU rules for visa-free access. Albania has agreed to very specific requirements on citizenship with the EU, and if it radically changes its part of the bargain, it could lose the benefits it has gained, say experts at the Albanian Institute for International Studies.
Kosovo’s population is more than 90 percent ethnic Albanian. Ethnic Albanians form about a quarter of the population in neighboring Macedonia, where an ethnic Albanian uprising in 2001 brought the country to the brink of civil war. Montenegro and Serbia have smaller ethnic Albanian communities.
In addition, if in places like Serbia and Macedonia went ahead and changed their citizenship laws to allow a single citizenship, they can strip Albanians of citizenship. Albanians could also move for economic reasons.
As such, the project could be used against national interest, leading to ethnic cleansing, says Besnik Mustafaj, a former Albanian foreign minister.
“Opening this up seems to me to be against national interests. Albanian-inhabited areas [in Serbia and Montenegro] could empty out. If such project is implemented, it would serve as ethnic cleansing,” Mustafaj told Top Channel, a private television station.
No shifting of borders
Officially, Albania wants Albanians united inside the European Union. “We do not advocate any border changes,” said President Bujar Nishani last week.
Berisha has made similar remarks נwhile at the same time tuning up the nationalist rhetoric נduring the celebration of Albania’s 100th anniversary of independence, when he angered the neighbors נGreece in particular נreferring to “Albanian lands” in Greece, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro.
Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avromopoulos promptly canceled his visit to Tirana and said such comments do not help friendly ties in the region. Berisha’s spokeswoman later explained he was speaking in a historical context.
Macedonia’s ethnic tension have also risen since Berisha and Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci decided to start celebrations of 100 years of Albania’s independence in Skopje, where they called for Albanian unity, while again referring to a common EU future.
While nationalism is inherently contrary to the EU project, it can serve as a tool to frighten Europe into speeding up the integration process, argue some analysts. Several years ago, Macedonia was given EU member status as it came out of a short-lived civil war between ethnic Albanians and the majority Slavic population.
However, it is more likely to damage Tirana in its integration efforts.
The opposition
It’s important to note that ideas such as union with Kosovo and passports for ethnic Albanians everywhere might not be welcomed by a large part of Albania’s population. Many would likely not be ready to accept a joining with Kosovo, which has developed separately from Albania for 100 years. Others say they won’t be part of political efforts to manipulate the upcoming election and the minds of the people.
The Socialist opposition is against the prime minister’s ideas. And even on the right, few outside Berisha’s core supporters believe in his sudden patriotic turn.
Socialist Party leader Edi Rama said Berisha can’t fake patriotism when he “donated” some 300 square kilometers to Greece with the demarcation of the sea border agreement, which was later voided by Albania’s constitutional court.
Rama and the opposition have criticized Berisha for making enemies of the neighbors at a time when the country should focus more on its homework to get the candidate status into the EU.