OSCE urges political compromise

TIRANA, Sep. 8 – Outgoing Ambassador of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Robert Bosch urged the Albanian political parties to reach a compromise on their own referring to the political deadlock that has been continuing on last year’s parliamentary elections.
“I … see therefore absolutely no reason why a solution cannot be found very quickly. Of course, as usual this all depends on basically one thing – political will,” Bosch said in an interview to an Albanian newspaper.
The ambassador said that the political situation until now has been disappointing as “so far, we have not seen enough of this to finally put a close on this impasse.”
Speaking to the Albanian Daily News he said that the national actors knew that there were “simply too many important national strategic objectives to attain for them to continue the impasse much longer.”
Albania has been engulfed in a political deadlock since the parliamentary elections with the main opposition Socialist Party of the Tirana Mayor Edi Rama, which controls 65 of the 140-seat parliament, claiming vote count manipulation from the governing Democrats
They want a partial recount but the conservative Democrats of Prime Minister Sali Berisha say that ran counter to the country’s laws and the Constitution.
Though he re stressed the will to assist the country’s politics Bosch said that “I should like to see the political class taking ownership for their own actions, without any external involvement in line with what the EU has said about this.”
he said that Albania was “a full NATO member with very strong and well known EU aspirations. A final agreement that is acceptable to all sides would highly strengthen the position of the country in the international arena.”
Bosch said that “greater political will be needed to ensure that the next local government elections fully meet international standards. A consensual reform process, based on the recommendations from the last OSCE/ODIHR Report, should start soonest and conclude after a proper consultative process, one that is inclusive in approach.”
Albania is to hold local elections in May next year.
Bosch feared that mediation would not be accepted the same by all the squabbling sides. “any level of mediation whether its OSCE led or by anyone else, for that matter, will almost certainly end up with one political side claiming that the mediator was in some way biased in favor of the other side, which makes mediation less than easy to put it mildly,” he said.
He also reminded the country that the political stalemate has hampered the approval of a number of very important laws for Albania’s European future, adding that “we would like to see the parliament working in a fully-fledged manner.”
He mentioned the intricacies of the Albanian politics now before leaving, after three years in the post.
“Trying to understand the complexities and intricacies of Albanian politics has been an education for me. I have finally come to the conclusion that politics here is a bit like a mirage in the desert in the sense that as soon as an international(s) thinks they are getting nearer to what can be defined as ‘the reality’ it suddenly gets away from you again. That is probably why politics here remains so absorbing. I cannot say that I have ever had any difficulties when speaking with my Albanian counterparts. At all times, I have found that their door has been open and I have appreciated the many courtesies they have extended to me during my stay here. In terms of issues, there is clearly still a need for major reform concerning the rule of law,” he said.