By Blendi Fevziu
Negotiations are seen as the golden key that will unlock the political impasse created as a result of the Opposition’s refusual to take their seats in Parliament. The President of the Republic is being encouraged to promote a dialogue and call a round table between representatives of the government and the opposition. So far, the President has declared that he will only intervene if he is invited to do so by the parties concerned. On the proposal of the Council of Europe, both sides have given their approval. However, it is becoming evident that any expectation of a dialogue or a settlement can only arise from a meeting between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition Edi Rama. Prior to the formal act of “a hand shake” happening however, there must be some kind of a negotatiated agreement in place. The President now has a golden opportunity to sit down with the sides, negotiate with them to find a variant that has common points which draw the two extreme stands closer. The President could take advantage of all methods and means of communication to draft an agreement that would be acceptable to the sides and, on this basis, and with their go-ahead, talks could begin on the details and implementation of this agreement. In this case, the role of the President would be exceptionally important. To organise negotiations merely for the sake of staging a round table would have absolutely no value at all, quite on the contrary. Judging from some of the latest declarations made by opposition representatives it sometimes appears that a round table and representation at this roundtable outweigh the importance of a solution. What would happen if the sides sat down at a negotiations table without preliminary consultations and efforts to harmonize their stands closer? Well, what could happen is both parties repeat their stands, which are now well known, both leaders of the political forces position thenselves firmly in their own trenches and the round table fails. Would this mean that such a round table has aggravated or helped the political situation in the country? A failed round table, chaired by the President of the Republic, attended by the Prime Minister and Leader of the Democratic Party, the Leader of the Opposition and Mayor of Tirana constitutes a far greater and more harmful failure for Albania than a round table that never took place. This is why the President, who has undertaken such an incentive, (although he has still not made a public declaration, but he has received the invitation of both parties and the proposal of the CoE), and the political players must begin negotiations right away, possibly out of the public’s eye, so that Albania has a settlement and not a show.
