TIRANA, June 7 – An anticipated meeting between Prime Minister Edi Rama and opposition leader Lulzim Basha on Monday meant to unlock stalled justice reform talks failed to reach its intended purpose.
After three hours of talks between delegations headed by their respective leaders, both parties were ultimately split over the formula for dividing political nominations in justice institutions.
Blame games ensued after the failed meeting.
Prime Minister Edi Rama said that “all efforts were made for obtaining a compromise without affecting the core of the constitutional project” and that “the meeting puts an end to all justifications of the opposition” .
“We will no longer wait for the Democratic Party. After this meeting the draft will go to parliament,” said Rama following aborted negotiations.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Lulzim Basha insisted that the ruling majority aims to politically capture the system.
“The majority has no arguments and is responsible for not reaching a compromise which leads to the failure of justice reform,” Basha told reporters after the meeting.
DP chairman Basha also warned that “any unilateral act is doomed to fail” and according to the Democrats “that has been the aim of the majority since the beginning” .
However, the majority left open the possibility for dialogue in upcoming days, although that possibility looks distant for the time being at least.
“We are ready to listen to any proposals that don’t touch the essence of the draft,” Rama added.
The justice reform package, which also involves constitutional amendments, needs 2/3 of the votes to pass in parliament, votes which the ruling majority doesn’t have.
Failure to adopt the reform by June risks creating a deadlock with the EU and freezing Albania’s aspirations to open membership talks with the bloc for years to come.
Despite growing pressure from the international community, mainly the United States and the European Union, failure to reach an agreement showed once more that consensus is hard to come by in Albanian politics.
The latest round of appeal for overcoming the impasse, included EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, who in a statement issued on Sunday urged political forces to endorse the proposal in the final round of consultations, referring to Monday’s meeting between Rama and Basha.
Emphasizing the need for reform, U.S Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasian Affairs, Victoria Nuland also had phone conversations with Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha and former chairman Sali Berisha last weekend.
On Wednesday, the U.S embassy expressed its disappointment after the meeting of the two political leaders failed to reach an agreement on the judicial reform.
“The government displayed flexibility, but ultimately the opposition did not. The U.S supports the efforts of the Albanian government to move the draft towards passage. It will be the responsibility of individual members of parliament to decide whether they want to keep today’s corrupt and politicized judicial system or whether they will support this reform,” the U.S embassy statement read.
Considering the current legislative proposal as fully in line with European standards, the European Union delegation in Tirana was also dismayed by the failed meeting.
“The European Union Delegation and EU Member States Embassies in Tirana regret that, on Monday, the political leaders in Albania could not reach an agreement on the judicial reform,” the EU mission said in a statement.
