Political Statusquo

TIRANA, Jan. 21 – The Council of Europe (CoE) issued a report Tuesday that in part urged an end to the political crisis in Albania. The CoE said the contested June 2009 general elections should be investigated, as the opposition, including the Socialist Party (SP), has demanded. The council also urged the SP to end its months-long boycott of parliament and return to work. It added that the lack of dialogue has contributed to the deterioration of the political environment.
Co-rapporteurs: Mr Jaakko LAAKSO, Finland, Group of the United European Left, and Mr David Wilshire, United Kingdom, European Democratic Group visited Albania last month and met with all political wings to prepare such a report, that will be discussed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE next week.
The Monitoring Committee urges the Albanian government and opposition to put an end to the current political crisis and assume their responsibilities in order to proceed with vital reforms.
The government should set up, without further delay, a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the June 2009 elections and the opposition should return to parliament and fully participate in its work.
The Albanian authorities should also improve the legislative electoral framework, in close co-operation with the Venice Commission.
The CoE also urges President Bamir Topi to play his role of mediator and help achieve an end to the boycott based on the acceptance of the recent election result and the full restoration of parliamentary democracy.
The Monitoring Committee proposes that the Presidential Committee of the Assembly, together with the Monitoring Committee’s co-rapporteurs for Albania, should visit the country as soon as possible after the Assembly winter session.
That means that it will again be the international interference to resolve the political crisis in the country, now a NATO member and one looking forward to get the European Union candidate status.
Besides it is also expecting Brussels to decide on the visa-free regime, likely in July, to the EU Schengen area.
The5re has been no change from the stands of both main political groupings _ the governing Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha and the main opposition Socialist Party of Tirana Mayor Edi Rama.
The Democrats said immediately after the CoE draft report became public saying they are much in favor of the investigative committee of the June 28, 2009 elections but that did not mean opening and recounting of the ballot boxes.
The Socialists, on their side, insist that without opening the ballot boxes nothing else is worth dealing with.
Like always during the post-communist period since 1990 Europe (the international community) deplores “the political and institutional deadlock currently paralyzing governance in Albania. This situation does not benefit the Albanian people nor the country’s European integration process.”
It says that the absence of parliamentary dialogue and recourse to boycotts … hampers the democratic functioning of the state’s institutions, regretting the opposition decision not to participate in the parliament.
“Political dialogue should take place first and foremost in the parliament and not on the streets,” the report said.
The CoE insists that the absence of any genuine dialogue, inflammatory political rhetoric could further destabilize the country.
The CoE Parliamentary Assembly said that it will be actively involved, in close co-operation with other international organizations, in the search for a political solution to the crisis and support the efforts to bring all political parties together.
It says it could offer a forum for political reconciliation among the Albanian political parties.
“We hope that the forthcoming local elections in Albania, scheduled for early 2011, will be held in accordance with the new Electoral Law, that they will be free and fair and that their results will be accepted by all political parties,” the report said.