Politics Warms Up For Autumn Squabbling

TIRANA, Aug. 31 – With summer over, Albania’s politicians have come back recharged and ready to resume the fighting with the opposition making fresh accusations of corruption against government officials.
Lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party and the oppositions Socialists exchanged accusations of corruption and threats of slander lawsuits over the weekend as political tensions intensified once again.
There have been daily statements by the opposition lawmakers, who accuse cabinet members of using their post to get financial and economic favors for themselves or their family members.
They have continued the attack against the Economy Minister Dritan Prifti of the left-leaning coalition partner Socialist Movement for Integration, Democratic Party lawmaker Albana Vokshi and European Integration Minister Majlinda Bregu.
They accuse them and their family members of having created businesses that profit from government concessions and tenders. And they says related profits have been hidden from the annual transparency declarations Albanian politicians must file.
The governing Democrats have also been on the offensive, targeting Socialist leader Edi Rama, and accusing him of charging businesses for issuing construction permits in the capital, where he is the mayor.
As before the summer, the country is in a state of political deadlock due to the ongoing row between the majority and opposition over the June 2009 parliamentary elections.
The two sides have now agreed to create a new parliamentary investigative commission to audit the elections. They are still not agreeing on how to do that after the failure to establish the commission in March. The Socialists want a partial recount, but the Democrats oppose the idea.
The Socialists now have said it is up to the parliament or the country’s president to ask the Venice Commission whether the ballots can be recounted or not.
The European Union and the European Parliament have suggested that could be a way out to decide for further actions.
A day earlier the SMI had suggested that the SP would be better to turn to the Venice Commission and not continue the political fight in vain and block the country’s further European integration.
No formal response has come to that request.
An official request to the Venice Commission is needed and that can be done only by an official institution in the country. That could likely be the tool the opposition is playing at the moment to further delay a decisions.
So what’s next? Heads of the parliamentary groups will resume their meetings to hammer out a deal, though they haven’t been very successful so far.