The opposition and the government have given the first signs of potentially moving towards a solution to the current crisis, ongoing and escalating since the last parliamentary elections in June 2009.
Yesterday, the opposition put an end to the hunger strike of 22 of its members of parliament and 180 supporters. A hunger strike that went on for 19 days in front of the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Prime Minister at the other end, also gave a sign of withdrawal when declaring that he is open to the options suggested by the opposition.
All of this has come after the pressure and negotiations of the international community.
The opposition leader and the prime minister will sit down together to find a solution, in the presence and pressure of the international community.
The head of the opposition and the prime minister will be travelling to Strasbourg today to reach an agreement with the mediation of the highest European leaders.
We hear that Commissioner Fule will be participating at today’s meeting, having cancelled a visit to Algeria, as well as the head of the parliamentary group of the European People’s Party Joseph Daul, and the one of the European Socialist party Martin Schulz.
The fact that the government and the opposition failed to sit down to discuss a possible solution without the presence of a third party is a very sad fact and clearly speaks of the very low level of political maturity.
We are coming close to a year since the holding of the last parliamentary elections, the results of which the opposition does not recognize.
The opposition boycotted parliament for almost six months while escalating the protests and entering a hunger strike, an almost unique hunger strike.
The fierce struggle for power driven by a zero-sum logic has kept alight a political conflict at a time when the country needed to show more than ever stability and consensus.
The parliament has not managed to function at any level of normalcy for almost a year. A conflictual spirit extended to the society at wide, to the local government level. It created and it continues to create an image lacking of political stability. It has created doubts and hesitation among foreign investors about the viability of investments here.
For almost a year the government and the opposition have invested all, energy, time and resources in a political conflict that has undermined much more than just the image – it has put at risk the very EU future of the country.
The fundamental question is what will happen next? Will the parties to the conflict be adamant in finding a solution and what are the chances that the conflict really ends?
These questions are difficult to answer. The persistence of the international community, the EU and other actors, seems to have at least put an end to the extreme action of the opposition – the hunger strike.
If the zero-sum logic and the obsession to humiliate the other persist, it can safely be said that the conflict will continue.
The only way is for the government and opposition to give up the spirit of conflict and to give up conflict as an instrument of development of politics and rather, work on improving legislation and other instruments for the next elections.
Otherwise, early elections remain the only other alternative, which would be senseless, despairing, utterly futile and even dangerous to maintain a parliamentary life without the opposition.
