Ten years after the deep crisis of the year 1997, when the country plunged into the anarchy that followed the collapse of the pyramidal schemes, and which ended with the fall of the state in the most unthinkable way possible, the government has instigated an investigatory process on some of the most severe events of this crisis. The Ministry of Interior and other institutions have notified that new processes will be opened for the murders perpetrated during the 1997 crisis. In the meanwhile, there have been a number of arrests and it is stated that more will follow. The government says that it is determined to investigate and reinvestigate all the violent cases, the majority of which has ended in murders. According to the government, this is not a political campaign to strike at the political opponents, but an attempt to face with the law a number of citizens who, taking advantage of the anarchy of the time, got involved in criminal activities and even murders.
On the other hand, although the opposition is in principle not against the opening of the 1997 files, it nevertheless warns that the government is dealing with the past to divert the attention of the public from the serious problems such as the energy crisis and the failure of the government in a number of development projects. It is more comfortable for the government, says a representative of the opposition, to talk about the past than to face the present. The opposition also opposes the initiative and the actions of the government to reopen the 1997 files on the argument that the government is using this process against the opposition and its supporters.
But why are the 1997 files being reopened, and why now? Is this an attempt to reconsider the past, to confront it no matter how bitter it is and to learn the lessons from it? Is this an attempt to face the past at the level of the society and the political elite, and are the society and the political elite ready to reconsider one of the deepest crises, if not the deepest, of the history of the modern Albanian state?
First of all, it is crystal clear that the reconsideration of the crisis of the year 1997 is partial. The state institutions and the Ministry of Interior or the courts and the prosecution are simply investigating some of the violent events of this crisis. Therefore, the process currently under way cannot be a process through which the society and the elite face the crisis of 1997 at the political level. Currently, we do not have a political debate on the political, economic and social factors that lead to the collapse of the state. Perhaps it is still early to reconsider the 1997 files in this perspective. A serious, indispensable, and useful reflection of this part of our history should definitely include the consideration of these factors.
Nevertheless, the initiative of the state institutions to open some of the violent files and to punish those guilty is not condemnable.
Apparently, the opposing attitude of the opposition is to a certain extent argumented by the fact that the government of the right center is undertaking the process of reconsideration of the 97 events two years after coming into power. And especially, considering the fact that currently the country is facing one of the most extreme energy crises, which is only getting deeper, and which, according to experts, translates into a multifaceted economic crisis. But, despite this context, the bringing in front of justice of those involved in the 1997 criminal acts is nevertheless essential and should not be criticized.
Also, for as long as the there is no political use of these processes and no tendency to make a political screening and selection of the criminal files of the year 1997, the actions of the government should be supported.
In the meanwhile, the opening of some court processes for some violent acts cannot be pretended to be a political process of reflection on what happened in 1997, on the political reasons and the responsibility of all for the most severe crisis in the history of the Albanian state. Perhaps, the society and the political actors themselves are still not ready for the essential facing of the past.
On the other hand, the agenda of the opposition does not need to be dominated by the agenda of the government. The arrests of criminals and the court cases against them, based on the law, have no reason to deviate the attention of the public and the agenda of the opposition from the spectacular failure of the government in the case of energy. The argumentation of the Albanian blackout based on the draught in the region and the closing of the nuclear plant in Bulgaria is a big lie. Albania is the only country going towards a total blackout as if going to a party. The opposition should propose alternative solutions instead of, for example, organizing public protests for the lack of energy.
