I read that a former colleague of mine, a former member of the Democratic Party, said in a Facebook post that Edi Rama should not resign now despite the calls and pressure of the flamingo protest. The colleague explained that he stood by the thousand and one things he had said about Rama in the last two decades, but since according to him, Albania, for geopolitical reasons, has a good chance of joining the EU, it is necessary for Rama, who has brought the country close to the final station, to stay and do this job.
This reasoning is based on two simple premises but, in my opinion, are wrong:
Premise 1 : “Albania is on the verge of EU membership, which is expected to happen in 2030.” This is what the “Rama” government says as a major goal. On the EU side, Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos has called it possible if 1) reforms are implemented and the required standards are met, and if, in addition to the European Commission that she represents, the Council (member states) and the European Parliament agree.
The European Parliament in its latest resolution was not negative but less enthusiastic than Ms. Kos, emphasizing reforms and conditions.
Member states are a different story, as was seen earlier this year when a significant relative majority blocked IBAR and later unblocked it by adding strict conditions, including resolving the problems created by the Rama government.
Will the Rama government fulfill the conditions? So far, the government has been able to "write papers" and formally adopt laws according to European directives without seriously committing to their implementation. The IBAR-closing of chapters period will be focused on the real implementation of laws and the factual and proven fulfillment of the conditions. In the latter, the Rama government has never excelled for well-known reasons.
Beyond the official statements, what is being said is that Commissioner Kos has maintained unconsulted positions on Albania and beyond; she is being considered by member states but also from within the Commission as a kind of irritating “soloist” who speaks for herself. But even the European Parliament, which like the Commission has an encouraging refrain for candidate countries, has its limits. For example, the spokesperson for the largest parliamentary group (PPE) in the Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) after a visit to Albania in February of this year declared in the committee “that he was erasing from his memory for the moment what the government and the opposition told him; but with what civil society in Tirana had shown him about the infiltration of the state by organized crime, any serious discussion about membership is very premature.”
For three years now, the EU has been publicly discussing the “staged accession” or “gradual membership” of candidate countries, and the Commission, Parliament and a number of member states have expressed their support for this idea. A joint letter from the French President and the German Chancellor three weeks ago specifically expresses its support, signaling that this position will soon become official in the EU. This means that currently only Montenegro, which has been negotiating with the EU for several months for an accession treaty, has a (small) chance of achieving full membership like Croatia in 2013; while Albania and other countries in the Western Balkans will be gradually included in European institutions and programs over the coming decades, according to their merits.
Premise 2: Prime Minister Rama has brought the process with the EU to this point and it would not be appropriate to replace him according to the principle of "you can't change horses in the middle of the river".
A few years ago, a socialist MP called KM Rama an international brand for Albania. This statement was met with ridicule in the opposition and beyond, as were the comparisons of the time with Skanderbeg. We do not know how sincere the socialists were in favor of the Rama brand, but at that time their argument was that as an eccentric and charming character, Rama from Little Albania managed to have friendly access to large chancelleries. In fact, for many years, many internationals chose to remain silent or even to lie in the face of the erosion of democracy and the narco-criminalization of the economy and power. This was a loss for a European Albania and a shame for them. But this episode, widely discussed, seems to have an end. The courage of many Albanians to expose reality and political changes in the West have brought a different approach and vocabulary to the Rama government in the last two years. The month-long Flamingo citizen protest with daily rallies on the boulevard has also made a special contribution. The main media in Europe and the US are no longer writing about Rama's paintings and sneakers but are presenting him as an abusive head of government, involved in criminal trafficking and floating contentedly in a pool of corruption. See for example what the Belgian daily Le Soir writes today. Is this the right leader for the European dream? In the EU, put aside the lovelorn Marta Kosi and the like, they are doubting this more and more every day.
There is also a third wrong premise in the post in question: the former colleague anathematizes the Flamingo protest as Islamist, Marxist and extremist. The government, searching the crowd for the wrongdoers with a magnifying glass in one hand and a carafe in the other, is trying to brand the entire movement as such. Every popular mobilization in the square also gathers all sorts of types with incompatible ideas. But the movement in question in this semi-organized phase of its existence should objectively be judged by the public proclamations it issues. According to them, the Flamingos specifically demand the resignation of Rama and his government followed by a technical government, electoral reform, repeal of the law on strategic investors and the latest amendments to environmental laws. Anyone who recalls will find that these demands are almost 100% the same as those of the parliamentary opposition over the years. Even the daily discourse of the protest is no longer about Zvërnec but about the general mess we are in and how we will get out of it. That is why the Robespierreian cry "Rama in prison, Berisha in prison" that I hear from time to time on the boulevard should not be taken any more seriously than a clove of garlic that removes the evil eye.
*President of Paneuropa-Albania
