In an interview with Ilva Tare yesterday evening, Prime Minister Edi Rama expressed his concerns about the protests of the opposition, which may send a message to Brussels “that there is not the necessary maturity […] to sit at the table to negotiate EU membership.”
The Prime Minister’s remarks are surprising, as the government holds an absolute majority in Parliament and has recently been able, with international support, to install a Temporary Prosecutor General from its own ranks, thus effectively holding sway over all three branches of government.
Prime Minister Rama stated that:
We are in a completely absurd and unique situation in the entire history of the integration of former communist Europe because we are the only country where the risk comes from the inside, from the opposition that is not ready to be part of this process.
It should be noted that opening EU membership negotiations will be based on the government making sufficient progress on the five key priorities, and does not include any evaluation of the behavior of the opposition. Moreover, the government currently has all the means at its disposal for a speedy implementation of any EU request or policy, as it has an absolute majority.
An opposition like this that protests for an issue that in the eyes of those who will open the negotiations with us as solved correctly, what message does that send them? What message is this opposition sending the EU by protesting the EU for a Prosecutor General that has been made with the professional opinion of the EU justice mission?
Again this is a curious statement. The EU justice mission EURALIUS is a private enterprise under contract of the European Delegation in Tirana, which itself is directed by the European External Action Service, which is part of the European Commission. Although the European Commission will publish a Progress Report on Albania in the spring, this report is merely an advice, which will discussed and amended in the European Parliament. Following the Report, the European Council decides on the opening of negotiations. In other words, the EU is a complex bureaucratic structure, and it may very well be that in spite a positive Commission recommendation the Council decides otherwise, as happened in 2016.
This risks creating the worry and send the message that here we are dealing with a kindergarten that doesn’t have the necessary maturity and doesn’t give the guarantee that this is a state that is ready to sit at the table to negotiate EU membership.
The behavior of the opposition is a non-factor in the decision of the EU to open membership negotiations. In fact, an active opposition participating in political debate, which includes public protests, are sign of a healthy democracy. The Prime Minister should be focus less on blaming the opposition for phantasmatic worries, and rather work on his government’s policies, insofar as they actually exist.
