In Tirana the German chief diplomat has sidestepped diplomacy and has spoken in harsh tones. Sigmar Gabriel, who holds at the same time the position of German Vice Chancellor, is a well-known figure of the Social Democratic Party. He made several announcements, which were forewarned earlier by some journalists, but which have, nonetheless, created a new situation in Tirana. When asked about the protest of the opposition he declared that
Whoever boycotts parliament to stop the judicial reform harms the country and the reputation of Albania.
I make an appeal to those that have brought Albania to a crossroads. The crossroads is the judicial reform, its implementation, and a more complicated road.
Led by their interests, the political and financial elites aim at blocking the road toward the European Union. The issue remains whether we will continue toward the EU or put the interests of local elites first.
Whoever wants to go surely toward the EU should work to consolidate laws and the parliament. Whoever refuses to do this, pushes Albania away from the European Union.
This wasn’t even Gabriel’s strongest declaration. Referring to the request of the opposition for a caretaker government he added:
No one in Germany and Europe understands why right before elections, a technical government is required, this is inexplicable. The national interest of the opposition shouldn’t be chaos.
The second declaration of Gabriel has created a stalemate regarding what is expected to happen during next week. According to our sources, on April 24 or 25 David McAllister is expected to arrive in Tirana, a German politician, and member of Angela Merkel’s party. McAllister is invited as mediator to find a solution between the sides, also because he serves as Vice President of European People’s Party and Chair of the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee. McAllister could have arrived in Tirana earlier, but he had a work visit in Pakistan, so his visit to Tirana was postponed by nearly a week. There wasn’t supposed to be any events during this week.
Trusted sources have told Opinion that McAllister doesn’t want his visit in Tirana to be unfruitful. He doesn’t want it to be another routine visit, or a failure. First and foremost, he wants the two sides to find a middle ground and move toward similar standpoints. The Democratic Party (PD) has declared during the last weeks that it will sit at a round table only if the option of a caretaker government is under consideration. Basha has been even clearer by declaring that he wants to speak only about the modalities of a caretaker government.
But if another German, in this case the chief diplomat, Gabriel, makes such a declaration, it seems that negotiation between the parties becomes much harder. If Gabriel declares himself that a caretaker government is incomprehensible for Germany and Europe, he has almost closed a door to McAllister’s mediation. The negotiation will now be harder and chances of failure higher. Given the circumstance it has now become uncertain whether McAllister will accept the role of the mediator or not. And what is more, both Gabriel and McAllister will speak on behalf of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Have the German politicians come to an agreement and have there been any last minute changes? It is hard to find an answer to these questions but we will most probably find out next week!
