Only a few days after the formalization of his overwhelming victory on 25 June, Edi Rama announced the launch of a “new form of democracy” in Albania. For the triumphantly reestablished Prime Minister, the conditions were now ready “for people to be very close to the government.” With his absolute majority in Parliament, the leader of the Socialist Party (PS), exempt from the tedious negotiations to form a coalition, hammered out that he certainly wanted to share power, but this time with the “citizens.”
Throughout the summer, across the country, Edi Rama has given speech after speech, listening to the grievances of his fellow citizens. He gave shape to his new concept and eventually announced the creation of a “platform of co-governance with common people.” While the Prime Minister regularly claims his affiliation with Tony Blair’s social democracy, it is difficult to perceive in this new “participatory democracy” any influence of the European left. On the contrary, his opponents denounce it as a new form of populism.
Unlimited power and arrogance are unacceptable in a democracy.
Edi Rama called on his “fans” to publicly denounce public officials who would be guilty of “negative practices towards ordinary people.” The reactions were even more vivid after the publication of a blacklist in mid-July containing about a hundred names, officials questioned by the Prime Minister’s “fans”. The oldest human rights NGO in Albania, the Helsinki Committee, considers this practice “illegal” as it generates “unnecessary problems.”
In a country where the administration is highly politicized, outraged reactions have multiplied, coming from the opposition, of course, but also from the ranks of the PS. Lulzim Basha, leader of the Democratic Party (PD), the main opposition party, compared the “justice of Prime Minister Rama” with that of Enver Hoxha, saying that his “black list” omits “the real criminal thieves Government … which privatized the government.” As for Monika Kryemadhi, partner of President Ilir Meta and new leader of the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI), former coalition partner of the PS, she calls for a strong opposition to “show this Prime Minister delirious that unlimited power and arrogance are unacceptable in a democracy.”
Not very sensitive to this storm of criticism, Edi Rama stick with his choice and even ups the ante: “The platform […] will be hell for anyone who is paid by the State and abuse ordinary people.” Threats are quickly implemented. At the end of July, he dismissed the local directors of the Asset Registries, after having harassed them, accusing them of repeated delays. “This job is not for you, leave immediately. I invite you to submit your resignation within 24 hours.” A few days later it was the turn of the hospital directors to be blamed for their “moral responsibility” for the poor management and dirtiness of the hospitals. Despite the resistance of some, believing that their sudden departure, in the middle of summer, would cause management problems, the phone calls of the Minister of Health eventually ensured their dismissal.
When the working class speaks, the bureaucracy is silent.
These dismissals should only be the first of a long list. With the school year hardly begun, a new plan to restructure public administration was announced, with the aim of reducing the number of public institutions. “We want to do more and better with fewer resources,” said former Deputy Prime Minister Niko Peleshi. After the reduction in the number of ministries, 37 agencies at the central level are expected to soon be abolished and the country divided into four major administrative areas, which will manage essential services such as health, education, social affairs, and finance. Many experts are already skeptical: no figures have been put forward regarding the economies or the number of jobs affected by these restructuring efforts.
In parallel with these cuts in the civil service, the office of the “platform of co-governance with the citizens” has been set up and is recruiting. If we still do not know what will be its mission or which institution this new platform will be attached to, it has already received several hundred applications. 40 posts would be created under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister.
“When the working class speaks, the bureaucracy is silent.” Some commentators have not hesitated to exhume this famous slogan of Enver Hoxha to describe the new democracy à la Edi Rama, where personal opinions and judgments seem to counterbalance institutions. Comparisons with the times of the Communist dictatorship or the Maoist cultural revolution have multiplied to comment on this political shift of the Prime Minister. But according to political scientist Ermal Hasimja, the methods of Edi Rama “are not more autocratic than those of Sali Berisha in the 1990s.” One recalls the famous telephone number via which citizens could send their complaints directly to the former Prime Minister. The tendency to put the media and other independent institutions under control is clearly visible and disturbing.
The tendency to put under control the media and other independent institutions is clearly visible and worrying.
“The tendency to put under control the media and other independent institutions is clearly visible and worrying,” stresses Ermal Hasimja, who recalls that Edi Rama manages to implement his program “all the more easily with his system of stick and the carrot by integrating individual ambitions. In a country where no one believes in the future, a job or privilege becomes the only viable strategy.” Meanwhile, the emigration of young and old Albanians has reached new records.
In the fall of 2016, the movement against the law on the import of waste had put civil society back on the scene. Today, these activists struggle to make themselves heard. Fatos Lubonja is sorry for “the apathy of the reaction to the arrogance of Rama” while, according to him, the corruption of power is still present. The publicist is worried about the return of “the cult of the infallibility of the supreme leader” and his new strategy based on “the idea that the people are infallible, in order to eliminate his opponents.” Somberly, he sees “the signs of a history that is repeated in the form of a new tragedy.”
Faced with a process of European integration that is still unclear, the Albanian Prime Minister seems to be playing the card of the strengthening of his personal power. While many people insist that “the financial health of the oligarchic friends of Edi Rama” has become synonymous with the country’s economic growth, his “people’s co-governance” 2.0 should allow him keep his stranglehold on the institutions a bit longer.
This article was first published in Courrier des Balkans, and translated by Exit.
