Prime Minister Edi Rama has been absent from the last four meetings of the Councils of Ministers. According to article 102(a) of the Constitution, the Prime Minister is supposed to preside over the Council of Ministers.The last meeting he attended last was one month ago, on January 11.
An analysis of the Decisions of the Council of Ministers (VKM) published on the website of the Prime Ministry from January 2015 until now shows clearly that since March 2016 Deputy Prime Minister Niko Peleshi has been signing an increasing amount of governmental decisions. Deputy Prime Minister Peleshi presides over the Council of Ministers in absence of Prime Minister Rama.
Prime Minister Rama recently raised eyebrows when he proposed his Deputy Peleshi to replace him, for the second time, at a Council of National Security meeting. This was refused by President Bujar Nishani.
The data analyzed by Exit show that in 2015, Prime Minister Rama signed 83.4% of the VKMs. In 2016, this number dropped to 57.6%. Nearly half of the government’s decisions was signed by Deputy Prime Minister Peleshi. It is well known that Rama produces part of his artistic output while doodling during the Council of Ministers meetings. It now seems, to leave this “boring” aspect of government to his Deputy, choosing to focus on his art career.
