During his speech today at the National Assembly of the Socialist Party, Prime Minister Edi Rama has found the culprits of two main problems of the country: the rising taxes and delay with the EU accession negotiations.
In a rare moment, it appears that Prime Minister Rama openly criticized Mayor of Tirana Erion Veliaj, who was present at the assembly, for raising the taxes in Tirana:
We [the central government] have lowered the taxes, but we need to have a discussion with the municipalities who have profited from this possibility to raise the local taxes.
Even though Prime Minister Rama claims that municipalities, and especially Tirana, have raised their taxes considerably, the same holds for the central government. For example, income taxes have been raised to 23%, from a 10% flat tax under the former PD government.
The other, now permanent culprit is the opposition, which according to Prime Minister Rama is afraid of the judicial reforms and is obstructing at every step the opening of EU accession negotiations:
A historical achievement of Albania is under threat: the opening of the negotiations. It is under threat from the fear for the judicial reform, turned into a destructive politics that we as government cannot do anything about, but which could cause extraordinary damage to Albania. The opposition may not become the problem of the negotiations.
It appears that Prime Minister Rama has forgotten that he has an absolute majority in Parliament and that the opposition has no actual political power to stop any of his policies. He also seems to ignore that opening of the EU accession negotiations does not depend on the opposition, but on significant and meaningful progress on the five key priorities, so often emphasized by the internationals.
It should moreover be pointed out that key institutions of the judicial reform, which according to the Constitution should have been installed, such as the High Prosecutorial Council (KLP), have been blocked by the government, rather than the opposition.
