We are one party! We are one force!
That’s how Prime Minister addressed his Socialist deputies yesterday, after he claimed that the Socialist Party, its parliamentary absolute majority, and the government are one. The Prime Minister made his declaration after the signing of a collaboration agreement between the three.
This is an agreements that lays down the collaboration and interaction rules between the government, the parliamentary group, and the PS, as three inseparable parts of the same team. We are one power. We are one force. We are not divided in layers. We are one party. We are one force.
The text of the agreement has not yet been made public, but it may be clear that the document itself has no legal value and is without any real contents or any genuine consequences. It is just a propaganda stunt for his militants.
The ceremony was, however, a victory lap of Edi Rama before the Albanians to show that he in fact holds all the power. Edi Rama is chairman of the Socialist Party, Prime Minister and Chair of the Council of Minister, and has kept his mandate as deputy while positioning a close political ally as Speaker of Parliament.
The Albanian Constitution does not stipulate any proper division or limitation on the different powers, and any party with an absolute majority can in principle control every aspect of the state without many legal constraints. Edi Rama, however, has turned this deficit in our democratic system into a virtue and accomplishment.
His calls should set off the alarm bells about the state of democracy and rule of law in the country, and are a bad omen for the coming four years.
