By Andi Bushati/ The reduction of ambassadors

2024-01-16 20:06:00, Opinione Andi Bushati

By Andi Bushati/ The reduction of ambassadors

Analyst Andi Bushati

The main diplomatic headquarters in Tirana have reacted timidly to an initiative by Edi Rama and his pseudo-democratic tools, to unilaterally change the rules of the electoral game, leaving out the country's main opposition. They have denounced, in apparent coordination with each other, the lies behind the Gjiknuri-Alibeaj pact, thus implying that there can be no electoral reform without a controlling role of the DP that has the votes (although the government holds them hostage seal).

Even, in their statements, international diplomats have gone even further, demanding, as the EU emphasized, the full involvement of the parties in the process, or the contribution of all parties, as the US embassy emphasized, without being excluded from this commitment "the herbivores".

So, in these pre-agreed positions, one can clearly see the concern that Edi Rama will do as he pleases with the elections, completely disregarding those who think differently.

But what impresses you in these attitudes of the western headquarters is that although they have smelled and detected this anti-democratic kicking, they have contented themselves with a faint, transitory, almost powerless reaction.

This phenomenon has its own explanation.

Four years ago, the most powerful ambassadors in Tirana were engaged as arbitrators of a pact to define electoral rules between the government and the opposition. This agreement was agreed on the basis of a principle, that for every issue, on which the parties did not agree, the draft would be written by the OSCE. Thus, after many vicissitudes, an agreement was reached on June 5, at the headquarters of the American ambassador, which was also greeted by the secretary of state in Washington.

It was after this that Edi Rama decided to overturn the table.

He unilaterally, with what they called the new opposition, changed the rules of the game. He used the fake opening of the lists to remove the possibility of DP and LSI to form a winning coalition.

According to the agreed agreement with international guarantees, the opposition asked the OSCE to have the last word, but the majority did not even consider it. The EU and Germany threatened not to start the negotiations, but Rama replied that they have nothing to do with the electoral law of a sovereign country.

Slowly, the pressure died off, the all-powerful prime minister did as he pleased and got the result he had planned in the election. For the first time, since '90, an open challenge to the internationals, passed without leaving a trace. October 2020, sanctioned the disregard of the refereeing role of the ambassadors and their powerlessness to react to this.

This event also explains today's timid reaction to a new attempt by the Tirana regime to do whatever it wants with the elections.

At first glance, in theory, this should not be a bad sign. A few bureaucrats, often misanthropes and petty, who are transient in this country, have no reason to get more power than they deserve in a sovereign state. Even when he says it with hypocrisy, Edi Rama is right every time he articulates this thesis. Whether with peace or with war, Albanian politicians must find their own ways of establishing democratic balances. Ambassadors must keep their country at a distance.

But the bad thing is that this did not happen in Albania. Diplomatic headquarters have not withdrawn from the field, in order to maintain an equal role towards the parties. With the tendency of gullible negotiators to put pressure on the weakest link, they have only hit the opposition. Even when they labeled Luli and Monika as people who acted against the interest of their nation, even when they prevented Meta from demonstrating with the American flag, which every trafficker keeps in his car or on the roof, even when they declared Berisha non grata, 8 years after leaving power, even when they mocked Basha, pushing him towards the DP's split, even when they appealed to the electorate on who they should vote for, escalating every principle of the Vienna Convention, sometimes thanks to lobbying and many times thanks to naivety, they created a deep imbalance in the country.

Edi Rama's personal power was also installed as a result of the colossal blunders of the Westerners. Their commitment opened the way for him to an unbalanced and uncontrollable power, from an opposition that was massacred from all sides. To our common detriment the internationals reaped what they had sown themselves, the diminution of their role. That's why today, even when they are in front of the horror that is happening, they make reactions to wash their mouths, like the latter, simply to distance themselves from what they can no longer prevent.