Tirana - the Stability Pact

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

AIM Tirana, February 12, 2000

First thing that foreign guests demand of Albanian politicians when they meet them in Tirana, is that they should reach a consensus regarding strategic issues of national interest, and the first thing which Albanian politicians forget after these meetings is that same consensus. On the same day Mr. Sabathil, President of the EU Delegation, who was on a visit to Tirana on January 27, publicly demanded of political parties to ensure joint action of all democratic forces and political factors active in Albania, the proposal on the formation of an

ad hoc parliamentary commission for the Stability Pact was put to vote in the Albanian Parliament. The Government's majority voted in favour of

this proposal, while major opposition parties boycotted the session.

The problem of the Parliamentary Commission for Stability Pact is the latest instance in the rich collection of political conflicts between the authorities and the opposition in Albania, where the Pact itself is pushed to the background and current political interest of one party or another come to the fore. The idea on the formation of Parliamentary Commission for Stability Pact, proposed by the Socialist Party's President Fatos Nano met with the disapproval of the opposition forces which, without even fully understanding the proposal, called it an attempt of the Socialist Party and its leader at monopolising the Stability Pact.

Last fall too, when the former Socialist Prime Minister Pandeli Majko submitted to Parliament a project of new national strategy for the Stability Pact, the Democratic Party voted against it and announced that

it was preparing its own special project for the national Pact strategy.

Albania still doesn't have its own national Pact strategy adopted jointly and by consensus of all major political forces in the country - those in power as well as those in opposition. The Stability Pact has become a political bone of contention at the time when many common people in Albania do not have the faintest idea what the Pact really stands for, but only compare it with the famous Marshall Plan, and when each political party is eager to secure for itself the glory of being the one entrusted with the Pact's implementation.

At the same time, this aspiration is followed by attempts at defeating each other, so that none of them would become the engine of the Albanian

train heading for the Stability Pact. Not even the approaching important

Conference of International Donors for the Financing of the Stability Pact Projects, which is to be held in March, has made the Albanian political forces realise the importance of consensus for this Pact.

The Programme of Meta's Government has characterised the Stability Pact

as one of the priorities of the Albanian foreign policy. During January,

Prime Minister Meta took part in several high-level meetings, like the one in Ohrid on January 18, with his colleagues from Macedonia and Montenegro, then the one in Hisar, Bulgaria, on January 22, with Prime Ministers of countries bordering FRY and finally, on February 1, the tripartite meeting in Prespa with Prime Ministers of Greece and Macedonia. Joint projects within the Stability Pact were in the centre of attention of all these meetings.

The Government rightfully insisted on primarily the economic aspect of this Pact, an aspect which is also the most sensitive one for the people

of the poor Albanian state. Gramoz Pashko, Coordinator of the Albanian Government for the Stability Pact, admitted that on account of economic projects other Pact's aspects relating to security and democracy, have been neglected. Actually, this phenomenon is also observed in other Balkan countries which are participating in the Pact, in which economic aspect has been treated as priority in relation to security and democracy aspects. This is easy to understand since the Balkans are the most underdeveloped economic region in Europe.

Actually, ambitions of the Tirana political circles regarding the Pact are great. The fact that the Stability Pact came into being and materialised as a project after the war in Kosovo and with the entry of NATO forces, in which the Albanian factor provided an important incentive, contributed to Albania's aspirations to a special role and place within it. Some time ago, an idea was launched here that Albania might be awarded a leading place in the Pact, which is a result of insufficient knowledge of the Pact's contents and objectives of the European Union as its author and leader, as well as some ambiguities concerning the role of countries which expect assistance from this Pact.

After meeting with the American Ambassador, J.Limpreht, in Tirana last December, Deputy Prime Minister, Mrs. Magbule Ceco informed the public of the wish of the American Government for Albania to assume the leading

position within the Stability Pact.

Similar comments were given on the meeting of the President of Socialist Party, Fatos Nano, with representatives of the large German corporation SIEMENS. However, the American Ambassador neither confirmed nor refuted Mrs. Ceco's statement. During his visit to Tirana of January

29, the American State Undersecretary, Thomas Pickering, stated that Albania was an important country within the Stability Pact and that without its development this Pact couldn't succeed. This interdependence

underlined by the high American diplomat confirmed the importance of Albania's participation in terms of the need for it to develop reforms and to control corruption, i.e. the influence and role Albania can assume with its democratic progress.

The Socialist Party, which leads the Government and has the majority in Parliament, sees the Stability Pact as its chance to demonstrate its ruling capabilities, but also a chance to continue its rule after the expiry of its term in 2001. It has therefore been very active and it is the Socialist Party which gave several proposals which testify of its efforts to secure a role of region's political initiator within the framework of the Pact. To that end, it proposed the creation of a Regional Parliamentary Assembly of the Pact, as well as formation of an ad hoc parliamentary Commissions for the Pact in the parliaments of all countries of the region. Implementing this proposal in practice the Albanian Parliament formed its Commission.

Bearing in mind that in the majority of EU member countries, which are in charge of the Stability Pact, parties of the Left are in power, the Socialist Party of Albania proposed to organise a Conference of the Socialist International this spring in Tirana, in which all European parties of the Left, especially those from the Stability Pact, would take part.

One of the basic requirements for the participation in the Stability Pact and its projects, is the stability of the country and consensus of its political forces. Despite the fact that the Western diplomacy insisted on this time and time again, it is obviously still not clear here that neither the authorities nor the opposition can secure Albania a role it desires nor any benefit from this Pact. However, it is not uncommon for the local political parties to interpret the criteria and demands of EU or USA delegations regarding Albania's participation in the Pact projects, as being addressed to only the Government or solely to the opposition.

It is characteristic of the Albanian politics that, because of patriarchal traditions, personal relations rank high among assessment criteria. Here a political idea or proposal can be accepted or rejected depending on the opinion one party or the other has of the other party's

leader. That is why analysts are convinced that the Parliamentary Commission for the Pact, proposed by the Socialist Party, was rejected by the opposition primarily on account of the fact that its President would be Fatos Nano, as President of the Party that also has the majority in Parliament. Moreover, this impression was the reason why this idea was opposed by the Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Commission and the Democratic Party, as well as some smaller parties of the Right, and the abstention of one Socialist deputy, Nano's well known opponent.

Thus, the consensus regarding the Pact is far away and, as one of the best known deputies of the reformist stream of the Democratic Party, Ferdinand Xhaferri, explained few days ago that in this way the Albanian

political forces have shown that they are unable to ensure a suitable environment for the Stability Pact, and are even holding it a hostage. He proposed a pact between the authorities and the opposition which would precede their joining the Stability Pact.

It seem that the intolerant attitude that has characterised the Albanian politics did not soften even after persistent mediation of the OSCE Mission in Tirana in the Albanian political life. It was frequently

forced to intervene in quarrels that could have been easily settled within the Albanian institutions. The concern of the international community about the political situation in Albania is growing as important dates on the Stability Pact agenda are drawing near. This concern has intensified because of the forthcoming local elections which

are scheduled for this fall. It is obvious already now that this will be

a "hot" fall which is why the chances of reaching some consensus regarding the Stability Pact are even more remote, and this, in turn, can cause the delay of some Pact projects. Mr.Ahrems, Chief of the OSCE Mission in Albania invited the political parties to overcome the strained political situation and warned them of the harm this might cause to Albania's reputation in the world.

Neither the inclusion of Kosovo in the Stability Pact projects, nor plans for the joint participation with Kosovo in these projects, have moved the patriotic feelings of political parties in Tirana enough to force them to unite for the purposes of the Stability Pact.

It even seems that quire the opposite happened. Conflicts and lack of consensus among political parties of Albania regarding the Pact and other issues pertaining to the region have, one way or the other, negatively affected the state of political relations between Albanian political factors in Kosovo. That was so pronounced that Larry Rosin, Chief of American Liaison Office in Pristina, who came to Tirana several

days ago, asked two major political parties - the Socialist and the Democratic Party - not to transfer their quarrels to political parties in Kosovo.

Albania places great hopes in the Stability Pact, hopes that sometimes seem like an illusion, that the country and the region will transform as

quickly and deeply as the Western Europe had after World War II. But, the greatest lesson of the Marshall Plan was that its implementation was

aided by consensus which this plan met with among the political forces of Europe. This has been demanded of Albania for years but, so to say, has never been achieved.

AIM Tirana Shaban MURATI