After the elections in Albania, the German media mention the likelihood that Prime Minister Edi Rama will go toward a fourth term. But they also reflect on the current situation in Albania, where it is emphasized that, although Edi Rama and the Socialist Party are heading toward victory, they are contested in domestic politics.
The newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung, under the title “Edi Rama will be for the fourth time Albania’s head of government – portrait of a permanent nonconformist”, emphasizes today that we should not be deceived by Rama’s image as an outsider in politics.
“The construction boom over time has also damaged Rama’s reputation as a reformer. In urban development is concentrated what is wrong in the rest of Albania as well: nepotism distributes building permits to close people, and the granting of contracts depends on political connections, black funds, and under-the-table deals.
At the center of this network stand the governing parties and the companies connected to them. Rama’s socialists’ repeated success is attributed largely to this clientelist system.
In 2013, he defeated his sworn enemy Sali Berisha for the first time and became prime minister. Rama is likely to keep this post for another four years, thus remaining in power for sixteen years.
What is not working in the state became apparent in February, when Erion Veliaj, the mayor of the capital and Rama’s close friend, was arrested together with his wife by the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecution. They are accused of having built a sophisticated self-enrichment system in cooperation with construction companies and friendly NGOs.
Rama exploded in anger, called protests, and attacked the investigating judges. With this, he damaged a reform that he himself had launched in 2017. With the goal of EU membership, the country’s ruined justice system was supposed to become independent and strong. Since then, more than half of the judges have been replaced and new institutions for fighting corruption have been created. That they function is shown by the indictment and arrest of Veliaj.
Rama’s well-oiled clientelist system is an explanation for the electoral success of the socialists.”
In the German media, Rama is portrayed as truly pro-European, an unconventional artist who is very well received in Brussels because his politics are in line with the EU, but also highly contested.
“Elections in Albania: How authoritarian is Edi Rama,” asks one of Germany’s biggest radio stations, Dlf, in an extensive weekend report.
“Edi Rama is in the EU a welcomed friend, and it seems that ideologically and geopolitically he stands firmly on Europe’s side. But critics fear that Albania’s successes on issues such as the rule of law and democracy are successes only on paper, and that the country is not ready for EU membership. This also has to do with Edi Rama, who shows authoritarian traits.”