Change of perspective in Albania
Albania is in a constitutional and legislative emergency.
The democratic constitutional state is very familiar to us in the European Union and to us Germans, in particular, who have experienced a very eventful history over the last hundred years.
The rule of law and democracy had developed in Albania and have always been in an ever-changing relationship of tension and complementarity.
But until 2013 both principles will be combined in the service of the idea of freedom, which has developed massively apart since the election of the current Prime Minister Rama.
Democracy secures the self-determination of the people by organizing the formation, legitimization and control of those organs, government and administration that exercise state power over the citizen.
The rule of law answers questions about the content, scope and procedures of state activity.
It aims to limit and bind state power in the interest of safeguarding individual freedom - especially through the recognition of human rights, the legality of administration and the protection of individual rights by independent courts.
Against the background of the reign of terror of communism in Albania, it was only logical that the mothers and fathers of the Albanian constitution closely interlinked the rule of law and democracy in the period of government after 1991, despite the ongoing armed conflicts in the Balkans, a great achievement, of course mistakes in the development of Albanian society were not ruled out, in retrospect the Albanians would certainly have done something different.
First of all, however, the European legal system is based in many areas on the principle of mutual trust, in other words on the recognition of legal acts without in-depth legal scrutiny of its own.
Where this trust is lacking, considerable functional deficits arise in practice. This is currently the case on a massive scale in Albania.
Everyone is talking about the success of judicial reform; it is on the right track in Albania, but it is not. A democratic constitutional state per se has not existed in Albania for almost two years now, a success of the so-called judicial reform.
The result is the "judicialization" of Albanian society and the politicization and instrumentalization of the judiciary by the Rama government.
The latter is thus placed under the general suspicion of pursuing massive self-interests and not sufficiently respecting the majority will of the Albanian nation in its jurisdiction, i.e. introducing an autocracy.
However, the democratic constitutional state demands the unconditional validity and observance of law and order. There is no constitutional state "according to who leads the government".
For only through the law and its parliamentary adoption can the rights and equality of all be safeguarded.
The basic principle of the democratic constitutional state is equality and legality.
In the democratic constitutional state, the principle of the separation of powers applies, and this requires the strict precedence of parliamentary law and the equally strict binding of all executive action of the Rama government, first to the constitution, to the decrees of the constitutional organ President of the Republic, to the law, its empowerment, the constitutional state.
Ultimately, the political will of the responsible constitutional bodies, their constitutional awareness and, moreover, the constitutional awareness of society are decisive in determining whether such basic constitutional principles are stable and intact in the long term.
How is it that this system defect of the democratic constitutional state in Albania is not perceived by some institutions and people?
There are two target groups to be observed, on the one hand the foreign countries and on the other the Albanian government Rama.
The rule of law, the judiciary, no longer exists by definition because of the dysfunctionality, deposition of all judges of the supreme courts, and no replacement, no interim solution, of the constitutional court and the supreme court.
The fact that this dysfunctionality also has a direct effect on the functionality of the legislature, i.e. the parliament, is inherent in the system; it is also dysfunctional, since there are no legal possibilities for the government to control its actions or for them to be examined by the Constitutional Court.
This is reinforced by the fact that the executive branch, i.e. the administration of the Rama government according to international estimates, is highly corrupt and that the ruling socialist party Rama is under general suspicion of manipulating the 2016/2017 parliamentary elections. There is no affidavit by the party and the members of the government that they have nothing to do directly or indirectly with this process.
Albania is therefore no longer a constitutional state. There is no separation of powers. A state governed by the still Prime Minister Rama in which arbitrariness is massively favoured, as can be seen on 30 June 2019 in the illegal "local elections, despite the clear decree of President Meta, postponement of the election date due to a legislative emergency.
This should have been clear to all foreigners in 2017/2018, precisely because no interim solution was implemented for the intermediate stage between the dismissal of the judges and the new appointment.
System stability in Albania would have been achieved only through a loose coupling of separate subsystems. Total judicial reform means first and foremost
Interruption of the negative chain reaction, the implusion of the entire democratic legal system. Just as with an organ exchange of the heart, heart is removed, there is no interim solution, new heart is implemented, but patient is death.
The advantages of an interim solution would have been obvious: Saving time because the exchange of judges at the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court would not have destroyed Albania's entire system, the functionality of the three powers: Judicial-Legislative Executive.
The political responsibility for this lies solely with the Rama government and its party, SP.
Added to this is the absolute loss of confidence of Albanian civil society in the ability of the Albanian constitutional state and its foreign advisors to reform, which is an additional, serious development and result of the unprofessionally organized reform of the judiciary by the Rama government.
Basically, a serious cognitive disorder in the system, exacerbated by some consultants instrumentalized by the government, true to the motto: “because nothing can be if it is not allowed to be.”
How does this disturbance come about, here too two guesses:
1. abroad: The longing for a solution that is as simple as it is perfect will probably never die. As a rule, every solution creates a new problem. And this is due to the limitations of human thinking. The reason why foreign countries could not see this very obvious development in Albania earlier lies in what we in science call cognitive routines.
These are typical neurological observation programs in which the results are less interesting than the process itself.
Hence the statement of some foreign representatives and ambassadors: "Progress in judicial reform can be seen in Albania" "Albania will be the model of a successful judicial reform, a model country in the EU".
Instead of focusing on the outcome of the judicial reform, here the abolition of the rule of law without an interim solution and thus the collapse of the entire parliamentary system, the focus will only be on the beginning of the process, the start of legal reform.
A sign of absolute overstraining of these representatives, they are in a cognitive routine. It is typical of cognitive routines that the affected person does not register the result ad hoc, an absolute distortion of perception.
2. Rama government:In addition, there is certainly the fact that in an overall analysis, the Rama government is in a special constellation with a destructive structure.
Who benefits in Albania from the fact that the rule of law no longer exists?
Who has to fear that the courts, prosecutors and a constitutional court that is responsible for ensuring that the constitution and human rights are upheld will function in accordance with the rule of law?
Who has an interest in the government being able to pass laws that no court in Albania can review?
Who has an interest in holding elections when there is a clear constitutional decree under Article 93 of the Albanian Constitution?
Who benefits from the fact that two courts, one after the other in time, judge at the same instance level, the same procedure, differently?
Who benefits from the fact that there is no functioning parliament in Albania and the elected opposition has no right to examine the legislation of the government and have it annulled by the Constitutional Court?
Who has an interest in ensuring that the prosecution by the police and the public prosecutor's office is no longer subject to the rule of law?
Who has an interest in not investigating and subsequently prosecuting the members of the Rama government and the presidium of the ruling party and members of the mafia because of the possible election manipulation in 2016, 2017, 2020 and the connection to the mafia?
Why do the investigators, police officers and prosecutors have to flee from these proceedings to other countries because they are not granted constitutional protection in Albania?
What use is it in Albania for these constitutional investigators in Albania to fear for her and the lives of their families?
Who benefits from the fact that the journalists involved in the scandal surrounding the revelation of electoral rigging are now being threatened in Albania and attempted to discredit them?
So who benefits from this legislative and constitutional emergency in Albania?
Who benefits from the significant increase in drug production and trafficking in drugs and human beings in Albania since 2013?
Indeed, Albanian civil society, if it wants to have a democratic society based on the rule of law again, must ask itself the question cui bono. The political consequences for the Rama government will then arise automatically from answering the questions.
The two good news about all the chaos and disaster in Albania for which the current government is responsible:
On the one hand there is a growing civil society in Albania, the elected opposition, the majority of the population who since November 2018 have moved hundreds of thousands onto the streets of Albania, fearless and proud, children, women, men, old people, professors, farmers, fishermen and students from all regions of Albania have taken to the streets.
On the other hand, there are also wise and intelligent men and women in the ruling party, SP, with whom we have had intensive discussions over the past few weeks, who have been discussing the policies of the government of Ramas, Ballas, Velia, board of SP. who want to have a future in Albania, in freedom, democracy and the rule of law, in the community of civilisations.
These two groups now want to stop the actions of this autocratic government of Rama and his junta and the disregard of the Constitution.
In Albania, people are increasingly turning to doubters, the inappropriate, the uncomfortable, all those who ask questions and do not avoid them, as has been evident in recent months in Albania during the demonstrations and the lively political discussions. A spirit that is hardly discernible in Northern Europe.
There is a sense of community solidarity, the unconditional will to ensure that the Albanian nation has a peaceful and prosperous future, a change of perspective in thinking and on the streets is currently taking place in Albania.
The opposition under its chairman, Lulzim Basha, gave new impetus by showing the Rama government the red card because of the destruction of the rule of law and massive corruption and electoral manipulation, by resigning its seats in parliament and by calling for new thinking in Albania. This was a courageous and democratic step by the Albanian opposition.
The last demonstrations in Albania, in which hundreds of thousands of Albanians took part, led by the opposition, took place in a spirit of peace, cheerfulness, freedom from fear and peaceful exuberance unfamiliar to the Balkans, despite provocateurs. 94 percent of all adults questioned at the demonstration and in the political discussions of recent months say that this change inspires them to fight together for a democratic, free Albania that will have a future.
A very impressive development, which now offers a perspective for Albania's progressive, democratic development.
It became clear that the Albanians know that they alone are responsible for shaping their future as an Albanian nation and that they alone must make the fundamental decisions, not the foreign country or a foreign politician, or another country, that they only have one chance for the development of their country, their proud nation.
This democratic and special development in the Balkans is due to the elected opposition under the courageous chairman Lulzim Basha and to Albania's civil society. A great, democratic development has taken place there in recent months, which has not yet been sufficiently considered and appreciated by the world public. Too much attention has been paid to so-called stability and to the autocrats, the rulers. Legal parliamentary and local elections in Albania are scheduled for 13 October 2019.
A second good news:Albania has an impressive, valuable culture, there was a special, peaceful coexistence between the religious communities. This can greatly enrich Europe. It has women and men who want to tackle and carry the idea of Europe in their hearts and minds. The country itself has an interesting economic situation and resources. Albania has the potential to become the Switzerland of the Balkans.
The opposition has a substantial and modern economic and social programme, in which we have participated, which will make this development possible.
The primary narratives for this would be the resignation of the existing Rama government, a transitory government, the reintroduction of the rule of law and thus parliamentary democracy and new elections.
Another chapter in the history of a country that thinks big by starting small again would be opened by offering Albanians new opportunities and making Albania a better place.
INFO
https://exit.al/en/2019/06/15/osce-ps-stands-unopposed-in-31-municipalities/