By Roland Qafoku
In a hot day of August 2000, the ceremony of the inauguration of the new mayor of Tirana, Edi Rama was being held in the premises of the House of Congress. The man who was presiding this ceremony was Prime Minister Ilir Meta, who, in his speech, mentioned tens of good qualities that the newly elected mayor had and in the end, he attached the sash on his neck, a symbol of the first citizen of Tirana.
From that day onward, Ilir Meta and Edi Rama were considered to be a socialist political binomial. Both of them were young. Prime Minister Meta was 31 years old and Edi Rama was 36 years old. Both of them had started a career by making it to the top. The first one became Prime Minister and the second one became mayor of Tirana. Both of them defied the old chairman of the Socialist Party, Fatos Nano and both of them had an entirely different vision in policy making.
But, today, 17 years later, the ups and downs that have been seen between Ilir Meta and Edi Rama have not been seen in any other political binomial in the country. There has been love and hate between them, friendship and hostility, accusations and counter accusations. Now, we can say that the history of their relations is a symbolic part of the relations that politicians have with one another. Now, this relation is longer than the relation between Fatos Nano and Sali Berisha, who for 15 years in a row, were considered as the political couple who thanks to their constant state of conflict, kept the country under a constant state of alert and tension.
Their political affection peaked when the mayor launched an action to clean out “Rinia” park in Tirana. But in order to demolish 100 bars made of concrete and iron, Rama’s savior was Ilir Meta, who supported him not only with words, but also in logistics and propaganda. In his book “Sacrifice”, in spite of his personal vanity, Edi Rama has admitted that that action could not be realized without Ilir Meta’s support. Many residents of Tirana say today that that operation was Rama’s greatest success, but they forget that without Prime Minister Meta, Edi Rama could not have not achieved it without Ilir Meta’s support. Their first love ended two years later, when Fatos Nano started his political action called “catharsis”, which targeted Ilir Meta. While Ilir Meta saw himself in a difficult situation, mayor Rama didn’t support him the same way. Meta stepped down from the post of Prime Minister and the political war within the SP was such that it was expected to cause a big chasm within the party. Ilir Meta must have felt very disappointed by Rama, who, on one hand said that he couldn’t stand Fatos Nano, but on the other, his visit to a hospital in Athens, where Nano was admitted following an accident, was the first stabbing on the back that Meta received by Rama.
History continued with the creation of SMI in 2004. Edi Rama’s project to become chairman of the SP seemed an old project. Nevertheless, his first big obstacle would be the one and only Ilir Meta, because he was considered to be Fatos Nano’s successor as leader of the party. It seemed as if relations between Meta and Rama ended once and for all here. But Fatos Nano’s departure from politics in August 2005 created a new political situation. The new situation brought a new leadership: In the fall of this year, Edi Rama was chairman of the SP, while Ilir Meta was chairman of SMI.
Here, their relations are shaped at a moment when they are both heads of two parties and at a moment when there’s a lot at stake.
Their first action together was the 2007 local elections. Both new leaders campaigned together in Tirana and Albania and we all remember today that great support that Meta gave to Rama, with the postponement of the elections and the votes that he won for a third mandate as mayor.
But, after he was elected as mayor, Ilir Meta took the biggest stab on the back by Rama. On the night of 21 April 2008, the chairman of the SP, Edi Rama and Prime Minister of that time, Sali Berisha changed the Constitution and through a new electoral law, they both aimed the same thing: Eliminate SMI.
This was a very big disappointment for Meta and his reaction was extreme not only with the physical clash in Parliament and the famous hunger strike which also took place in Parliament, but also with the most famous expression which was articulated by Meta: Edi Rama is the biggest machiavelist that I have ever known. This man converts an apartment block into a vote.
Meta’s grudge culminated after the 2009 parliamentary elections, by entering a coalition with Berisha and with this, he gave Rama the biggest political blow. Even to this day, Meta and his collaborators say that they entered that coalition with the only purpose of not allowing the country to head to fresh elections and that they did this for the country.
It may be so. But nobody can deny the fact that there was a direct reaction against the bargaining that Rama did with Berisha.
Now, the war between Meta and Rama and the war between SP and SMI had turned into a real battle. There came a moment when the SP attacked SMI more than it attacked the DP. Edi Rama attacked Ilir Meta more than he attacked Sali Berisha. Even today, we recall the famous phrases “Meta’s notebook”, by culminating with the January 2011 demonstrations which targeted Ilir Meta. These demonstrations ended with the January 21 killing of 4 protesters by the Republican Guard. This was the moment when even the biggest optimist could have never predicted that this hostility could ever turn into love. Rama and Meta were very far from each other and SP and SMI were even farer. But everyone was mistaken. With intermediaries who have a gift for such things, a lunch in Meta’s house in the Lalez Bay with Edi Rama in March 2013, seemed to overturn everything. Meta and Rama made up and the coalition between Meta and Berisha ended a few days later. On 1 April 2013, Albania was focused on the new binomial between Meta and Rama and both of them were expecting to run in the parliamentary elections against Berisha. To inaugurate the new coalition of integration, Meta and Rama chose Shkoder, while the agreement signed between them two could have been considered as the biggest and the longest one that has ever existed between two Albanian political parties who enter a political coalition. But everyone was mistaken here too.
The four years of this coalition in power have seen ups and downs. Truth be told, the SMI has backed the SP and Rama in many reforms. This support has also been given through votes in Parliament, when bills have been openly contested. Meta received many complaints about Edi Rama, but he never caused any conflicts. He became an obstacle for anyone within SMI to publicly clash with Prime Minister Rama and one day, he came up with the beautiful expression “with composure and love”. There were many within SMI who may have been upset when they received such answer by their chairman when complaining about Rama’s arrogance, about the government’s scandals, the scandals of the ministers and many other things. For four years in a row, the slogan “with composure and love” may have been used more than any other slogan. But this continued until 18 May when Edi Rama and Lulzim Basha were together for five hours and drafted and signed an agreement through which Edi Rama is attempting for the second time to politically destroy SMI. During the 90 days of the DP tent, Meta has been one of the most active people in finding a solution for the crisis. Recently, he has also revealed the secret meetings held with Lulzim Basha to put an end to this crisis. He even made the ultimate sacrifice of becoming President of Republic. But even this caused a disappointment. It is well clear that the SP and DP have once again joined forces today against SMI. Even Meta may have recalled this history between him and Edi Rama. A history of love and hate which in these moments is filled with hate. In other words, it lacks love. After the 25 June elections, history may be repeated and Meta may take his revenge against Rama. He may do the same thing that he has done each time he has been disappointed by him.
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