We don’t want a leader for a deserted country!

We don’t want a leader for a deserted country!
This article has been written for Albanian Free Press newspaper and www.afp.al

By  SONILA MEÇO

The international message which is addressed to the Albanian Prime Minister who came out of the June 25 elections is to consolidate the state through the economy and reforms, without alibis, without justifications, by even accepting the quality of the last elections, in spite of the OSCE/ODIHR reports and whistle blowing of the participating political forces for theft and rigging. All of this in the name of stability, in the name of creating a strong economic state which knows how to offer justice, in order not to ask every time a report of international organizations point out record numbers of Albanian asylum seekers, whether Albania is a country in war.

But there’s also another side to it, which has somehow been left in the shadow in the way it’s interpreted. This, also due to the media which interprets the declarations issued by the international community driven by its interests. US diplomats praise the holding of the elections and in an enthusiastic way. Yes, it’s true! In spite of the problems, denouncements and evidence offered by the parties that participated in the elections. This evaluation started since the very moment the two political parties in the country reached the agreement, which didn’t really reflect any democratic principles, starting with compliance with the Constitution and finishing with the strong rules which would guarantee the equality of the vote. But, it offered stability, a quiet electoral process, a clean result which offers a full mandate to the SP to form a government on its own. Thus, our international partner may hope for work to start as soon as possible, without providing alibis, to enable economic growth, development and the reforms which consolidate the state. With a leader who shows authority and efficiency and who, up until yesterday, was justified by the so called “pan”. But not authoritarian and anti-democratic. It’s true that democracy is mentioned less than stability, it’s true that today there are clear examples where economic development exists even without democracy and it’s also true that within Europe, a new concept of democrature is being born, such as it is the case with Hungary or Poland, where the state is consolidated, but not democracy, but is this our model? Where does this threat to take us, if each of our leaders must guarantee stability and economic development, by tolerating a missing democracy?

What is happening in Hungary and Poland shows that liberal democracy was not cultivated as it should have in Eastern European countries. What we’ve shown since 1990 has been a mystical belief that democracy in this region will be established thanks to the transforming power of the EU. And this is what happened to a certain extent with former communist countries; conditions for free and democratic elections, free market economy, compliance with human rights have been non-negotiable for the governments of these countries. The economic and political costs for not respecting these criteria were so high that the countries submitted one after the other to the European temptation. But what can be seen from the examples of threatened democracies within the EU and in the aspiring countries, is that institutional reforms were not associated with policies which would produce political equality, individual freedoms and social tolerance. In its observation on the failure of democracies in these countries, Foreign Policy notes that the way that was chosen with the eurocrat measurements of the criteria believing that they would serve to create strong institutions, which would then strengthen democracy, was wrong, because institutions in these countries such as Poland and Hungary may receive maximum points, but the political projects no longer favor liberal democracy. There, power is concentrating in one hand and basic freedoms are not being respected. European technocrats are closing their one eye in front of the actions of politicians, the missing democratic values and their authoritarian behavior, focusing on laws and written reforms, institutional framework and the rhetoric of the leaders, who become more and more alike in behavior, thus making the behavior of European chancelleries toward them predictable.

And if this happens with countries such as Poland and Hungary, which have put Europe in a difficult position today with the compliance in practice of Article 2 of the Treaty of the Foundation of the EU which states that: “The EU has been built based on the values and respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law and respect for human rights, including minorities”, then, imagine what could happen with countries such as Albania which is still out of Europe. So, however caressing the declarations for the need for stability and economic development in Albania may be, their promotion at the detriment of democracy, would produce not a strong leader, as Euro-Atlantic partners are look for today, but caricatures of authoritarianism which would simply be justified with political rotations in elections which were somehow better than the previous ones.

The declarations issued by US diplomats for high economic development, fight against corruption and stability in the region are crucial in front of the concern expressed by the French chief of diplomacy for an increase of the number of Albanian asylum seekers to record levels in the recent years.

With this economy with this educational and judiciary system, young people want to leave along with a part of society that want a better future. And this makes social pressure even weaker. With a high employment in the state administration, with a private sector being suffocated by austere economic measures, with high unemployment and corruption which has been accepted by everyone, Albanians are less and less free to choose, react and think clearly. Therefore, if we want to live better, we must open our eyes toward stability and democracy alike, in order not to end up without any of them and above all, in order not to remain poor. And for this, we don’t need a strong leader for a country which is vacated, but a strong leader in a country where one wants to live.

Note: The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Albanian Free Press’ editorial policy

 

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