By Plator Nesturi
A small government. 11 ministries and the merging of many state institutions with the scope of achieving efficiency and offer more services to the citizen. This was the synthesis of the presentation of the second term in office by Prime Minister Rama in the SP’s Assembly. However, the head of the majority no longer reserves any surprises as far as the government program that he will submit to parliament for voting in September is concerned.
Of course, attention was focused on the ministries and the heads of these ministries. As it was said in the media, the government would be smaller. But even here, there were surprises. For the first time after more than 18 years, there will not be a ministry of Integration, which has exclusively dealt with the process of Albania’s accession in the EU and played a coordinating role between ministries in delivering the objectives needed for EU accession. This ministry, which testified the will of the governments for integration in the EU, is now replaced by another profile. With the new ministry of Albanians Abroad trusted to Mr. Majko, which will not just offer patriotic support with cultural programs, but it will also work with the issue of Albanian asylum seekers in European countries. Meanwhile, the merging of ministries creates two big ministries, such as the one of Finance, Economy and Social Wellbeing chaired by Arben Ahmetaj and the ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, trusted to Damian Gjiknuri, who were both protagonists in the reforms undertaken by Rama’s government and the recent election battles.
The only surprising thing had to do with the numerous women that were included in the cabinet, where the standard of the 50% gender based division, was in full balance as a scope in itself. However, what makes the start of the new government special is the major change in the scheme of state institutions. The merging of some of them into a single unit, will be an important challenge. What was noticed was the merging of department of taxation and department of customs, but this scheme also included institutions belonging to the sector of agriculture and public service. This is a true challenge, which is being made in the name of reducing bureaucracy in offering services and increasing control and efficiency, but which can also lead to failures in particular sectors.
Another element that was put forward in the Assembly was also the program of work in parliament. The appointment of Gramoz Ruci as the new Parliament’s speaker, had been warned for a while now and as it was thought, his place as leader of the SP’s parliamentary group would be occupied by Taulant Balla. Besides the legislative program and the reforms in parliament, another particular element was the decision to create eight parliamentary committees, three of which will belong to the opposition. One of the committees that will be given to the opposition will be the one for Integration, although this time there will be no minister of Integration.
However, Prime Minister Rama didn’t refer to the governing mandate in his speech. While the main focus was concentrated on the ministries and new posts, the speech addressed to the Assembly was mostly focused on the Socialist Party itself. Its leader warned a deep transformation of the party as a prerogative of new circumstances and the internal schemes of organization to serve public access. Gramoz Ruci’s appointment as speaker of Parliament seems to open a new window in the Socialist Party. While it is not yet sure who will be the new General Secretary of the SP, what we can say for sure is that many things will be changed. Rama will give his own image to the future SP and it seems that this will be his main focus during this term in office. Therefore, many of his trusted people, who were not included in the government list, will soon be seen in senior positions within the SP. Tahiri, Beqaj or other, who seem defeated today because their ministerial posts were not refreshed, will be the new image of the SP, which seems that it will enter a new phase.
Note: The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Albanian Free Press’ editorial policy
