By Plator Nesturi
Now that it has 74 seats in parliament and four extra ones from other parties, it seems that the current majority will not be able to put the strength of its votes to use in amending laws. Although it hasn’t declared that it envisages to use them in the near future on some potential project, the laws which required a qualified majority voting, starting with the ones for the reform in justice and which affected articles of the Constitution, have been passed in the previous mandate. Therefore, except the new electoral reform, for which the votes of the opposition are needed, it seems that upcoming political battles will not include laws for major reforms. The only problem will be the implementation of the current laws by Rama’s governments and the implementation of reforms which have already turned into laws.
Rama 2 government has started its work by focusing once more on the administration. We didn’t see a political rotation take place and as a result, we’re not expecting to see militants be removed from the administration. The SP was and still is in power, although it has left out of it its former ally, the Socialist Movement for Integration. But no special law is needed about what will happen in the administration, as it was the case four years ago, when the bill on the status of the civil servant was voted. This bill was voted in May, prior to the election campaign of 2013 and it had the consensus of by both political sides, because it was one of the bills recommended by the European Commission.
If we recall the debate which took place four years ago, the implementation of the law was postponed by the newly elected government of Prime Minister Rama. The opposition immediately accused Rama of trying to cleanse the administration, which would be protected by the law in question. The majority gave technical reasons for this, but it did claim that the administration was filled with party militants, incompetent and corrupt, which meant that it would undergo a deep reform. The law was implemented six months later through a normative act and the reform in the administration took place, as it often happens at the start of each governing term.
The truth is that every time there’s rotation of power, the administration is the first victim. Militants and party supporters are made part of it and this damages professionalism. Public administration has traditionally been the first victim of government changes in Albania. Removal by lists, “merging” of institutions and suspensions without applying any particular criteria, have been some of the best known forms of layoffs, calling them “reform”. In reality, the “changes” in the administration have been made with the single purpose of employing the militants of the party that won the elections and this damages professionalism. Therefore, changes may be necessary, but the problem relates to the way the new employees will be selected. Will they be selected based on the law and abilities or will militants and close collaborators of the party be rewarded once again?
We don’t have a rotation of power, but the new system of the administration based on a new division of ministries, merging of institutions based on regions and not municipalities, will significantly reduce the size of the administration. According to Prime Minister Rama, the administration will be reduced in size, but the aim is to boost efficiency by having more professionals as part of it. Nevertheless, the administration is in panic, because it is not yet known how will its screening take place and what criteria will be applied for it. Sources reveal that cuts may be up to 25% and this is no small figure for a country such as Albania. In this case, the opposition and SMI in particular, will consider the new changes in the administration as a politically motivated “massacre”. Therefore, each reform that takes place must be transparent.
The expectation of the public opinion that voted the new majority is for the public administration to see positive changes, therefore the way the replacements will take place is being closely scrutinized. If a part of the administration is incompetent and politicized, as the SP claims and as it’s widely known, then the replacements must aim the opposite of this model. Therefore, the reform in the administration must be seen as an opportunity for changes that will serve not only electoral promises and future campaigns, but they will also serve to strengthen the state.
Note: The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Albanian Free Press’ editorial policy
