Nobody can break the mirrors now

Nobody can break the mirrors now
By Sonila Meço

A few days ago, with the typical confidence of the Prime Minister of a country which is part of G20, an important player in geo-political strategies affecting three continents, Mr. Rama accused Brussels for offering an unfair treatment to Albania. Rama accused Europe of being incompetent in launching negotiations with Albania and of offering priority to the integration of Serbia and Montenegro, by ignoring our country. Mr. Rama is a leader who has lost touch with any sort of reality. Germany and other European countries have long considered Albania as the country of trafficking, organized crime, asylum seekers and rigged elections. According to Mr. Rama, the fear that European leaders have to advance Albania’s integration process is insanity.

Why are we criticizing Europe so much, at a time when we are the country of the terrible statistics of the production of narcotic substances, tons of cannabis seized every hour, registered conversations that shed light on the implication of senior state officials, police and army in criminal activities? Which European leader would be ready to declare in the parliament of his country that Albania is ready to become part of the EU? Would this not mark the end of his political career in front of the public opinion?

If PM Rama were to give this interview today, would he respond with the same arrogance? With the same anger against the old continent which makes slow and prejudiced movements toward Albania? Would he have the same self-assurance when declaring that Albania delivers any criteria? Would he consider the hesitation of European leaders to declare in front of their country that Albania deserves to launch the talks as insanity?

Self-assurance and personal guarantees are known assets of the man who plays poker while he has all the other players under observation. What we’re waiting to see is how the man of bluffs react, now that new cards have entered the game and he, himself is the watched one? And here, it’s not an issue of personal fates. The history of this government is not unseen by Europe.

A few days ago, Malta, an EU member country, would be shocked by the murder of one of the most renowned investigative journalists with a car bomb. The last posting in the Daphne CaruanaGalizia’s blog was shocking: “Criminals are everywhere. The situation is exasperating”. The journalist had published information which offered a clear idea on the corruption and money laundering that was happening in Malta. Galizia’s murder also shows the threat against freedom of expression and the atmosphere of impunity and violence in the Mediterranean archipelago. Prime Ministrer of Malta and two of his close collaborators, were accused by Galazia as being connected to offshore companies, which were involved in illicit activities, including the sale of Maltese passports to oligarchs and gaining billions from governments of Asian countries. Accusations go as far as the penetration of criminal groups in the main industries of the country and money laundering for Ndragheta. For this reason, the Guardian would consider Galazia’s battle as a battle which not only served a functional democracy, but also a battle against a mob state. The elections won by the Prime Minister who is accused of having connections with crime, made the international press consider Malta as a country where the elections, laws and courts are a mere show. And if there’s a critic against the EU, this critic must come from the Maltese people who accepted accession in the Union with the scope of achieving a democracy and a functional state.

Yesterday, Galizia’s son would shock public opinion with an open letter, where he accuses the state leaders and Malta as a country, an island of the mob. Among others, he says: “Government of Malta has allowed a culture of impunity to thrive. I don’t feel consoled when I hear the Prime Minister of this country say that he will not give up until he finds the perpetrators of the crime, at a time when he leads a government which encourages impunity. First, he filled the state offices with criminals and then police with criminals and idiots. In the end, he filled the courts with criminals and incompetent people”.

Does this sound familiar?

In order not to quote myself from earlier articles, but by sticking to international sources of information, this is what a European media outlet wrote a few days ago: “Albania has deep political divisions, where politics and relations between clans combine in a network of revenge and corruption. Drug traffic and money laundering is thriving in this country. Instead of answering for the failures of his government, the Albanian PM, Edi Rama has deteriorated the situation by talking about a Greater Albania and by fueling fears of the separation of Albanian minorities from the neighboring Macedonia”.

The article was addressed to the EU on what it should do with the Balkan autocracy and organized crime which has exploited tolerance in the name of a policy of stability in the region, which has been plagued by criminality.

So, Europe itself is criticizing Europe, but not because it doesn’t accept Albania. It criticizes it because it is allowing similar formats to thrive inside and outside of its gates. Europe is being criticized for Malta’s and Balkans’ failures. For the failure of its representatives who are affected by amnesia as soon as they breathe the air of these countries. Today, Italian justice has delivered to the Albanian state the mirror that it refused to see. Strong proofs of the implication of the state in the traffic of drugs and weapons, with accusations addressed to concrete names. People who have led Albania for four years and have now entered the fifth year. If someone thinks that responsibility starts and ends within a ministry, then we just need to read a statement made by the Albanian PM where he claims in front of his MPs that the Socialist Party, the government and the parliamentary majority are one.

Perhaps, this was the question that was missing in the interview for the German newspaper “FranfurterRundschau”: Who is controlling powers in Albania? And the answer was given a few days after the interview, in a direct broadcast for Albanian media, where the interviewee declared: “We are one party! We are one power!”

 

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