The visit of the EU Enlargement Commissioner Ms. Marta Kos to Albania on March 13-14 seems to have been another failed opportunity for the EU Commission to stand for the Lisbon Treaty, Art. 2 and Copenhagen Criteria values such as democracy, rule of law as well as human rights and freedoms.
While a consensus has been built among most independent think-tanks and observers who follow the Balkans that under the 12 years of Prime Minister Edi Rama’s rule the country has seen severe “democratic backsliding,” there was no expression of concern, not even a hint by Commissioner Kos. Nothing was said about the troubles with media freedom, with the opposition’s parliamentary rights, with the criminality in high office, etc., during her press conference with PM Rama. Also, nothing in the other events during her visit to Albania.
Ms. Kos had only accolades for current and future reforms undertaken by the Rama government; she aimed for the conclusion of the EU accession negotiations with 35 chapters by 2027. (Curious fact: the Rama government’s “EU plan” schedules all the difficult measures for 2027. The preceding years (2025 and 2026) are mostly free of any burden).
Her three main praises were:
1 “You have such stability.” Here we have got the specter of “stabilocracy” so bemoaned by democracy activists
2 “You align 100 percent with the EU’s Foreign and Security Policy.” True but that was always the case as it relies on a large political and social consensus.
3 “Your regional cooperation is so good.” True now and before Rama but with a catch: Rama has had dealings with Vucic which regard Kosovo but over the head of the Kosovars; accordingly his relations with Pristina have soured and are currently at the lowest level since Kosovo’s independence.
To give credit where credit is due: the Albania annual country reports by the European Commission in the last two years have been incrementally realistic; however this has been by mini-steps and also one must consider that in the previous dozen years the reporting was little more than whitewashing and painting over the situation regarding cases of democratic backsliding. The EU has also prevented the worse deviations of the Rama government such as the mass issuance of “golden passports” and the globally unprecedented “fiscal-criminal amnesty” that would have caused trouble also for the EU. But these interventions remain rare and generally ineffective.
Ms. Kos stayed quiet on the “the Xhaçka MP mandate” case in which the EU Delegation, in a rare case, stuck their head(s) out and asked for rule of law to be followed.
The Rama government has repeatedly refused to follow the Constitutional Court ruling and allow Parliament to ask for a judicial review (a consolidated legal practice) of this case. Mrs. Olta Xhaçka, a former Defense & Foreign Affairs Minister, has allegedly benefited illegally from public assets. Similar previous cases have been reviewed and in many of them the Court ordered the annulment of the mandate. Facing pressure, the Rama-allied Socialist Speaker of Parliament tried to gain time by asking for the opinion of the Venice Commission, a respected body with the Council of Europe which gives advice on constitutional matters.
When the Opinion came out in favor of the Court, PM Rama refused it again, prompting another statement by the EU delegation. However, this seems forgotten now. The Xhaçka
case and similar ones may be mentioned in Commission’s periodic reports. However few people read them and even fewer grasp the meaning of their bureaucratese commentary. Therefore, it doesn’t feed in into a public debate where forces in favor of “European values” can reference the EU’s opinions.
The 2027 deadline for concluding EU accession negotiations has been suggested by Ms. Kos also for Montenegro, which in 12 years of accession talks has actually closed only the easiest three chapters out of 35. Why Montenegro and the EU would be able to qualitatively conclude the remaining 33 chapters in a period of only two years needs some explanation. The same question needs to be asked about Albania. It is a great narrative, but Commissioner Kos has not yet produced an explanation.
In the Tirana press conference, Ms. Kos presented PM Rama with a gift: a basketball jersey numbered like the one he wore in his younger years. However, this nicety takes place with the parliamentary election campaign already started.The only relevant remaining criteria for a democracy in Albania is the ability to change government through elections. This has been rendered difficult if not impossible as OSCE reports portray an orgy of vote buying, intimidation of voters, and grand abuse of state resources, engagement of criminal groups by Rama’s ruling party, etc. With her gift to Rama, Ms. Kos has added herself to this ignominious list.
Furthermore and different from previous Commissioner’s visits, Ms. Kos avoided meeting with the leader of the opposition; she only met with its senior representatives in Parliament, but again different from previous encounters, did not say or post anything about it.
So much for the current Commission contribution to democracy in Albania and perhaps in the Western Balkans.
