To date, the violations of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) debated in Tirana and Brussels were related to business issues. The SAA, the basic treaty that regulates the relations between Albania and the EU, also guarantees the equality of economic opportunities and non-discrimination for any Albania or EU-based entrepreneur.
This guarantee was violated by the government through special laws on the National Theater, Vlora Airport, Air Albania and the Port of Durrës – all of which are blatant cases of favoritism, official abuse and corruption.
Few, however, would imagine that we would add to these problems in the form of a deviation from what is considered a strong point for Albania in comparison to the other candidate states: alignment with the foreign and security policies of the EU.
This is an obligation undertaken by the countries of the Western Balkans and Turkey in their Agreements with the EU (Albania signed its own in 2006).
This faithful alignment distinguishes Albania from other EU candidates, including both Belgrade to Ankara; as well as Kosovo, of course
I must add here that this alignment has always been natural or at least not at all problematic.
For example, sanctions against Russia have been difficult for some European countries because of economic relations, cultural proximity, etc. But generally, they have acted in unison within the European collective security umbrella. For Albania, alignment in these cases has been neither hard nor painful.
Albania’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs declared on May 11: “Rocket attacks (from Gaza) against Israel are unjustifiable.” This was in reference to the hundreds of rockets fired by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, an organization that has long been officially declared a terrorist group by the EU and US.
The latest conflict came after violent unrest around the Holy Places of Jerusalem where responsibility is complex and no party is innocent, including the authorities. Until that moment, calls from the international community for calm and restraint were the right ones.
Hamas, however, began indiscriminate attacks on the Israeli civilian population, killing both Jews and Arabs. For an explanatory comparison: imagine, as hard as it can be, if there were heavy clashes in Vrakë/Shkodër in northern Albania between the ethnic Montenegrin community and the police force; with the Montenegro army shelling Tirana in retaliation.
All of Europe condemned the Hamas attacks; all of Europe asserted the sovereign right of Israel to defend herself. The US proclaimed the same, and as did the EU candidate countries.
Turkey acted very differently by calling Israel a “terrorist country” and lobbying for a holy alliance against it. Whether this is helpful is a different discussion. The Turks must know their issues. So let us return to ours.
Let’s assume that because Israel recognized Kosovo’s status as a state, and that because the Palestinian Authority is eagerly in favor of Serbian rule over her former province, that it doesn’t factor in when our government speaks on the Middle East.
The case still begs the question about why our government has deviated from the EU position on this matter. Let’s again presume that the SAA obligation isn’t there: is there any reason for our government to call foreign aggression on a sovereign country simply and only “unjustifiable”?
Because if there is, we might have a bigger problem than special legislation that doling out questionable business favours.