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Party Squabbles Slow Pace of EU Integration

02 11 2006 While all parties are officially committed to the European goal, their struggles are in fact delaying integration.

By Ergys Gjencaj in Tirana (Balkan Insight, 2 Nov 06)

Albania's tense political climate could negatively affect its plans for European integration as mutual accusations between leading politicians delay the reform process.

This was the blunt message of a European Commission debate on October 3, when EU officials urged Albania’s politicians to work harder on reforms, especially to the election process.

In June, the prime minister, Sali Berisha, signed a historic Stabilization and Association Agreement, SAA, with the EU in Luxembourg.

Although the event was seen as marking a milestone on the road to European integration, it does not set any time frame for Albania to reach its goal.

Tirana has already taken part in 18 rounds of negotiations with Europe since it started the SAA process on January 31, 2003 - seven concerning political issues and 11 dealing with technical ones.

The SAA aims to establish the political and economic stability of a candidate country through reforms to four pillars - political dialogue and regional cooperation, liberalisation of trade, freedom of religion and cooperation in certain key fields, in particular judicial and security issues.

These reforms all require time and funds, but above all political goodwill from all the main parties.

This is in short supply in Albania, where although positive steps have been taken in the field of regional cooperation over organised crime and terrorism, election reform remains bitterly divisive.

The next polls are approaching fast. Between December 20 and January 20, the country is due to hold local elections.

But party conflicts hinder the chances of election reforms being put in place. Although parliament set up a committee to deal with election reform, it has not accomplished much and its mandate expired.

Failure to instigate reform means the forthcoming elections will be organised under the old electoral code, which, though reformed in 2004 and 2005, is still seen as flawed and was criticised by the OSCE in its report on the July 2005 general elections.

In its report, the OSCE called on the authorities above all “to improve the accuracy of voter lists” and to “urgently maintain and improve the accuracy of civil registers”.

The electoral list remains the main point of contention today, with each political bloc accusing the other of trying to manipulate the registers.

Election reform is not the only field in which party squabbling is hindering European integration, however.

While Europe wants Albania to adopt several pieces of economic legislation, political infighting has so far prevented the passage of proposed laws on food standards, free competition, and the national bank - all of which are required by the SAA.

Analyst Fatos Lubonja says the squabbles not only directly hurt the reform process, but also damage the country’s image.

"The conflicts highlight the lack of real debate, dialogue, cooperation and constructive work [in Albania]," said Lubonja.

He added that the battles reinforce "the EU's perception that Albania's political class is immature and incapable of managing reform".

Ermelinda Meksi, a former Socialist minister for European integration, agrees that election reform is the main point.

"This is one of the most important issues that may hinder the speed of Albania's integration into Europe," she said.

But she then went on to put all the blame for delays on the ruling centre-right Democrats, accusing them of showing "a lack of tolerance” for the views of the opposition Socialists.

Socialists have accused the government of attempting to rig the outcome of the next polls by distributing new ID cards to voters without making sure they are secure - cards that they say right-wingers could use to vote illegally.

Prec Zogaj, Democratic head of parliament's committee for foreign affairs, agrees that political squabbles are slowing reforms, although he added that divisions were also signs of a genuine democracy.

“Party disagreements often work to the detriment of reforms,” conceded Zogaj. "Only through time and the maturity of the political elite we can achieve an equilibrium between division and consensus.

“But this is like a work of art. It's like removing the excess parts from a stone. You need to be an artist to achieve the right measure… so equilibrium will come only with maturity and maturity is achieved with time."

But not everyone in Europe is patient with such analogies. Representatives of the international community urgently want to see the emergence of a solid political consensus in Albania over such objectives as integration with the EU and with NATO.

Reinherdt Priebe, president of the EC delegation in charge of membership talks for the Western Balkans, made his impatience with Albania's political squabbles clear on his last visit to Tirana on October 13.

"The fulfillment of the basic membership criteria for the EU, as well as the technical requirements needed for this membership, pose a major challenge [to Albania] and we all need to work in this direction," he said.

"It is impossible to predict the time needed to fulfill these requirements, but… if we reach a consensus between the two main political parties in the country on an issue crucial to the country's future, then Albania will advance on its path to Europe."

Luxemburg's minister of foreign affairs, Jean Asselborn, also pleaded for a greater political consensus in Albania on a visit on October 11.

"All political parties in the country need to use all their energy to solve these disagreements," he said, adding that faster progress needed to be made in the fight against crime and corruption and in establishing the rule of law.

Whether the parties are ready to fundamentally change their mentality is less clear.
Elton Metaj, editor of the newspaper Korrieri, says neither of the big parties is much interested in integration into NATO and the EU. As for the election reform process, Metaj says the parties simply use the issue “as an alibi, in the case they lose the elections”.

Ergys Gjencaj is a journalist with Korrieri newspaper in Tirana. Balkan Insight is BIRN`s online publication.