FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Instead of the decentralization demanded by the EU, Edi Rama is creating a state with absolute central power, where municipalities are run by ministers and MPs, and reforms are managed by patronage...
In the name of reform, Edi Rama has decided to eliminate even the little autonomy that was left to local government. It is not about a functional restructuring, improving services or any real cleansing from corruption, no! It is about a brutal overlapping of powers, a symbolic coup against decentralization, an act that speaks more about the political panic of the government than about any project of renaissance of the administration.
In a country that aspires to join the European Union, Edi Rama has invented a completely original model to "reborn" local administration: hand it over to a minister or MP.
This move is absurd in form, dangerous in content, and offensive in essence. How can SP MPs, mayors, and ministers officially interfere in the evaluation, dismissal, and reinstatement of local directors?
Aren't we a republic that, at least on paper, has separated executive and local power?
How can this be called "reform," when in essence it is nothing more than a wild centralization and a pure act of political capture?
Essentially, this is an institutional aberration with serious constitutional consequences, which undermines the very foundations of the local government system in Albania.
Through an "evaluation commission" headed by an executive minister, and in which MPs, who according to the Constitution have no executive function, decide on the fate of municipal administrations, Rama is destroying any illusion of separation of powers in this country.
But what makes this story even more cynical is the actor chosen to manage the farce: Blendi Gonxhe; a man known for the ease with which he gives a name to every form of patronage and for the cynicism with which he represents the ruling party. Putting Gonxhe in charge of an anti-corruption reform in local government is like putting an arsonist in charge of extinguishing a fire.
If Babloku were to build a technocratic structure to audit and reform the local administration, it would probably make sense. But what is happening is not an audit, it is an undeserved purge, with the aim of recycling the same people, simply with a different stamp. The resigned can be returned, if Gonxha's "commission" finds them worthy. No legal criteria, no transparent standards. Only the "trust" of the party and the approval of the boss.
This model of a republic of directors appointed by the central government goes beyond soft authoritarianism: it is autocracy with a European scenography. Because there is no reform in Europe that begins with a violation of the fundamental principle of subsidiarity, the idea that power should be exercised by the levels closest to the citizens, not concentrated as in the times of a single party.
Moreover, this “reform” is being undertaken insidiously, in the middle of summer, without any public consultation, without an official report, without transparency. A silent dismantling of local government is taking place, while the EU is demanding from Albania precisely the strengthening of decentralization and the guarantee of local autonomy. Rama, instead of getting closer to Europe, is introducing the Erdoganist model into the country’s municipalities.
This is not reform. It is a regrouping of control for the upcoming elections, a gentle purge of structures that no longer provide guarantees, a recalibration of the “army of the territory.” And in this context, let’s not forget: every time Rama talks about cleansing, it means he is preparing to sow. And he usually sows only one thing; power! /Pamphlet
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