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In Albania, Prime Minister Edi Rama presented today several changes in his government cabinet, where the departure of Foreign Minister Olta Xhaçka and her replacement with Mr. Igli Hasani, former ambassador of Albania to the OSCE in Vienna, and currently coordinator of this organization for economic and environmental activities.
Ms. Xhaçka has been leading diplomacy since the 2021 elections. Next week she should be in New York, to lead a session of the Security Council, dedicated to a new platform of response with humanitarian aid, to various crises in world. Since September 1, Albania has regained the presidency of the Security Council for the second time.
Ms. Xhaçka is facing the Constitutional Court, on the issue of her mandate as a member of parliament, following a request from the opposition, which claims a conflict of interest, since Ms. Xhaçka's husband has received the status of a strategic investor for the construction of a tourist complex on the southern coast of Albania.
The changes have also affected the Ministry of Finance where Delina Ibrahimaj will be replaced by Ervin Mete, currently director of the Financial Supervision Authority, and former Deputy Minister of Finance in the period 2013-2017. Ms. Ibrahimaj remains in the government cabinet, but as State Minister for Entrepreneurship, replacing Ms. Edona Bilali.
The Minister of Education Evis Kushi will also leave the government, who will be replaced by Ogerta Manastirliu, Minister of Health. Instead of the latter, Mrs. Albana Koçiu, currently director of the Department of Public Administration, has been proposed.
Former Minister of Finance Anila Denaj returns to the government, replacing Mrs. Frida Krifca, in charge of Agriculture. This ministry was put in the center of attention in July after the European Commission announced that it had decided to temporarily stop reimbursements to the Albanian government for the financing of agricultural projects carried out within the IPARD II Program for supporting agriculture and rural development. The decision was made "based on the initial information provided by the European Anti-Fraud Office [OLAF], following an investigation into allegations of corruption related to the implementation of the IPARD II program," the EU Delegation in Tirana announced.
Mr. Rama also announced the merger of the function of the Minister of State for Standards and Services, which was covered by Mrs. Milva Ekonomi, and the replacement with the Minister of State for Local Government, a post he entrusted to Arbjan Maznik, currently one of the vice-mayors of the Municipality of Tirana.
Without giving any specific explanation, Mr. Rama made public the changes in the government, at the end of a speech of almost 90 minutes, in the Assembly of the Socialist Party (SP), dedicated in part to the tourist boom of this season, and the need to responded with a new approach, and in the second part, strengthening the role of the Justice bodies, with the commitment to give them unconditional support, despite the anti-corruption strikes, which have affected some former members of the government cabinets, and a significant number of officials or former officials of all levels in central and local government.
Mr. Rama has been at the head of the government since 2013. After the 2021 elections, the Socialist Party received a third mandate, like no one before. The government that emerged after those elections had few changes from the previous one. While last year, Mr. Rama dismissed the Deputy Prime Minister Arben Ahmetaj, who is currently under investigation, after the Special Prosecutor's Office brought several charges against him, from abuse of office to money laundering. At the beginning of July this year, Mr. Rama suddenly changed the Minister of the Interior. Instead of Mr. Bledi Çuçi, who took the leadership of the socialist parliamentary group, Mr. Taulant Balla was appointed. /VOA
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