FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The cunning prime minister continues to project himself as the leader who can guarantee internal political stability and the western orientation of Albania...
Trial time is near for the jailed elected mayor of the ethnic-Greek Albanian town of Himara, as the special corruption court responsible for hearing his case convenes on Tuesday for the merits of the case. This means deciding whether Fredi Beleri is guilty of vote buying. It's the same court that last week denied his request for a few hours off so he could take his oath, either inside or outside prison.
Beler has 15 days to appeal the decision, but the chance of it being overturned is slim. Most likely he will not be sworn in as mayor and this is something that is expected to weigh against him in the upcoming trial. So now all eyes are on Tuesday's proceedings, where the Albanian prosecution authorities will have to back up their claims with evidence that is far more convincing than anything we've seen so far.
If Beleri is found guilty, he has the right to appeal to the Court of Appeal and then to the Supreme Court of Albania. However, a conviction on his criminal record means he will not be able to run in the new elections that Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has said he intends to call, in order to wash his hands of the "Himara issue". , which he. has turned, for all intents and purposes, into a personal feud with Beler.
Without Beleri, the ethnic Greek minority will have to choose a new candidate, with his son's recent media appearances creating buzz that he is a possible candidate. But the community could also choose to abstain from the process, which would further worsen relations with Tirana and affect Greek-Albanian ties, already strained by the affair.
For Rama, the court's decision to keep Beler from swearing is undoubtedly evidence that he has won the first round in the draw with the Greek side. He also seems certain that Tuesday's trial - the outcome of which is considered a foregone conclusion by anyone with knowledge of Albanian affairs - will mark the end of Beler's political career.
The Greek veto
Athens' warning that it will exercise its right of veto to prevent the European Union membership talks between Brussels and Tirana from the beginning, does not seem to have scared the Albanian prime minister in his revenge against Beler. Rama, in fact, seems to have taken a defiant stance towards European urges for a resolution on the issue, saying: "Even if the European Council were to turn upside down, we are not open to any negotiations that conflict with the interest strategic of Albania. , which is the implementation of justice reform and the preservation of the independence of its justice institutions."
His intransigence has been further strengthened by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's reference to the issue as a "bilateral dispute" and unrelated to the EU's rule of law requirements in the accession process.
But where does all this love for Rama come from?
Why are Europeans and Americans willing to throw Greece under the bus when it is their most important and reliable ally in Southeast Europe? The Albanian Prime Minister seems to have done a good job convincing them that this is a bilateral issue, a simple criminal matter that belongs only to the justice system of the country and that this justice system is unquestionably independent. He never misses the opportunity, when commenting on the Beleri affair, to remind the Europeans that the Albanian prosecution, courts and police aspire to the standards set by Europe and that he has no right to interfere.
Big picture
Beyond the "small picture" related to the case against Beler, however, there is a "big picture" in which Rama is seen as the favored interlocutor of the EU and the US in the Western Balkans. The wily prime minister continues to project himself as the leader who can guarantee the internal political stability and western orientation of Albania. Mostly, however, he presents himself as an influential politician with the leadership qualities needed to control dangerous developments in the troubled Kosovo, as the West wishes, and, more generally, with the ability to manipulate secessionist tendencies among the 7 million ethnic Albanians living in the Balkans.
Everyone understands that without Tirana and Belgrade, i.e. without Rama and the Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic, there is little hope for the improvement of the situation in Kosovo. He may not say it out loud, but the West also sees in Rama a pro-European prime minister who, despite the excellent relations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is protecting Albania from Islamization and from becoming Turkey's bridge to the Adriatic Sea. After all, he has shown that he will do what is asked of him. Such as, for example, the acceptance of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's scheme for Albania to host several thousand immigrants and refugees trying to reach Europe from Africa./ Adapted "Pamphlet" from "Kathimerini"
Lini një Përgjigje