ALB
ENG
Edi Rama did not leave. The government did not fall. March 16 was not the last day for the PM in office. Nonetheless, we cannot pretend as if nothing has happened. There's no more room for indifference. No more parallels can be drawn with the situation in France. Let's face it: what's happening in Albania is not a normal situation. We're facing a political and social crisis and we must not let the situation degenerate.
Clashes between police and demonstrators are more frequent now. If foreign diplomats had not called for calm, the situation would have been aggravated even more. It could have turned into total chaos and the consequences in this case would be more serious. Parliament continues to function depending on the opposition's actions and its speaker, Gramoz Ruci convenes MPs when the opposition is unprepared.
This is a parliament that is not functioning in a normal way. Oppositions in Albania have often boycotted parliament, but there has never been a case when parliament convenes to catch the opposition by surprise. Parliamentary committees hold formal meetings and parliament too, but they're more worried about what's happening outside than the bills being voted by them.
As for the opposition, which has boycotted parliament today, it's the most comic opposition that the country has ever seen in the past 98 years when parliament was constituted for the first time.
Although they now have absolute power, socialists seem to be in a state of confusion and they seem to be wondering: how is this possible when we’ve been voted by 750 thousand people and we are governing on our own? Well, they should not forget the fact that in 1996, the Democratic Party also had absolute power, but its downfall started in January 1997.
So, what's happening now is not at all normal. Not only this, but the situation requires a solution as soon as possible. A solution that can only be offered by Prime Minister Edi Rama. He should provide a solution with the maturity of a politician who has been in politics for more than 20 years now.
Albania cannot remain in a state of alert while we all pretend as if nothing has happened. An interim government which would organise parliamentary elections would calm the situation down. We have plenty of examples for this, in the past and the present.
This is why Rama's resignation and the new elections would be the only solution to this situation which is doing great damage to Albania. In this electoral race, political sides would come face to face. In this battle, the winner would take it all, while the other side has everything to lose. These are the rules of democracy and all of this should be done for Albania. Statesmen are put to test in difficult moments.