Albania is unlikely to join the European Union any time soon, as the small Balkan state remains politically divided, according to the latest European Commission progress report.
As expected from earlier reports and statements, the EU will not upgrade Albania to the coveted status of “candidate country.” They remain a “potential candidate,” mostly due to its political problems.
Since the last election, the main opposition party has refused to take their seats in parliament, and both political commentators and regular Albanians have become increasingly pessimistic about Albania’s future as a democratic country.
When Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha visited New York and the Federation of Balkan-American Association’s “Road Map 2011” event in September, he hyped up the country’s achievements—great investment climate, the huge increases in exports, the green energy projects, and the free trade agreement with Turkey that has happened since he came back to power in 2005. He finished his speech with applauding the youth, calling them “the great asset of our nation.”
“With its energy, vision and imagination, we will make our country the eagle of Europe,” he said, much to the delight of the many Albanian and Kosovan expatriates in attendance.
The two-headed eagle is Albania’s national symbol. Some say the ironic image further highlights the divisive political climate in Albania, and how this climate threatens to tear the country apart.
After emerging from being the most backward and closed country in Europe under communist dictator Enver Hoxha, Albania has indeed made much progress during the last two decades; it avoided being sucked into the vortex of the wars in former Yugoslavia, and is now a NATO member, a EU hopeful, and even an interesting area for foreign investment. Yet, disturbing signs point in a different direction.
After the 2009 parliamentary election, which was won by Sali Berisha’s Democratic Party (DP), the main opposition party, the Socialist Party (SP) refused to take part in the legislative process, and has held different protests ever since.
In effect, Albania is a democracy without an opposition, and necessary reforms for joining the EU cannot be passed, since they require a three-fifths majority in Parliament that would need to include the opposition.
In January, four people were killed in protests that Berisha described as an attempted coup. New election fraud accusations arose over the mayoral elections in the capital Tirana in May. Yet, according to observers, it is not a battle over ideologies; both parties have similar platforms. It is instead mainly a bitter power struggle between Sali Berisha and SP leader Edi Rama, and their respective followers, over who will reap the benefits of ruling a country, which still has serious corruption problems.
Dimitar Bechev, head of the European Council on Foreign Relations’ Sofia office, called the situation for Albania’s democracy a “protracted death” in a September 2011 article, arguing that the EU and NATO should apply pressure. Along similar lines, and on the same website, Ernest Bunguri, Brussels correspondent for Albanian and Macedonian national TV channel Alsat M, argued that the EU has all but given up on Albania and is looking the other way while Berisha is becoming a “mini-Gaddafi in Europe.”
The EU hinted already in July that things did not look good for Albania’s membership candidacy, when High Representative Catherine Ashton and Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule criticized the mayoral elections in Tirana and said they “demonstrated beyond a doubt that the electoral framework needs to be reformed,” and even denounced the “lack of political maturity” in Albania, according to their joint statement published on Stefan Fule’s website.
But perhaps the Albanians themselves have had enough. An article on the EU debate website euractiv.com about the above statements by top EU officials was commented on by many Albanians, clearly fed up with both their current government and the opposition’s unforgiving attitude.
