By Lutfi Dervishi
Lashing out and the prime minister’s accidental merit
Të lidhura
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The prime minister has a merit that perhaps we have not acknowledged enough. In these days of crisis, he is helping us understand that in Albania there are still institutions and individuals within them who do not consider his word the sole source of law.
He speaks angrily against the prosecutor over the business case involving the owner of the News 24 media outlet, publicly expresses dissatisfaction with judges over their decisions concerning protesters, and clashes with the tax administration over issues affecting his close political circle.
At first glance, these may seem like ordinary episodes involving an irritated government. Yet the signs can also be read differently: if the prime minister is forced to publicly express dissatisfaction with institutional decisions or actions, this is a sign that not everything is functioning according to his wishes—and it is precisely here that a glimmer of hope lies.
Perhaps there are increasingly more people in the administration, prosecution and courts who are coming to understand a truth proven time and again: in times of crisis, the best protection is not loyalty to power or to the leader, but loyalty to the law.
In a dictatorship, institutionally speaking, there are no unexpected events. Zero! Decisions are made in a single office, by a single hand, and enforced harshly everywhere. There are no clashes of authority, because the only authority is the leader’s will.
In a democracy, by contrast, institutions can and must know how to say “no.” The strength of a democracy is not measured by how powerful the prime minister is, but by how resilient institutions are when he is dissatisfied with them.
Today’s crisis is a genuine test for the Albanian state, extending through every one of its links. Given the way it has acted toward protesters, the State Police deserves a failing grade in quite a few cases, since the use of force, proportionality, the conduct of officers and the failure to respect legal procedures require serious investigation and individual accountability, where the uniform cannot serve as a shield for illegality.
The prosecution is also being put to the test, as it must investigate without distinction both protesters who have broken the law and police officers who may have abused their positions.
The courts, too, are being tested: will they adjudicate on the basis of evidence and the law, or will they take the political temperature of the day into account?
Structures such as SPAK appear to be continuing their work as though we were simply passing through a calm spring day. Medicine and forensic medicine are likewise being tested to document injuries professionally and impartially, while independent institutions must show whether they will exercise their constitutional powers or wait to see which way the wind is blowing. Above all, the media and civil society are also being tested. Their duty is neither to take the side of the government or the protesters, nor to hide behind a sterile form of neutrality—“he said this, she said that”—but to verify the facts, tell the truth and demand accountability from everyone.
The common denominator of all these challenges is simply the enforcement of the law, the best guarantee of stability and the only way out of the crisis.
Therefore, perhaps we really are closer to Europe than we think. Not because the prime minister assures us that he is taking us there—since Europe is not a geographical destination to which someone can send us, but a standard built here—but because within the institutions there are people who are realizing that Europe begins precisely where submission to personal power ends.
If this is truly happening, we should acknowledge this merit to the prime minister as well.
