By Ben Andoni
For official Tirana, Kosovo is merely a second Albanian state—one you neither intervene in, nor speak to anymore. That’s the justification, but it also reveals the true incapacity to collaborate and offer guidance. Rama and Kurti fail to align on any front, weighed down by their own tiresome need to be the protagonist. The days of grand patriotic gatherings are now archived history, and in political Tirana, few know or care about what’s happening in Kosovo. Ironically, it seems Thaçi cares more about Tirana than Kurti does about him.
As this weekend draws to a close, and the deadline set by Kosovo’s Constitutional Court looms, backroom deals, tricks, and secret meetings will keep heating up Europe’s newest republic. The pressure to constitute Kosovo’s parliament is almost mandatory now, while the public grows increasingly exhausted—not just by political irresponsibility, but by a constitutional absurdity that has lingered unresolved for weeks and months. Even worse, the internal clash between the president and the acting foreign minister makes the situation all the more paradoxical.
Meanwhile, Fatmir Limaj is being treated like some sort of kingmaker, even though he has just a handful of MPs around him—and a history filled not just with his contribution to the KLA but also a long shadow of legal accusations. The greater concern, however, is that without a functioning parliament, Kosovo can’t pass vital projects that would allow it to claim its share of the European Package.
Back in Tirana, the government is entrenched in an informal war, led solely by Prime Minister Rama. Any glimmer of good news is left to the whims of an editor who’s “stranded” without headlines. Respect for Kosovo’s parliamentary institution is conspicuously absent—no statements, save for a rare quote from President Begaj, which usually says nothing at all. Even the right-wing opposition, which feels ideologically closer to Kurti’s leftist government, refrains from comment. Kosovo is treated as though its parliament sits on some distant continent.
The latest story—where the Albanian flag was trampled—stirred the usual hysteria, but not a shred of genuine sentiment that Albania and Kosovo are growing increasingly indifferent toward each other. This episode, like the 52 sessions it may take to cobble together a new legislature, will quickly fade from memory. And that new legislature will likely be more “interesting” in its theatrical election of a speaker than in the ordinary work it’s meant to do. The last one already proved that.
Only Thaçi—stripped of the spotlight—seems to show real interest, more so than his former colleagues Osmani & Kurti, who haven’t even bothered to visit him at The Hague… too busy, perhaps, with affairs that could more honestly be labeled as vanity.
(Javanews)