Public Order, a Month on Probation
Majko: “Work in October, then ask for everything” Page 3
Worn-out politicians
BY BASHKIM GJERGJI
The formation of Mr. Majko’s new government brought the country’s acute political crisis to an end, which is expected to have a marked effect on continuing efforts to stabilize the situation and implement the program launched during Prime Minister Nano’s administration. The turn of events throughout the country after 14 September seems to have dictated radical changes in the governing coalition, changes that have now been identified with the resignation of the former prime minister and several ministers, whose seats had been among the most talked-about because of corruption or incompetence. The nature of the changes in the country’s executive branch has been a much-discussed subject, not only in terms of taking concrete steps to address the wounds of government, but also as a political act with broad resonance, whose timely implementation would help create a new political climate in the country. More specifically, if Nano was responsible for not applying harsh and far-reaching measures in the fight against smuggling and corruption and therefore had to resign, then the leader of the largest opposition party, the main protagonist in political developments to date, should likewise have bid farewell to his post, so that the DP could breathe freely and take part in the political environment on normal terms and with a strong constructive spirit. This logic seems to prevail among most of the public, as well as in the messages coming from foreign ministries and figures in international political life, calling for the situation to calm down and for new names, untainted by corruption or the bitter past, to be brought forward. Yet the answer coming from the other side of the matter is that there is no reason to think that a new spirit will triumph in the blue camp. Berisha continues to repeat his insistence that he will not withdraw from political life, showing no recognition at all of his failures or his responsibility for some of the events in Albania in the years after ’92. On the other hand, the only arguments used to attack Majko in his new post are a claim that he has an imaginary illness and the fact that he was No. 2 after Nano in the SP. It goes without saying that matters such as mental illness, or other issues of that nature, must be taken into consideration when it comes to leaders of state institutions. But it would be good if such issues, which are not part of our tradition of discussing elected figures, had previously been applied to the very authors of such statements, who continue to demonstrate the deep pathological fixations whose consequences the whole country suffers. Such banal interpretations may be regarded as contrived inventions, sought out to justify the denialist actions and tactics of part of the opposition. This means the emergence of political tension, echoed in exchanges and acts of hooliganism. This makes a change among the ranks of worn-out leaders all the more necessary: they offer no alternatives, only worthless labels.
The Prime Minister makes his first visit to the Ministry of Public Order / Calls for corrections to be made in the police departments