Fino accuses Meidani
“The President is creating parallel institutions”
President or adviser
“The President is creating parallel institutions” Page 3
President or adviser
BY ARBAN HASANI
Smuggling has reignited fierce disputes among Albania’s main state institutions. No longer over its scale or the fight against this much-discussed phenomenon. At the latest meeting President Meidani held with senior state administration officials on this issue, the chairman of the Anti-Smuggling Committee, Deputy Prime Minister Bashkim Fino, was forgotten when invitations were sent out. A protocol oversight which, more than accidental, seems connected to a new practice being used at the Albanian presidency: holding meetings, gatherings or discussions with no decision-making power whatsoever, like the roundtables of non-governmental intellectuals, where one of the heads of government can also be “forgotten.”
Having none of his predecessor’s powers, Meidani has recently set out to discuss the Achilles’ heel of the new administration—smuggling—preparing his meeting as nothing more than a propaganda show. The fact that the main protagonists of this spectacle were absent—the institutions where the fight against the phenomenon is actually waged (besides Fino’s Committee, the XXN Division as well)—shows very clearly what kind of reports were presented at Meidani’s table. It also shows what account was demanded of the ministers of the Interior and Defense or the heads of the intelligence services. What remained was another exercise in demagoguery, which this time was called “accountability for one’s duty and concrete work.”
By seeking to assume the position of an impartial institution above the others, the President has often moved away from the heart of Albania’s conflicts. He has also remained silent when, during the political crisis, the referee was the OSCE representative in Tirana, or when European delegations were needed to secure political peace. In eight months in office, Meidani has not called a single party leader together to find common ground between the government and the opposition, while NGOs, consultative groups and advisory meetings with third parties have been the main preoccupation of the head of state.
Nevertheless, the latest meeting brought about a “change.” As far as its participants were concerned, it was once again similar to NGO meetings, and it did nothing to prevent smuggling; instead, it led to a pointless institutional conflict. Deputy Prime Minister Fino’s response proves this. So does President Meidani’s protocol office, whose haste has left the impression of an institution without weight, one that regards only consultative meetings as work.