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Worried Athens: Why Europeans and Americans have chosen Rama and are throwing Greece under the bus

2023-12-19 23:05:45Pikëpamje SHKRUAR NGA STAVROS TZIMAS
Worried Athens: Why Europeans and Americans have chosen Rama and are throwing
Rama and Mitsotakis

By Stavros Tzimas*

Judgment time is near for Himara's elected but imprisoned mayor, as the special anti-corruption court convenes soon for the underlying case. So a decision that will decide whether Fredi Beleri is guilty or not for buying votes.

It's the same court that last week rejected his request that he be able to take his oath, inside or outside prison.

Beler has 15 days to appeal the decision, but the chance of it being overturned is slim. Most likely he will not be sworn in as mayor and this is something that is expected to weigh against him in the upcoming trial. So now all eyes are on Tuesday's proceedings, where the Albanian prosecution authorities will have to back up their claims with evidence that is far more convincing than anything we've seen so far.

If Beler is found guilty, he has the right to appeal to the Supreme Court of Albania.

However, a conviction against him means that he will not be able to run in the new elections that Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has said he intends to call, in order to wash his hands of the "Himara issue". which he has turned into a personal quarrel with Beleri.

Without Beleri, the ethnic Greek minority will have to choose a new candidate, with his son's recent media appearances creating buzz that he is a possible candidate. But the community could also choose to abstain from the process, which would further worsen relations with Tirana and affect Greek-Albanian ties, already strained by the affair.

For Rama, the court's decision to exclude Beler from the oath is definitely proof that he has won the first round in the draw with the Greek side. He also seems certain that Tuesday's trial - the outcome of which is considered a foregone conclusion by anyone with knowledge of Albanian affairs - will mark the end of Beler's political career.

Greek veto

Athens' warning that it will exercise its right of veto to prevent the European Union membership talks between Brussels and Tirana from the beginning, seems not to have scared the Albanian prime minister at all in his revenge against Beler. Rama, in fact, seems to have taken a defiant stance towards European urges for a resolution on the issue, saying: "Even if the European Council were to overturn, we are not open to any negotiations that conflict with Albania's strategic interest , which is the implementation of justice reform and the preservation of the independence of its justice institutions". His intransigence has been further strengthened by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's reference to the issue as a "bilateral dispute" and unrelated to the EU's requirements regarding the rule of law in the accession process.

But where does all this love for Rama come from? Why are Europeans and Americans willing to throw Greece under the bus when it is their most important and reliable ally in Southeast Europe?

The Albanian Prime Minister seems to have done a good job convincing them that this is a bilateral issue, a simple criminal matter that belongs only to the justice system of the country and that this justice system is unquestionably independent. He never misses the opportunity, when commenting on the Beleri affair, to remind the Europeans that the Albanian prosecution, courts and police aspire to the standards set by Europe and that he has no right to interfere.

Great panorama

Beyond the "small picture" related to the case against Beler, there is a "wider picture" in which Rama is seen as the favored interlocutor of the EU and the USA in the Western Balkans. The wily prime minister continues to project himself as the leader who can guarantee the internal political stability and western orientation of Albania. Mainly, however, he presents himself as an influential politician with the leadership qualities needed to control dangerous developments in the troubled Kosovo, as the West wishes, and, more generally, with the ability to manipulate secessionist tendencies among the 7 million ethnic Albanians living in the Balkans.

Everyone understands that without Tirana and Belgrade, i.e. without Rama and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučič, there is little hope for improving the situation in Kosovo. He may not say it out loud, but the West also sees in Rama a pro-European prime minister who, despite the excellent relations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is protecting Albania from Islamization and from becoming Turkey's bridge to the Adriatic Sea. After all, he has shown that he will do what is asked of him. Such as, for example, the acceptance of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's scheme for Albania to host several thousand immigrants and refugees trying to reach Europe from Africa.

* Kathimerini


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