The Albanian parliament on Sunday approved the government of Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama who vowed to speed up Albania’s integration into the European Union and revive an ailing economy.
A total of 82 lawmakers in the 140-seat parliament supported Rama and his 20-member cabinet, which for the first time in Albania has six women ministers, including Mimi Kodheli as defence minister.
The new government led by Rama’s Socialist Party includes five ministers from a junior coalition partner, the Socialist Movement for Integration, headed by his close ally and parliamentary speaker Ilir Meta.
The new ruling coalition scored a landslide victory in the June 23 elections, forcing Sali Berisha, the veteran leader of the centre-right Democratic Party and outgoing prime minister, to concede defeat and enable a rare peaceful political transition.
The new ministers, most of whom are serving for the first time in such a position and who average 44 years old, pledged to launch ambitious reforms aimed at accelerating Albania’s bid to join the EU.
“The process of adhesion to the EU is a national goal that requires a democratisation and transformation of Albanian society in compliance with European values and principles,” Rama told AFP.
In order to “show Albania’s firm will” to implement reforms required by the EU and to prove his strong commitment to EU membership, the 49-year old painter-turned-politician said he would as early as Monday pay his first official visit to Brussels.
Albania, whose EU membership applications Brussels has already rejected twice, hopes to obtain the status of European Union candidate — a step toward membership — by the end of this year.
In order to reach the goal, the new government, coming into power after spending eight years in the opposition, should notably reinforce the rule of law and make progress in fighting organised crime and corruption.
“It is very important to launch a sincere fight against crime and corruption… to implement a new economic model and establish a tolerant atmosphere between the majority and the opposition,” said Rama, leader of the Socialist Party since 2005.
“The poverty and unemployment are our enemies,” he said.
Albania is considered one of Europe’s poorest countries, with some 14.3 percent of its 3.2 million inhabitants living on less than $2 (1.5 euros) a day, according to official statistics.
The unemployment rate has hit 14 percent, and public debt has exceeded 60 percent of GDP.
Rama, former mayor of Tirana, hopes to revive production and reduce unemployment by attracting foreign investments. In particular, he vowed to abolish the tax for small businesses, reduce public debt and create 300,000 new jobs.
He also said he would solve the long-lasting issues of ownership and compensation for former political prisoners and those persecuted by communist regime, which lasted from the end of World War II until the 1990s.
Unlike his predecessor and long-time political rival Sali Berisha, who had scared bordering countries by advocating “to unite Albanians throughout the region,” Rama said he was “interested in cooperation with all the neighbours.”
“All together, Albanians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Bosnians, Greeks or Croats… we face the challenge of writing a new page of history for this region of wars, a history of peace,” he said.
For the centre-right opposition, the government programme is “only propaganda.”
“It is political demagogy with empty promises without financial calculation,” said Lulezim Basha, the new leader of the Democratic Party that succeeded Berisha after the elections. Such politics “will push the country into a deep crisis,” he added.
Elections in Albania have been marred by violence and disputed results since the fall of communism.
A smooth exchange of power could pave the way for the Balkans country to more closely integrate with the EU.
Brussels closely followed the polls, calling them “a crucial test” for the country’s future in Europe.
Socialist Edi Rama voted in as Albania's new PM
