Albania: Power struggle

Date: 30/08/03

The better, younger generation is determined to oust the crustier one

LIKE scorpions in a bottle, Albania's two cleverest politicians are circling each other in search of an opportunity to deliver a fatal sting. For the moment at least, Fatos Nano, the prime minister and leader of the (ex-communist) Socialist Party is on the defensive. His younger and more dynamic rival, Ilir Meta, resigned from the foreign minister's job in July, accusing the prime minister of cronyism and interfering with foreign policy, but he has managed ever since to block the appointment of a successor. The power struggle is likely to be resolved this autumn. The outcome could determine whether Albania falls back into stagnation and corruption or moves ahead more energetically.

Mr Meta persuaded a group of MPs from the governing Socialist-led coalition to vote against or abstain from approving the candidacy of Marko Bello, a close ally of Mr Nano. With parliament on holiday, Mr Nano has been able to manage without a foreign minister for a while; after all, the European Commission, which keeps the closest tabs on Tirana, more or less shuts down for August. Ermelinda Meksi, the ambitious new minister of European integration, whose predecessor resigned along with Mr Meta, has been fielding phone calls from Brussels. Now also deputy prime minister, she successfully handled Albania's negotiations to join the WTO.

But Mr Meta's move has made the prime minister look weak just as he starts planning his campaign for local-government elections due in October - just over halfway through the government's four-year term. Sali Berisha, the belligerent leader of the opposition Democratic Party, has called for Mr Nano to stand down.

Albania's efforts to sell off big state-owned companies, build better roads, collect more taxes, and overcome a chronic power shortage - some of the main reasons for its failure to attract foreign investors - have all slowed under Mr Nano. Mr Meta got much more done during his brief stint as prime minister after the disruptive war in 1999 in neighbouring Kosovo.

European officials worry that Mr Meta's departure my cause reform to stall altogether. Negotiations over an EU “stabilisation and association” agreement, meant to be the first milestone on Albania's long journey to membership of the European club, are grinding along slowly. The speedboats that buzzed across the Adriatic to put thousands of illegal immigrants on Italy's shores have disappeared from the port of Vlora, a base for people-trafficking. A few traffickers have been tried and convicted. But international drugs and cigarette smugglers still use Albania as a transit route and warehouse.

As foreign minister, Mr Meta did a good job of improving Albania's traditionally prickly relations with Serbia and Montenegro (now in a loose union) and with Kosovo. That pleased EU governments, not least because it has facilitated cross-border co-operation to combat smuggling elsewhere in the crime-infested west Balkans.

Mr Meta's next move? At 34, he can afford to wait for another try at the prime minister's job. But his resignation signalled impatience. Except in Tirana, the capital, where the Socialist candidate, Edi Rama, the incumbent mayor, should be a shoo-in for a second term, the Socialists are expected to lose ground in the local elections. In the provinces, a lack of jobs, continued power cuts and pot-holed roads have damaged the prospects of Socialist mayoral candidates.

The moment for which Mr Meta has been waiting may arrive in December, when the Socialists are to hold a party congress where he could challenge Mr Nano for the party leadership. That, say Mr Meta's friends, may be the time to strike.

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