Albania: Europe’s marijuana premiere ranch with a corrupt Prime Minister
The Republic of Albania, the poorest nation in South East Europe, has earned an infamous reputation for its corrupt and wealthy political elite, Edi Rama’s Government has harnessed a sophisticated network of marijuana plantations and concocted a regional drug trade that is causing a growing number of assassinations among members of various drug cartels and the number of collateral, innocent victims has exponentially grown in the last seven years. The killing of Niko Goro and the attempted assassination of Andon Dhima (caught on surveillance camera), are a genuine testimony of Albania’s current situation, a country that is ruined by organized crime and most of its rural ranches are controlled by drug lords. Tirana is also suffering from a terrible decades’ long brain drain and is faced with a scandalous demographic crisis, its youngest generation is leaving the country in search for better opportunities in the streets of Western Europe.
Although Albania’s visionary president and sole defender of national constitution has called for many years upon the Executive Branch, to tackle the ongoing population hemorrhage and emigration of young professionals, a crisis that has succumbed the entire nation into its knees. However, Edi Rama and his corrupt technocrats, supported by EU Ambassador Luigi Soreca, a protégé of George Soros, continues to ignore the legitimate calls of Albania’s head of state. President Ilir Meta has legitimately expressed a profound concern on the current socio-economic situation in Albania, unfortunately his statements have been grossly ignored by Brussels in concept of pressuring Edi Rama to combat organized crime, even though Charles Michel’s cluband EC leadership have rejected EU-Albanian accession talks for the very same reasons that are clearly conveyed by Albania’s President (over the past two years), including the eroding democratic institutions, organized crime permeated inside Rama’s government and rampant economic stagnation.
While legitimately defending the national constitution and institutional independence President Ilir Meta has stated that “Albania risks becoming once again “the North Korea of Europe,” and actions led by Edi Rama are simply undermining the country’s path to European Union accession. It is disturbing to observe that European Union representatives are cognizant of Albania’s constitutional crisis, institutional recklessness, nonetheless they remain silent and complicit with Edi Rama’s underhand tactics.
Edi Rama has “usurped every independent institution” and become a “one-party regime,” Tirana does not have a constitutional court for more than three years, and European Council remains silent and has dramatically failed to bring Rama’s government on the right track of action. Furthermore Edi Rama and his ruling majority have undermined the implementation of Albania’s justice reform, the nation has been without a constitutional court for over three years and Tirana’s war against corruption is a total fiasco.
The European Council must know that President Meta is the sole constitutional figure that is safeguarding Albania’s healthy democratic tenets and has historically shown a rare coherence and leadership in bringing Tirana ever closer to Brussels with real actions, dynamic presidential diplomacy and embodies a convincing statecraft.
Albania is scheduled to hold the next parliamentary elections on April 25th, 2021 and Edi Rama is expected to conduct a massive elections’ fraud nationwide to secure his third term in office with his cronies, at a suitable time when his European partners in crime – although repeatedly warned – have a proclivity to support Rama’s status-quo at the detriment of Albania’s democratic standards and institutional autonomy.
As a Balkan country with the size of Maryland, Albania’s agrarian society with an underdeveloped and grey economy, over the last three decades has missed a number of opportunities, that could have sparked Tirana’s industrial ambitions and secured a constant economic growth. As the world is facing new disruptive forces and the European Union institutions are constantly evolving, Edi Rama and his team of advisers are extremely slow to adapt accordingly, Albania’s PM is only focused on how to boost his political future and secure personal wealth, while his country is rotting into poverty and organized crime operates freely in the streets of Tirana.
As the Albanian people are victims of rising income inequality that is delaying their – full European Integration – aspirations, progressive dreams and dimming their hopes; the April 25th elections are a fundamental milestone for the country’s institutional democracy and European Union Institutions have a few months of leeway to either promote Albania’s healthy institutions or continue preserve Rama’s autocracy. Tirana’s poorest levels of ‘knowledge capital” are reflected within Edi Rama’s ministerial cabinet and Brussels ought to openly support President Meta’sinitiatives and must not shy away from its priorities in the Balkans.
