Albanian dignity and values

The mayor of Tirana, Lulzim Basha, stopped by Johns Hopkins/SAIS this morning to do a public presentation, moderated by Mike Haltzel.  Still well under 40, he has already served as Public Works, Transport and Telecommunications Minister, Foreign Minister and Interior Minister.  Soft-spoken and low key, he nevertheless wasn’t shy about mentioning main achievements in each of these positions:  a big jump in foreign and infrastructure investment, NATO membership and the Schengen visa waiver, which allows Albanians to travel visa-free in the European Union.

He also wasn’t shy about saying he thought his predecessor as mayor, Edi Rama, had paid too much attention to national politics (Rama is also head of the Socialist Party) and too little to the citizens of his city.  Lulzim says he wants to focus on citizen needs, not national issues.

This above all means the economy, employment, and transparent governance.  Municipal expenditures will all be available soon on line.  City hall, which at the beginning of his mandate was absorbing 87% of revenue, will by the end of it absorb only 50%, with the rest spent on citizens and services to them.  The margin for discretion by city officials is being reduced, so as to limit opportunities for corruption.  Tax collection will be improved, the burdens lowered and the tax base expanded.  Public/private partnerships and concessions to the private sector will be used to the maximum extent possible.  There will be one stop shopping for licenses and permits.  The mayor and his staff are meeting regularly with citizens in town hall meetings and individually.

I confess this sounded pretty good to me, but I liked what I heard from Edi Rama too, when he spoke at the U.S. Institute of Peace a few years ago.  What do I know about Tirana and its politics?  Precious little.  I suppose the only way to judge Mayor Basha is to wait a few years and see whether things have improved, or not.  I hope they do:  Tirana was a pretty wretched place when I first visited in 1997.  It had improved dramatically when I was there a few years later, but that’s not saying much:  there was a lot of illegal construction. If Lulzim can meet some of the citizens’ demands and improve the quality of life, I suppose he could be mayor for life.

But he won’t be.  Prime Minister Sali Berisha is presumably grooming him for bigger and better things (if Berisha doesn’t decide that Lulzim has gotten too big for his britches and needs taking down a peg).  So I asked him about national and regional politics:  why are we all hearing much more about Greater Albania than at any time I can remember?  What does it signify and how does he regard this talk?

Lulzim conceded that there is much more “red and black” nationalist talk than in the past.  It started in Kosovo with Albin Kurti.  Now politicians in Albania are trying to attract votes by appealing to “Albanian dignity and values,” which would only be fully realizable they claim in a unified Albanian state.

This idea will not, Lulzim thought, gain much traction.  Albanian dignity and values are European.  Albanians in the Balkans have understood that the deal they got was a good one:  a serious Albanian state, Kosovo independence, and equal rights for Albanians in Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro.  Unification will come within the European Union, not before.   That will serve Albanian dignity and values best.