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Reform without reformers

Reform without reformers

By Erjon Uka

It is astonishing how the Albanian reforms, proclaimed full of rage and pomp, manage to be reduced to myopic bureaucratic creatures without being born good. It is disappointing how these reforms, which aim to modernize the functioning of the state machinery and distribute more welfare, representation and justice to all, turn into discussions of particular names or certain buildings.

The most recent case is that of electoral reform: launched as a guarantor for a more comprehensive and dignified representation of the elected in the democratic system with representation, and of course to re-normalize the political absurdity of these years, it has turned into a chaotic movement where parties big parties are accused of each other, parties or small initiatives see it as a direct threat to leave them out of the game by setting a regional and national threshold at the same time, where internationals demand respect for the firm established in a three-month agreement, where the parliamentary opposition artificially created by the boycott of the already extra-parliamentary opposition is choosing the path of boycott, where the dates are postponed one after the other and where, after many months of debates, quality is no longer discussed,but in short simply who did the trick to whom in this story.

Reform? Not at all! And if we just look at the recent past, the same thing has happened with other such initiatives, so-called reforms: that of public administration, where it continues to expand, while the only thing that changes is the reorganization through the creation and merger of ministries. of relevant directorates; justice reform, which was seen as a hope for change but which turned into a parody where the ambassadors forced the deputies to vote, while three years later, we have only a few resignations and exclusions from the system without any serious consequences and the creation of institutions left halfway ; that of higher education, where a debate of several years took place, a high political cost was borne, was rumored to favor certain universities but that was left in the middle as a creature without identity leading institutions to internal conflicts due to the simultaneous implementation of the two laws. There are only a few examples of reforms, which in the first sense, should have profoundly changed their specific areas, but in the meantime nothing like that has happened.

Instead, we have a range of patches, measures and law enforcement initiatives. "Change the fiscal procedure", not a reform at all. "Pay the lights" is not a reform, but law enforcement. "Replace in the law something, the pistachio article", in the best case can be a retouching. But in the public articulation these are called "reforms", increasing the inflation of this term, devaluing it from its importance.

But all these successive failures, despite the changing governments, presented in trumpeted strategic plans that sometimes end in forced approvals for the sake of the international eye and sometimes in international arbitration with salty bills, have one common denominator: the lack of reformers.

From antiquity, Aristotle said that a state is better governed by a brilliant man than by a brilliant law. Behind the aphorism that may seem beautiful, its great truth lies in the human force in politics, beyond letters and written laws.

The sanctity of Albanian politics lies in maintaining the state of equilibrium and this, of course, runs counter to the reformist tendency. Therefore, as long as the reformers are absent, the reforms will never cause a turning point, while "reform" will remain the characteristic term of meetings with internationals.