By Desada Metaj
Apparently, the facts of the Balluku file – kept secret for several days by Niko Peleshi in his political safe – hide frightening data. Frightening for the defendant, but equally so for the government itself. The pieces of information that have come to the public, if only for the pressure on witnesses, show that the issue that formally began as a “Violation of equality in tenders” for the Llogara tunnel, in fact contains a much larger scenario: a genuine government project on the way in which this government and its leader use power. The ministers, in this picture, appear simply as executors, some more loyal, some more lightning-fast but loyal to the same scenario.
Since the day he decided to take Belinda Balluku’s suspension to the Constitutional Court, Edi Rama’s direct involvement is the clearest evidence of this scheme. He was invested not only legally, but also politically, by exerting open public pressure, in the eyes of the media, for seven days in a row, every morning, imposing on the Constitutional Court what decision it should make. And the Court did. Five members, convinced or submissive, without any serious justification, wrote exactly what Edi Rama wanted: the suspension of the GjKKO decision, that is, the continuation of the exercise of the duty by his deputy. The fireworks of naive fans in Fier and Dibër unmasked this "victory" of Rama.
What was not foreseen by them and perhaps not by the overwhelming majority of the public was the "eye to eye" response (borrowing Rama's terminology) from SPAK. The issue, meanwhile, had expanded from a small tunnel into a black hole, where the vortex included not one, but seven lots of the Great Ring Road in Tirana. It is even said that the investigations extend to a concession and a series of other similar issues, with numerous characters from the world of business and the media. Such an extension, with suspected corrupt affairs and staggering amounts, inevitably leads to the conclusion that we are not simply before the actions of an adventurous or pampered minister, but with genuine orchestrations, elaborate scenarios of the Prime Minister himself and the entire socialist government.
The request for the lifting of the immunity of Deputy Prime Minister-MP Balluku by SPAK was clearly justified not only by the expansion of the investigation, but also as a counter-response to the open pressure of the Prime Minister and the subsequent decision of the Constitutional Court, to keep Mrs. Balluku completely untouched by the investigations, calm and undisturbed in office. Rama was personally invested. He also fabricated documents of the Venice Commission that in fact did not exist. He clashed with the judges' association, remembering their salaries and their past. He even exploited the internal conjunctures of the Constitutional Court as only he knows how to achieve his goal.
But today the situation has worsened significantly. The procedural contortions that it is inventing to push this link in the Council of Mandates and Regulations further darken the situation in which the majority finds itself. After all the battle not to remove Ms. Balluku from the fold of the government, whether through resignation, dismissal or suspension, it now risks, paradoxically, handing her over to justice with its own hands. The lifting of immunity for arrest, (even house arrest) is nothing more than a surrender with Edi Rama's personal signature. And then, the end is unknown neither for Ms. Balluku, nor for him himself. Probably, as has happened on other occasions, the small employees of a ministry with major affairs, under investigation, may speak out. After all, two hands for one head. The same approach may apply to the Balluku case. One thing is clear: if the dimensions of these affairs are real, as SPAK claims, this can in no way be the autonomous work of a single ministry, even the deputy prime minister. A scenario, a "modus operandi" and above all, the will and political support of the prime minister are needed to realize all that is in the super voluminous file of the Special Prosecution Office. Just the criminal case of a tunnel, seven lots of the Ring Road and some multimillion-dollar concession would be enough as a package for a symbolic closure in the "Château d'If" with keys in the sea, like that of the Count of Monte Cristo.
No matter how much procrastination the socialist majority in the Assembly invents, no matter how much time the defense requires and no matter how many spirals the five SP members in the Mandates Council make, sooner or later they will face the essential question: to lift or maintain the immunity of the Deputy Prime Minister? Apparently, today they are still unable to give an answer, because both alternatives are losing for them. The waiver of immunity is, without a doubt, a public declaration of war against the Justice Reform, against the integration process and against European and American partners together, in addition to a pure act of collective criminal self-responsibility. The waiver of immunity, on the other hand, risks turning the end of Balluk's dark tunnel into a black hole that could swallow any important personage of the socialist government, even the first Prime Minister himself.
There remains a third path. Not the one advised by Tony Blair but the one of the people that comes from the popular saying: "the meat should be cooked and the skewer should not be burned". A path where Balluku does not become a danger to the evidence, witnesses and the process, while SPAK is quietly accommodated in defense of the integrity of the investigations. Paradoxically, this is the first solution that was offered to Belinda Balluku: suspension from the post of Deputy Prime Minister and a ban on leaving the country. And paradoxically, this issue may be decided again by the Constitutional Court on January 22. If this court rejects the Prime Minister's request, the two measures - suspension from office and ban on leaving the country - remain in force, Belinda Balluku retains the quality of MP and personal freedom. In this variant, a solution can be found that sufficiently satisfies SPAK's needs for the investigation, but also the fragile position of Rama and Balluku. The delay that the SP deputies requested today, beyond January 22, among other things, aims precisely at this: to wait for the Constitutional Court, to rule in favor of SPAK, and then the Socialist Party, in the Mandates Council, after "having studied the evidence", will reach the conclusion that suspension from office is a proportional measure, while arrest in prison or house arrest is an excess of the measure. This is how they will find the justification for not lifting the immunity of MP Balluku. Wasn't the same position followed in the case of Saimir Tahiri?
Only in this case, Edi Rama is burdened with the burden of appearing again every morning on Facebook, in "Flasim" or "Sy m'sy", until January 22, and exerting pressure (positive this time) on the Constitutional Court to make a different decision than the one he insistently requested a few days ago. In this case, he can replace the red glasses with blue ones. Because as the doctor says: fluid alliances are what you need to make every time a crisis knocks on your door!
