The cold war within the Socialist Party has officially descended into the Parliament hall, where the silence of some speaks louder than the speeches of others. Prime Minister Edi Rama has chosen a public and elegant "slap" for his recently dismissed colleague, Elisa Spiropali, stripping her of her former importance with a single sentence.
Asked about Spiropali's absence at yesterday's session, where a vote was to be taken in favor of Belinda Balluku and her protection from arrest, Rama did not stop playing either a lawyer or a diplomat.
"It is the group leader's job to listen to her and understand why she was absent from the session," Rama said, delegating the fate of his favorite to the group leader, as if she were a simple MP from the last lists.
Yesterday's absence of Spiropali from the vote was a message. In the corridors of the majority, it was understood that her lightning dismissal from the Foreign Ministry was a direct revenge of Belinda Balluku. It is said that it was precisely the "Iron Lady" of Infrastructure who asked Rama for Elisa's head, and the Prime Minister did not hesitate to hand it to her on a silver platter.
But the political degeneration did not stop with the dismissal. Rama seems to have decided to "intern" Spiropali politically. Instead of sending her to the Foreign Affairs Committee, where her experience as a minister would have made sense, he bumped her to the Internal Affairs Committee. A move that is seen as a demotion and a clear message: Your time in the window of the world is over.
Spiropali was not the only one who "betrayed" at the moment of voting for Balluk. Fatmir Xhafaj, another "old wolf" who does not fall for internal tricks so easily, was also absent from the hall.
It seems that Spiropali has decided to take a stand, not becoming a shield for the rival who took over his post, but Rama is treating this rebellion with cynical coldness. In Rama's court, the distance from "Skënderbeg" to "internment" in second-rate commissions is just a signature away.
