Five Questions the German Foreign Minister didn’t let me ask – by Alfred Lela

Germany’s foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel was the first foreign official to come to Albania with strong and frank messages, with a Teutonic anger against the Albanian opposition and in favor of the governing system. He was categorically against the parliamentary boycott of the opposition and in favor of its participation in upcoming elections.

All others who have visited Albania during this political crisis, have accepted the ‘sanctity’ of such democratic instruments: elections, parliamentary life, etc. But without forgetting to mention another valuable instrument of democracy: Dialogue.

Yesterday the German foreign minister went further than Edi Rama himself, further than Taulant Balla and other such extreme socialists.

I don’t have a conspiracy theory to explain the positions of Germany’s diplomatic chief, but I have some questions. I believe questions are permitted as integral parts of the vocabulary of democracy, just as much as elections, parliamentary life, free speech, etc.

Isn’t curiosity supposed to be the first stage of freedom?

I am curios: Why did the German foreign minister choose not to mention the opposition’s concern? Surely he has been well briefed before coming to Tirana! Do such concerns exist in his sight and that of his government, or are they mere inventions of the Albanian opposition?

I am curious: Why did minister Gabriel (nothing to do with Angel Gabriel) refer to a letter of CDU MPs sent to democratic opposition leader Lulzim Basha in which they ask for an end to boycott, return to parliament and participation in elections? But using a half-fact, or what the Americans call ‘alternative fact‘ he stayed away from the other half of the letter which condoned the issues raised by the Albanian opposition?

I am curious: If he did not deem as necessary to talk of an Albanian problem, why did the minister leave aside a German-Albanian problem? That of asylum seekers from Albania who during the last two years top the list of asylum applications in Germany second to only war-torn and poor Afghans and Syrians? This would be a good indicator of Albania’s standards, in this case its economy, and how the job has been done by its government.

I am curious: Why did the German minister choose to talk of the Turkish referendum and their standards, while ignoring the subject of the election standards required by the opposition in Tirana? Moreover, why is democracy more important than stability in Turkey, while in Tirana stability is worth more than democracy?

I am curious: Why did minister Gabriel opt to use a ‘German vocabulary‘ to explain or describe a ‘political jargon‘ or a sociopolitical environment which does not operate in German, but in Albanian? When he says that “in my country there would never be a boycott of parliament,” he should know that the country where he is trying to sell the ‘German miracle‘ knows no concept of resignation, whatever the flaws.

His former President Wulf resigned two years ago because of a favorable home loan. While the politicians he shook hands with yesterday in Tirana refuse to resign, even after the country’s parliament was filled with criminals, even after Europe got filled with cannabis coming from Albania.

In other words, the opposition has not boycotted the parliament, but another kind of institution which according to the ‘German vocabulary‘ would be unacceptable. The opposition is boycotting this parliament in the hope that the next one is different.

These would be my curious questions which I would have asked the German foreign minister. But as he said yesterday during his monologue in front of the media, “he and Rama are socialists and don’t accept questions.”

Source: Politiko.al