by Vilson Blloshmi
From the way it was announced to its substance, Prime Minister Edi Rama’s latest ultimatum to “clear public spaces within 2 weeks” is neither a law, nor a public policy, nor a government decision. It is a personal order, a voice over the phone that, in any functioning institutional state, would amount to scandal. But in today’s Albania, it seems we are no longer governed by a cabinet, a parliament, or a constitutional system — but by a single man.
This ultimatum has no legal foundation. It was not accompanied by any decision from the Council of Ministers, nor was it the result of consultation with local authorities or the public. It reflects no analysis of property rights, market dynamics, or public space use. It is a decision born out of mood — the mood of one man who governs based on how he wakes up in the morning. The institutions that are theoretically responsible for managing these issues — from the Ministry of the Interior to the Construction Inspectorate, to the municipalities — have been completely excluded from the decision-making process. The Prime Minister has spoken — to himself — and that is apparently enough.
This is not the first time Albania is being governed through ultimatums, Facebook statuses, or videos from a personal office. Where there should be an institutional system that separates powers and ensures accountability, there is only a phone screen. The government no longer functions as a collegial body. Ministers have become mere spokespersons for the Prime Minister’s will — without autonomy, without opinion, without responsibility. Parliament has become a rubber stamp for whatever law comes out of a single office. The judiciary, in many cases, remains silent in the face of this concentration of power, while citizens are reduced to spectators in a theater where democracy is just a backdrop.
The latest ultimatum is emblematic of this mode of governance: a state that does not act based on law, but on the daily mood of its leader. The clearing of public spaces is an important issue for any city — but it should happen transparently, fairly, and through democratic processes. Otherwise, any authoritarian intervention only adds to the chaos, arbitrariness, and violation of citizens’ rights.
Before issuing ultimatums by phone, the Prime Minister owes us a simple answer: why haven’t the institutions done their job? Why have public spaces been allowed to be illegally occupied for years, while municipalities, municipal police, urban planning offices, and inspectorates have remained silent, surrendered, or even colluded with this reality? Accountability begins precisely there — by explaining why the state has failed.
Instead, we see a Prime Minister who walks the streets like a “lone sheriff,” chasing down chairs, umbrellas, and benches as if they were trophies. This is not the behavior of a head of state, nor of a democratic government. There is no institutional, legal, or even minimal political logic that can justify this personal spectacle. If this is the model of governance offered to citizens — where law is replaced by sensation and personal theater — then we are facing a system that has abandoned its fundamental functions.
Instead of a rule-of-law state, we now face a reality where one man decides everything: who should be removed from the streets, who gets to build, who must remain silent. This is not governance — it is the extreme personalization of power. If civil society, the opposition, the media, and citizens do not react to this method of rule, then very soon we will have neither public spaces nor political space — only silence and submission before the one voice that speaks.
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