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Shkruar nga Pamfleti
In Ankara, the spectacle did not work. Donald Trump's cold gaze and attempts to smooth relations with Friedrich Merz show that Edi Rama's diplomatic battle has just entered its most difficult phase...
At the NATO Summit in Ankara, Edi Rama once again attempted to play the usual role of protocol "clown", using white sneakers as a symbol.
Worried that he would face criticism for the political situation in Albania and the protests that have been going on for more than a month, he seems to have chosen to use non-ball movements this time as well, hoping to gain attention through image and not through politics.
In a virtual world like today's, he managed to get several Italian and Turkish portals to publish photos and short notes about his sneakers.
But at the most important moment of the summit, those sneakers became his curse.
Especially when Donald Trump didn't even deign to see him, even after the NATO Secretary General mentioned his presence.
It was precisely that cold gaze of the American President that seemed to be the ice shower for Edi Rama.
A man who knows body language and communication codes well at such summits.
Of course, the problem wasn't the sneakers.
Just as Volodymyr Zelensky's military suit wasn't the problem in his first meeting in the Oval Office.
The issue is always the political message being conveyed.
If for years Rama has been tolerated to behave like the clown of international summits, today the situation is completely different.
He is one of the region's longest-serving and most contested leaders.
And at such a moment, he cannot continue to endlessly build his profile on spectacle.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan can be tolerated for many things.
It may imprison the opposition, it may suppress protests, but Turkey remains a military power with strategic weight in NATO.
Moreover, Erdoğan has never built his international profile on protocol snobbery.
Precisely for this reason, in the meeting with Emmanuel Macron in Paris, Edi Rama went completely differently.
Almost like Volodymyr Zelensky on his second visit to Washington, when he decided to dress in a suit.
An attempt to soften the political climate.
Especially with the man he considers the main opponent in that hall:
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Albania has not been part of the meetings of the coalition of countries supporting Ukraine.
Not because it is not pro-Ukraine.
But because it doesn't have the political and military weight to be a factor at that table.
However, according to sources close to the majority, Rama lobbied hard to be present in the premises where the talks were taking place.
It is even said that mediation has been requested to arrange a meeting with Chancellor Merz.
In Tivat, during their brief meeting, Merz, according to the same sources, had asked him to return to Tirana and speak to the citizens who had taken to the streets.
This time, in all likelihood, Edi Rama is making his last attempt to stop the second wave of the political crisis expected in the fall.
With Erdoğan, according to this interpretation, he chose compromise, accepting the closure of Beder University and paving the way for the expansion of the presence of Turkish educational institutions in Albania.
But with Friedrich Merz, the chances seem much smaller.
Although, according to sources, this time the role of mediator has been taken on by French President Emmanuel Macron himself./ Pamphlet
Q: Pse i hoqi Edi Rama atletet e bardha në samitin e Parisit? A: I mbanin ere kembet!
Cfare ka bere Europa per Shqiperine gjate gjithe historise? Na ka coptuar.