Rama gathers ministers in Pogradec ahead of the “head-chopping”: Who is at risk of leaving the government on September 5?

Now that the fever of government changes has gripped not only ministers and potential ministerial candidates, but has also quickly spread through the corridors of the administration, the question is no longer whether Edi Rama will make changes, but who will be in and who will be out of the next government lineup.

And before September 5 arrives, when the changes are expected, the prime minister has decided to take the ministers with him to Pogradec.

This weekend, the cabinet will hold a “retreat,” where ministers will officially report on the work they have done. Unofficially, Pogradec could also serve as a kind of waiting room for those who still do not know whether they will write their next report from the ministry or from home.

Rama will, of course, listen to the reports. But, knowing how these meetings work, he will likely also have time to read between the lines, faces and silences: who is “playing games,” who is tired and, above all, who is preparing to stay longer than the prime minister expects.

The accounts with the latter are expected to be settled a week later.

On September 5, the Assembly of the Socialist Party is expected to take place, and the atmosphere there will no longer be as calm as in Pogradec. It will be the day when the “heads” are also expected to roll.

Sources within Edi Rama’s cabinet told VNA that the ministries most exposed to the prime minister’s “arrows of Zeus” are the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Environment.

So, in Pogradec, some ministers may enjoy the lake, but not necessarily the weekend.

The Minister of Health, Evis Sala, is also not outside the focus of the changes. A few days ago, the media reported that she had submitted her resignation to the prime minister. And, as the old saying goes, where there is smoke, there is fire.

But Evis Sala’s story appears likely to have a somewhat more elegant ending than that of the colleagues who will be leaving.

Because of longstanding friendly ties with her family, Sala is not expected to be thrown into the “dustbin of oblivion” following the formation of the fourth-term government. According to the rumors circulating, she could be appointed to head an important institute, most likely the Institute of Tumors, which Sala herself presented just a few days ago.

So, leaving the government, like many other things in politics, is not the same for everyone.

These are the words circulating within the cabinet and the administration. The final names, however, will remain uncertain until the moment Rama decides to make them public.

And perhaps that is precisely where the most interesting part will be.

Because when the changes are announced in front of the cameras, there will be no need to hear many statements. It will be enough to look at the faces in the Assembly hall: those who have just been given a ministry, those who have just lost one, and those who believed until the very last second that they would keep theirs.

Their facial expressions will say much more than the silence of a party that already obeys whoever brings the next offering.

“KORÇA BOOM”