TIRANA, April 9 /ATA/ – Main opposition Democratic Party (DP) lawmaker Jorida Tabaku said on Thursday that proposed changes to parliament’s rules violate opposition rights and risk undermining Albania’s European Union integration process.
Tabaku told a regular parliament session the amendments put forward by the ruling Socialist Party were unilateral and ran counter to a Constitutional Court ruling that, she said, had upheld the opposition’s position.
She said the changes would weaken the functioning of parliamentary committees and limit the role of the opposition, while also criticising what she described as a lack of broad consultation on the matter.
“The proposed amendments breach the rules of parliamentary coexistence and infringe on the rights of opposition-led committees,” Tabaku said, adding that they would concentrate powers in so-called “super-committees”.
The opposition lawmaker also raised concerns over what she described as insufficient parliamentary scrutiny of key international reports related to Albania’s EU path.
She noted that parliament had yet to debate earlier reports by the U.S. State Department and the European Commission, even as new assessments are being published and the European Parliament prepares to adopt its next report on Albania’s accession process on May 6.
According to Tabaku, parliament should prioritise issues such as the fight against organised crime and corruption, as well as the business climate, which are central to EU integration.
She warned that a lack of transparency and inclusiveness was harming the process.
Tabaku added that Albania’s EU integration was at a “crossroads”, describing it as a process “being carried out only on paper” without adequate public and institutional engagement.
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