TIRANA, July 29 /ATA/ The Democratic Party parliamentary group chairman Gazment Bardhi said the opposition had turned to the Constitutional Court to challenge the procedure followed by the ruling majority in approving a 302 million euro loan agreement between Albania and the United States for the purchase of military equipment.
Speaking to reporters at the Parliament building, Bardhi said the Democratic Party had raised concerns during the plenary session that the approval process was unconstitutional and had warned that the issue would be referred for constitutional review if the majority went ahead with the vote.
According to Bardhi, the opposition is not challenging the agreement itself, but rather the procedure through which it was approved. He said the Democratic Party supports the agreement in principle, considering it important for the modernisation of Albania’s Armed Forces and for meeting the country’s commitments within NATO.
“During Monday’s plenary session, I formally stated, on behalf of the Democratic Party parliamentary group, that the procedure followed by the ruling majority to approve the 302 million euro loan agreement between Albania and the United States for the purchase of military equipment was in breach of the Constitution. I also warned that, should the majority continue with this approach, the Democratic Party’s parliamentary group would seek a review of the matter by the Constitutional Court.”
Bardhi said the opposition supports the defence agreement in principle, but argued that its approval should have followed constitutional procedures, transparency and proper parliamentary debate given its strategic importance for Albania’s defence and NATO commitments.
“The issue is not the agreement itself, which even today, after its unconstitutional approval, we do not know the full content of. The issue is the unconstitutional manner in which the majority chose to approve it. This is not a political dispute; it is a constitutional matter. It is about defending the dignity of the Republic of Albania, its democratic institutions and the very image of the Albanian state on the international stage,” Bardhi said.
Bardhi said the ruling majority had violated constitutional standards and recent Constitutional Court rulings on parliamentary procedures by approving the agreement through an expedited process and without giving lawmakers sufficient time to review the documentation.
“The procedure followed for the approval of this agreement does not represent only an isolated violation. It simultaneously undermines several fundamental principles underpinning constitutional parliamentary practice: lawmakers’ right to be informed and debate the acts they vote on, the constitutional deadlines governing the use of expedited procedures, and the legal certainty that must accompany the entry into force of an international agreement,” Bardhi said.
Bardhi outlined seven alleged constitutional breaches in the approval process, including lawmakers’ inability to review the agreement and its accompanying financial report, failure to observe procedural deadlines, the unjustified use of an expedited procedure, restrictions on the opposition’s ability to seek Constitutional Court review before ratification, and the agreement’s inability to take effect because it had not been published in the Official Gazette.
He also argued that the government had more than a month to submit the agreement to parliament through the regular legislative process but instead introduced it on the final day of the parliamentary session, creating what he described as an artificial sense of urgency.
Bardhi alleged that the agreement was approved through multiple constitutional violations, arguing that lawmakers were denied proper access to the documents and adequate parliamentary scrutiny, the expedited procedure was misused, the opposition’s right to constitutional review was curtailed, and the agreement cannot legally take effect because it has not been published in the Official Gazette.
In conclusion, Bardhi said the opposition’s petition asks the Constitutional Court to annul and suspend the ratification law, arguing that the agreement should be approved through the regular parliamentary procedure and in accordance with the Constitution. He added that, if the court gives the case priority, parliament could hold another vote on the agreement in an extraordinary session while complying with all constitutional requirements.
“On the basis of these arguments, which are grounded in Albania’s Constitution, binding Constitutional Court rulings and its most recent case law, the Democratic Party’s parliamentary group has filed a petition with the Constitutional Court seeking a constitutional review of the procedure followed by parliament. We have asked the court to annul the ratification law and suspend its implementation. Our aim is to uphold constitutional order and ensure that the most important agreement between Albania and the United States in the fields of defence and national security is approved in accordance with the Constitution, through a regular parliamentary procedure and in line with the standards established by the Constitutional Court itself,” he said.
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