The draft law is now expected to be approved article by article and as a whole, before being submitted to the plenary session for a vote on 8 October.

As in previous meetings, opposition MPs continued to reject the new territorial map proposed by the ruling majority, calling for the review of what they described as a unilateral initiative to be put on hold.

Democratic Party MP Oerd Bylykbashi said the process violated the Constitution and ran counter to citizens’ interests.

“Another draft law has been submitted by DP MPs concerning a different territorial division. We have requested that the two processes be combined into a single one, but you have refused,” Bylykbashi said, accusing the majority of deliberately throwing a spanner in the works of the timely consultation process for the DP initiative, which, according to him, has still not been sent to the Durrës Municipality.

Bylykbashi stressed that the DP initiative does not merge municipalities, but preserves them and creates additional municipalities in order to bring local government closer to citizens.

“Parliament is deliberately obstructing the opposition’s legislative initiative to prevent it from being consulted,” he added.

Bylykbashi stressed that the opposition could not under any circumstances support this draft law, as he said it violates the Constitution with regard to the principle of territorial division.

“You have taken a political decision today as a parliamentary group that overrides the Constitution. The bell of misfortune has now rung for those 15 municipalities. Twelve years ago, you dismantled the municipalities, reducing 373 municipalities and communes to 61, and now Edi Rama’s project to turn Albania into a single municipality continues. We are witnessing the end of a process aimed at placing power in the hands of a single individual,” he added.

Bylykbashi noted that the vast majority of municipal councils in the municipalities that would be affected by the new territorial division have expressed their opposition. He accused the majority of seeking to undermine a level playing field for the opposition and attempting to win at the negotiating table by changing the rules shortly before the elections.

The DP MP Eno Bozdo criticised the majority for failing to consider the concerns of municipalities affected by the proposed territorial reform, arguing that the opposition supports reform but wants the best option for citizens. He cited Slovenia, which has 212 municipalities despite having a population similar to Albania’s.

For his part, Arbjan Mazniku, co-chair of the special committee on administrative-territorial reform, explained that the Constitution clearly sets out how local government institutions operate.

“Article 108 of the Constitution states that local government units are communes or municipalities and counties. Other local government units are regulated by law. Therefore, this article is not intended to define the types of local government, but rather to establish their order and level,” he added.

Meanwhile, Socialist Party (SP) MP Aulona Bylykbashi stressed the importance of the reform, which she said has a direct impact on citizens’ lives.

“This is a year-long process that began at the end of October last year and has now been formalised into an initiative submitted by majority MPs. The initiative is the result of an in-depth analysis of all economic, financial, demographic and historical factors,” Bylykbashi said.

The SP MP expressed confidence that the reform is the right one and will help improve citizens’ lives.

Bylykbashi said the majority had sought consensus with the opposition through a jointly led committee, but added this had not been possible. She said the reform aims to create more efficient local government units capable of competing for and benefiting from EU funds.

According to her, 70% of European Union legislation is implemented at the local level.

“Our analysis showed that not all municipalities had the capacity to maintain human resources at this level. Merging several municipalities into one would help address this. At the same time, despite changes to their boundaries, none of the municipalities merged into the central municipality would lose their identity, which is guaranteed by law. They will retain their names and symbols and will remain cities with proportional representation based on their population,” she added.

/r.e/sm/