Tirana Times is a media outlet that takes much pride in its neutral and accurate coverage and independent spirit. We try our best to be impartial in a context when it is becoming increasingly difficult to be so. However there are situations and key moments when the truth and the right thing to do are very obvious and to try to stand otherwise would be in the same vein plainly wrong.
Hence we owe it to our readers to make our position clear: this paper stands strongly against the new law that permits waste import in Albania, we support and align ourselves with the civic protest to be held on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016 and should there be no other way to reverse this legislative measure we encourage the institutions to allow the Albanians people to vote in a referendum about this decision.
We have listened with care and respect to the arguments provided recently in the parliamentary session by the Prime Minister, and we are not convinced. There are simply no guarantees, factual and institutional that the right mechanisms are in place to protect our country from an environmental disaster. The law has the potential to create this disaster in a fragile country like Albania where corruption is rampant and the strength of the institutions is very low compared to the high pressure of actors interested to bring in dangerous waste. The experience of neighboring countries has revealed the inherent dangers that lurk in this gaps.
We would like to invite all actors responsible for this legislative initiative to reflect deeper on the situation in Albania, to be more responsible in addressing internal challenges before importing new ones and to listen to the strong and massive voice of the people which refuses this law.
We call upon the President to veto the law, even though that would just buy some time, since the Parliament would re-introduce it to the voting procedure. Despite this the president has to show symbolically that he respects the democratic protest against this law.
Should there be no other way to take a decision on this matter, we urge all sides to be respectful of the Albanian people’s desire to express its will on the matter by ways of a referendum. This right was granted in 2013 and should be granted again in 2016 since the issue at stake is exactly the same and the civics response is negative again. Albanian civil society and organized activist groups should gear up to recollect the necessary signatures as soon as possible because time is pressing.
This is not a trifle matter that can be passed with talk of the waste import as a usual industrial practice of importing primary materials. To think that Albania is in the same position that other European countries are who are able to participate in this international exchange is to be either maleficent or utterly uninformed.
The rightful position is very simple: Albania should not import any waste from abroad and the Albanian people should be spared, or even better spare themselves, from this imminent threat!
