TIRANA, Sept. 20 – Albania’s ruling Socialist Party says it will withdraw legislation aimed at importing waste to Albania in order to consult the public.
The decision comes after the political opposition and civil society groups vowed to seek whatever remedy was possible – including a national referendum – to stop the highly unpopular legislation.
Last year, then-President Bujar Nishani vetoed a law passed by the Socialists that would allow for waste imports “for recycling” . Parliament must now vote on the veto, legislative experts say – the Socialists cannot simply withdraw the bill. They would have to vote it down and introduce a new one.
When parliament last week published a list of draft laws that would have to be subject to discussions in its committees over the coming weeks, the inclusion of President Bujar Nishani’s decree reopened debates on this issue.
SP did not have enough votes in the previous parliament to override the presidential veto. But it does in the current parliament.
However, the chairman of the Socialist parliamentary group, Taulant Balla, said earlier this week in a statement that the majority has decided to withdraw the law to allow for “an exhaustive public debate.”
The chief advocate for waste imports, Productive Activities Committee head and SP MP Eduard Shalsi said that a long discussion process will be opened.
“There have been many alerts, assumptions, abuses, and manipulations of public opinion. It has, however, been considered reasonable that the proposal be withdrawn,” said Shalsi, an MP with close ties to Prime Minister Edi Rama.
However, the opposition says the proposal is in violation of the procedures, as it is no longer just about bill, but a decree of the president on which the parliament has to vote, according to the chairman of the opposition Socialist Movement for Integration parliamentary group, Petrit Vasili.
“There is no possibility for the Socialist Party to legally withdraw a bill because it is not a bill, but it is a law,” Vasili said, explaining the technical details of rules and procedures to journalists.
Democrats also look to the same position.
“The only way for the bill be withdrawn now is for MPs to vote against it,” said DP MP Florion Mima at the Productive Activities Committee meeting.
The Democratic Party also requested that its request be considered for the holding of national referendum. The SMI agreed a referendum would be the best solution if parliament fails to follow the demand of the country’s vast majority of voters.
Polls have showed about 90 percent of Albanians oppose the importation of any waste into the country.
Socialists originally opposed waste imports but now say it’s a good industry to get into for recyclables.
Critics are worried Albania will turn into a place where organized crime destroys hazardous waste disguised as recyclable materials.
The Alliance Against Importing of Waste, a civil society coalition, sent an open letter to Prime Minister Rama to protest against the inclusion of legislation back in the parliament’s work calendar.
The alliance noted that it believes the latest decisions to build waste incinerators in several Albanian cities go against the country’s best interests, even if they only provide for the incineration of internal waste.
Many believe the infrastructure is being put in place to burn foreign waste in the future as the capacity of incinerators is too big for local waste.
