TIRANA, July 9 – Albania’s leader of the opposition Democratic Party Lulzim Basha has been repeatedly calling on the country’s President Ilir Meta this week not to sign the draft law approved on Thursday by the Socialist-led parliament for the new National Theatre building project in Tirana.
“Yesterday’s act was approving a law that legitimizes theft. Its only purpose is to rob land in the middle of Tirana to build six massive concrete towers. There is therefore no connection with arts and culture. It is not being done for the theatre. We call on the president not to decree the legitimization of theft,” Basha said.
According to Basha, the project’s main goal is to launder dirty money coming from drugs, crime and corruption, while the law in itself is unconstitutional and destructive of the rule of law.
Basha warned the opposition will face the government’s plans both on the streets and in public squares and that it will support “without hesitation every act warned in advance by the artists inside the theatre and anywhere else.”
Previously, the majority of artists still protesting the demolition of the old NT building and its replacement with a new one which will belong to a high-rise complex of building warned that if the parliament approved the draft law, they will lock themselves inside the NT to revoke it.
The draft-law was approved in parliament on Thursday amid tension between the government and the opposition, while outside the building actors and a number of activists had gathered, still against the government’s plans after months of consecutive protests and a series of meetings between government representatives and artists that led nowhere.
According to the draft law, Tirana’s Municipality will begin negotiating with Albanian-owned “Fusha shpk,” which will build the new National Building theatre in exchange of receiving the public land surrounding it, to erect a number of high-rise towers.
Meanwhile, the government argues the reason it is authorizing “Fusha shpk” to build the new NT building is due to lack of budget funds on its side.
The bill was reviewed last week under accelerated procedures due to the huge civil society and media attention it has received since February.
‘Fusha shpk’ has in the past been involved in major projects in Tirana, including the reconstruction of the landmark Skanderbeg Square, and is considered by the main opposition Democrats as a company with close ties to the government.
