TIRANA, Nov. 24 – Albania’s parliament has voted against a request by the opposition Democratic Party to launch an international investigation on a deal the Socialist-led government reached with Czech company CEZ to avoid a lengthy fight in arbitration court.
Fatmir Xhafaj, a Socialist lawmaker, said that the international probe would be against the country’s constitution.
The Democrats accuse the governing left-wing coalition of making a deal that cost Albania more than 600 million euros.
The CEZ contract was canceled by the Democrat Party-led government in early 2013 before the parliamentary elections.
Following the decision, the new left-wing government that came to power some months later reached a deal with the company – splitting competing claims in half.
The issue became a point of political contention between Tirana and Prague and could have hurt the EU bid, officials said at the time.
Tirana was also assisted by the EU energy commission, the World Bank in reaching the deal.
Oerd Bylykbashi of the opposition Democrats said that the government should not hide behind power, and if officials acted illegally they should be sent to jail for losing taxpayers’ money.
