TIRANA, Oct. 26 – Albania’s ruling Socialist Party-led coalition has shown signs it is buckling under pressure from civil society and political opposition following a recent decision by President Bujar Nishani to veto a controversial waste import bill.
The Socialists say they continue to support the bill, but they would be open to amending it before they override the presidential veto on the integrated waste import and management bill approved at the end of September by merely 63 lawmakers of ruling majority, according to comments by two Socialist lawmakers, Taulant Balla and Eduard Shalsi.
Many of the 140 lawmakers, including members of Socialist-led coalition did not vote, also revealing cracks in coalition between Socialist Party and Socialist Movement for Integration, as several of its MPs abstained by walking out of the session.
During the 12-hour parliamentary session, members of the Socialist Movement for Integration were apparently reluctant but obliged to vote in favor of the waste bill, however two weeks later from the vote, members of the junior coalition partner have launched consultations with representatives of the recycling industry and the Alliance Against Waste Imports over the waste bill.
There have been speculations that SMI and the other parties involved have agreed to introduce some amendments to the bill, while Petrit Vasili, chairman of the parliamentary group of SMI refuted such claims.
“Today is a day to listen and pay attention. Today is not any day for reflections” Vasili said after meetings with representatives of the recycling industry and the Alliance Against Waste Imports, a civil society group.
The position of the Socialist Movement for Integration in the upcoming vote of the bill is crucial for the its future. But Vasili refused to even hint on the party’s vote.
Representatives of the Alliance Against Waste Imports have categorically refused any possible amendment to the bill and have demanded its immediate abrogation.
“Waste imports must be banned. Every amendment would be a new act of treason,” Lavdush Faruni, an environmentalist and alliance representative said.
They also announced plans to hold a massive protest against the bill on Oct. 30, accepting for the first time the opposition Democratic Party’s offer to send supporters to beef up protester numbers. The alliance says it is in charge of the protests, however, not any particular opposition party.
Last week, President Bujar Nishani vetoed the waste bill arguing that it violates European Directive 2008/98/EC as well as Article 59 of the Constitution which says that “the state must provide a healthy environment which is ecologically suitable for the existing and future generations.”
The president also recalled that some of the same arguments were used by the Socialist Party in 2013 to ban waste imports. Socialists have now changed their minds, saying that recyclable waste imports are not the same as all waste and they are needed to save the recycling industry from bankruptcy.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has started procedures for a national referendum on the waste bill, arguing that Albania does not have enough capacities to monitor the import process.
A previous law on waste imports was initially adopted in 2011 by the previous Democratic Party-led government, but it was overturned by the Socialist Party before it entered into force.
