TIRANA, Sept. 3 – The Socialists’ Economic Commission overturned on Tuesday four decrees by President Ilir Meta, who had over the past months passed the Law on the Privatization and Leasing of Commercial Companies and State Institutions of Special Enterprises or Facilities, the Law on Concessions and Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and the law for the concessions of the Orikum-Dukat and Milot-Balldren road constructions.
The first two laws consisted of legal changes, which the Socialists, according to the President, adopted in the absence of consultations with the opposition, but also in violation of initial proposals, which questioned their true purpose.
Meanwhile, returning the law on concessions Meta accused the head of the Economic Commission, Socialist MP Arben Ahmetaj, of extending the limitation deadlines of unsolicited concessions for clientelistic purposes.
The amendment to the law on concessions and PPPs was intended to limit unnecessary concessions as of July 1, but when it passed on July 18, former Finance Minister Ahmetaj proposed changes to the last two articles, which enabled the deadlines to extend until October 1st.
As for the Milot-Balldren and Dukat-Orikum roads, Presidency representatives re-argued the decisions to return these concessions as corrupt practices, but the Socialists opposed the argument that the President’s stance was “political, prejudicial to long-term investment” and overturned his decrees.
Meta returned the two concessions with the main argument that they had inflated costs and were approved by law on the grounds the expenditures would cover corrupt affairs.
By law, the 14-kilometer Orikum-Dukat and 17-kilometer Milot-Balldren roads will be privately constructed and maintained for 280m euros (67m euros the first and 213m euros the latter).
Following the overthrowing of the presidential decrees, they are expected to pass for adoption in the parliament.
