Socialists say they won’t wait forever; Democrats threaten street protests if reform is passed without their consent.
TIRANA, April 15 – The main governing Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama threatened last week to approve unilaterally a territorial reform, which they say should be completed within this parliamentary session.
In response, the main opposition Democrats of Tirana Mayor Lulzim Basha said they will launch nationwide protests.
The reform started last autumn after the leftist coalition came to power. They bowed to the opposition request and divided the membership of the parliamentary commission in half, including the co-chairmanship and the right of veto for the opposition.
But despite their continuous calls, the opposition insists the reform can not start without them.
Basha said the opposition will go to the streets to protest unless the Socialists and their closest ally, the Socialist Movement for Integration of Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta, withdraw from last week’s ultimatum to be part of the team or they will amend the law and continue on their own.
They say that the leftist coalition are only making a territorial and not an administration revision of the country aiming to collect more votes in the next year’s local polls and in the future.
The governing majority says that the new territorial division would save some $80 million in administrative funding.
The territorial reform is also required by the international community, and especially the European Union which Tirana aims to join some day or get the candidate status this June, after three previous failures.
The mistrust existing between the two political sides, which could result in grave consequences for the country and the people in general in their integration efforts, is behind a lack of agreement on the reform, analysts say.
