Rama's intervention in the Municipality of Vlora undoes the "legal separation of powers"

A closed-door meeting, held on Thursday in the Vlora municipality by Prime Minister Edi Rama, was followed by a storm of resignations from the leaders of this municipality, according to media reports.

The meeting was attended by the socialist mayor, Ermal Dredha, the Minister for Local Government, Arbjan Mazniku, and socialist deputies in this region. Rama announced that similar meetings would follow in Durrës, Fier, Elbasan, and Shkodra to discuss problems with services that belong to municipalities, such as the occupation of public spaces by businesses or parking lots.

"...it has become unacceptable and unbearable for many people, for many neighborhoods in large cities, the exercise of force, the exercise of abusive will, and of course, even the turning a blind eye to the relevant structures, as, for example, is completely evident and unjustifiable in Vlora," Rama said later in a live link with followers on social media.

Prime Minister Edi Rama's involvement in local government affairs comes after a landslide victory for the Socialist Party in the May 11 elections, while it controls 54 of the country's 61 municipalities.

For local government experts, Rama's direct intervention in local government matters constitutes a serious violation of the constitutional principle of the separation of powers.

Article 13 of the Constitution stipulates that "Local government in the Republic of Albania is established on the basis of the principle of decentralization of power and is exercised according to the principle of local autonomy" and these principles are elaborated and protected in the law "On Local Self-Government".

Agron Haxhimali, director of the Institute for Albanian Municipalities, told BIRN that Rama's behavior completely violates these legal provisions and turns municipalities into 'party offices'.

"Prime Minister Rama's intervention in the dismissals in the Municipality of Vlora constitutes a clear violation of local autonomy and the separation of powers," said Haxhimali.

According to him, although concerns about performance remain, the way of interacting on administrative matters is wrong. “ Municipalities are not party offices, neither of the ruling party nor of those in opposition,” he stressed.

Haxhimali explains that based on the law on local self-government, appointments and dismissals in the municipal administration are the exclusive competence of the mayor and that this intervention risks turning local government into a political extension of the central government, according to him.

Even Dhurata Çupi, a former Democratic Party MP who co-chaired a special parliamentary commission for local reform, views the prime minister's interference in municipal affairs with concern.

“The dismissal of municipal directors or the appointment of deputy mayors by order of the Prime Minister, the case of the municipalities of Vlora and Tirana, is a flagrant violation of the principles of decentralization and local autonomy, guaranteed by the Albanian Constitution and law,” Çupi told BIRN.

She accuses Rama of deliberately seeking to impose total control over local institutions, control that, according to her, "returns municipalities to the Prime Minister, instead of serving the function for which they were voted, that of serving citizens."

"Rama is not fighting corruption or incompetence, but is completely undoing the separation of powers, and his behavior shows an interest in controlling municipal decision-making," she added.

According to Çupi, political interference by the central government in the governing structures of municipalities is clearly prohibited in constitutional articles and in Law No. 139/2015 "On Local Self-Government"./BIRN