Zhupa: The law on protected areas protects the interests of Rama and his oligarchs

Democratic Party MP, Ina Zhupa, has provided details of the Constitutional Court's acceptance of the lawsuit filed by 37 DP and opposition MPs to overturn laws affecting Protected Areas.

Zhupa, in a statement to the media, is optimistic that the Constitutional Court will decide in accordance with the Constitution and international standards, opposing the law that allows construction in these areas, which, according to her, harms the public interest and compliance with the Stabilization and Association Agreement and the Berne Convention.

The Democratic MP emphasized that this law serves the interests of groups connected to power, violating the rule of law and equality before the law.

FULL DECLARATION

Good afternoon!

As the year begins, I would like to say that we have some positive news from the Constitutional Court. The lawsuit filed by 37 DP and opposition MPs, who are represented by me in the Constitutional Court, has been accepted by the Constitutional Court for the overturning of the laws on Protected Areas.

This lawsuit has been accepted and, in addition to the MPs who filed the lawsuit, the Albanian Parliament and the Council of Ministers have also been accepted as parties to the trial. All parties have until February 12 to submit their submissions in relation to the case.

I do not expect the Council of Ministers or the Assembly that approved the procedure to be self-righteous and bring submissions in accordance with what the Constitution and the EU Convention require, but I expect the Constitutional Court to rise to the appropriate level when judging this issue of Protected Areas.

The Protected Areas Law, as you know and we have had occasion to discuss, has violated the Constitution of the Republic of Albania in its point and in its principles of social solidarity, which assumes that future generations should be better off than current generations, and common wealth should be preserved to bequeath to them.

 Sustainable development, which is not protected by destroying and concreted entire Protected Areas that are in the service of the public and turning them into the service of a certain oligarch connected to power. The law does not protect the public interest and the interest of citizens, but only the interest of Edi Rama, his friends, who want to build where it was already prohibited by the previous law.

You know that, in Albania, with strategic investments, 5.8 million m2 of land have been built on the coast, on coastlines, in important areas of Albania.

Given this figure, it means that there is nowhere else to build except to enter the Protected Areas, and those who have behaved like environmental terrorists will want to enter, and have entered, the Protected Areas with this law.

This also goes in line with the amendment they have filed in the Assembly to amend the law on strategic investments for the 10th time, giving them a reprieve and giving them the opportunity to build complexes and 5-star hotels in Protected Areas.

In this form, the law constitutes a serious violation of the rule of law, equality before the law, and the principle of the hierarchy of norms. It is not a law that serves society, but rather a law that serves an individual or a group of individuals connected to power.

It is a law that does not implement the Stabilization and Association Agreement. One piece of evidence that we have received, which we will file with the Constitutional Court, is the EU progress report, which came out at the end of last year, which clearly states that: the Protected Areas Law is a law without public consultation and is a law that conflicts with EU standards.

Likewise, the Berne Convention has made the same public statement, which will again be evidence in the Constitutional Court to say that the law violates the standards of the Berne Convention.

We do not find any model in the world or Europe that has this model for Protected Areas, practically leaving Protected Areas unprotected.

And another proof of the crime and the truthfulness of what we say we will add to the evidence are 9 draft decisions, which are already decisions that were passed on 27.09.2024, where in 9 Protected Areas, protection has been reduced and construction has been allowed, where the area that should have been untouchable has been truncated, because we no longer have zoning.

I make the commitment on behalf of the DP, and as a representative of the DP in that court and in that session that will be held afterwards, which will be a public session, that we will not give up and will follow all institutional links within the country and abroad to stop this law and that this law will not be a law by which Protected Areas in Albania function.