Parliament approves 302 million USD debt with the US, text kept secret

The Albanian Parliament ratified on Monday, with only the votes of the socialists, a loan agreement with the United States of America aimed at strengthening the country's defense capacities, while the text was kept confidential and passed through a procedure contested by the opposition, which did not participate in the vote.

This agreement comes at a time when Albania is trying to raise its profile in the field of defense and security and aims to organize the next NATO summit in Tirana.

The direct loan of $302 million with the United States of America is provided within the framework of the US Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program and has been concluded between the Ministry of Finance and the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).

Approved in principle by the Council of Ministers on June 19, the draft law for the ratification of this agreement was presented to the deputies by the Speaker of the Parliament, Niko Peleshi, at Monday's session as a confidential document to be reviewed behind closed doors.

The Socialists proposed that the agreement be passed through an expedited procedure within the day in the Assembly, which was opposed by the opposition as unconstitutional.

Referring to the Constitution, the head of the Democratic Party Parliamentary Group, Gazment Bardhi, said that a law could not be approved earlier than a week from the start of the review procedure and proposed that the vote be postponed to Friday.

He also accused the government of failing to fulfill its commitments as a NATO member.

Before the time set for approval in the Assembly, the DP distributed a public position of the three opposition parliamentary groups, emphasizing that they were in favor of the agreement with the US, but were against the 'unconstitutional manner' of its approval in the Assembly.

"Albania needs to increase defense investments and fulfill its obligations to NATO, but, as it does with everything related to the US, Edi Rama is also dirtying this agreement, demanding that the Assembly violate the Constitution to cover up the failures of his government," the opposition's position stated, among other things.

The opposition proposed that the agreement be voted on Friday after MPs had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with its contents.

Although the content was not made public, the leader of the Socialist parliamentary group, Taulant Balla, said in the plenary session that the $302 million loan would be used "exclusively for the modernization of the Armed Forces, defense equipment and services according to the highest NATO standards."

According to him, Albania has a deadline of 48 months to activate the funds and 12 years to repay them, and that the loan would serve the government's goal "to achieve NATO's 5% objective."

The agreement was voted on with 74 votes in favor of the Socialists and 0 against.