302 million euro agreement with the US/Opposition: "Yes" to the agreement, but "No" to approval within the day

The three opposition parliamentary groups, the Democratic Party, the Freedom Party and the Alliance for Change, have issued a joint statement on the 302 million euro loan agreement that Albania is expected to receive from the United States to finance military equipment, which was approved through an accelerated procedure in the Assembly.

The opposition states that it supports the agreement in principle and considers it necessary to increase defense investments and fulfill obligations to NATO, but not the way the majority seeks to approve the agreement, through an expedited procedure within the day.

In the statement, the opposition accuses Prime Minister Edi Rama of using relations with the US to justify, according to it, the violation of constitutional procedures and demands that the agreement be made available to MPs for review.

According to the opposition, the agreement was approved in principle by the government on June 19, 2026, with about five weeks to submit it to the Assembly for ratification. For this reason, opposition groups argue that there is no urgency that justifies its approval within a day.

Press release: 

YES to the agreement with the USA!

NO to the unconstitutional way in which Edi Rama seeks to approve it within a day in Parliament!

This is the position of the opposition in the Albanian Parliament, regarding the 302 million euro loan agreement that Albania receives from the US to finance the purchase of military equipment.

Albania needs to increase defense investments and fulfill its obligations to NATO, but, as he does with everything related to the US, Edi Rama is dirtying this agreement, demanding that the Assembly violate the Constitution to cover up his government's failures.

Every strategic agreement with our most important ally deserves transparency, debate, and respect for the Constitution, not improvised anti-democratic procedures, like those that the government is imposing with cardboard violence and that turn the Assembly into the government's notary.

This is not an emergency for either Albania or the US. It is an emergency for a government that for years chose corruption over fulfilling its obligations to the Alliance and today seeks to cover up its failures by violating the Constitution.

The Democratic Party admitted Albania to NATO. We accept this agreement in principle, but we will never accept that strategic relations with the United States are used as an excuse to violate the Constitution.

The alliance with the US is strengthened by respecting the law, not by violating it. We need the standard of members of the American Congress, not the standard of Taulant Balla and Edi Rama.

In order to implement the Constitution, we have proposed that today we jointly approve the review with an accelerated procedure, to obtain the agreement to review it while guaranteeing non-publication, and we have proposed that the approval take place on Friday, where our parliamentary groups guaranteed their presence and voted in favor of the agreement. The Speaker of the Assembly agreed in principle and then this was blocked by Edi Rama. 

But Edi Rama has nullified the Constitution and the Parliament. His goal is to humiliate the country's institutions. It is a fact that the Government approved the agreement in principle on June 19, 2026 and had 5 weeks to bring it to the Parliament for ratification. 

We stand by our constructive proposal that MPs be given the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the agreement and that its approval be made in a special plenary session on Friday of this week.