A high-level delegation from the Congress, composed of Congress President Anders KNAPE (Sweden), the President of the Chamber of Regions, Gunn-Marit HELGESEN (Norway), and the President of the Chamber of Local Authorities, Xavier CADORET (France), has carried out a mission to Tirana from 4 to 6 February 2020 to look into the current situation of local democracy in Albania, in particular against the backdrop of the local elections held on 30 June 2019.
The mission was dedicated to meetings with different stakeholders, including the President of the Republic, the Deputy Minister of Interior, the President of the Central Election Commission, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Group of the Socialist Party, the Chairman of the opposition Democratic Party, the Mayor of Tirana, representatives of the international diplomatic corps, NGOs and associations of territorial self-government as well as the People’s Advocate.
Referring to the unsatisfactory situation that followed the local elections of last year, Congress President Knape recapitulated the need for Albania to pursue the reform course. “There is no functioning democracy at the State level without a pluralistic and vibrant democracy at the local level. The Congress will continue to support Albania in its efforts to consolidate territorial self-government by means of benchmarking and targeted co-operation. The strengthening of consultation between the central government and the local level and the fight against corruption are of specific importance for the Congress in this respect”, Knape said.
“Regrettably, the 2019 local elections were not conducive to the strengthening of local democracy in Albania but have led to less pluralism in the municipalities and to a further erosion of the trust of citizens in the institutions of this country”, stated Gunn-Marit Helgesen, President of the Chamber of Regions of the Congress. “Both the government and the opposition must not stay indifferent in the face of such a situation and they have to act in a responsible manner, according to their specific roles in the democratic process, in order to ensure elections offering a pluralistic choice to the voters, both at the national and the local level”, Helgesen stressed.
The next monitoring mission of the Congress in respect of the European Charter of Local Self-Government was announced by the President of the Chamber of Local Authorities, Xavier Cadoret. “The Congress will be back in Albania in spring with a delegation to evaluate the situation further to the administrative-territorial reform implemented since 2015. The resulting report will be presented at the October plenary session in Strasbourg and it will shed light on the implementation of the provisions of Charter by Albania which is an important landmark of democratic development of a country”, Cadoret concluded.
