Following a high-level delegation visit to Tirana, the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities has expressed it “dissatisfaction” at the situation following the controversial 30 June elections in 2019.
Congress President Anders Knape said in a statement: “There is no functioning democracy at the State level without a pluralistic and vibrant democracy at the local level. 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 is of specific importance for the Congress in this respect.”
President of the Chamber of Regions at Congress Gunn-Marit Helgesen added that “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 further erosion of the trust of citizens in the institutions of this country.”
He added that the government and opposition must not be indifferent to such a situation and must act in a “responsible manner” to ensure Albanians can benefit from pluralism both at a local and national level.
President of the Chamber of Local Authorities, Xavier Cadoret announced that a monitoring mission will return in Spring 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.”
The delegation visited Tirana this week and met with the President of the Republic, the Deputy Interior Minister, President of the Central Election Commission, Prime Minister Edi Rama, Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha, the Mayor of Tirana Erion Veliaj and representatives from the international diplomatic corps, NGOs, and the People’s Advocate.
