President Meta refused to decree amendments to the Law on State Reserves, which give the Prime Minister the right to control the purchase of high value goods.
The purchase procedure was previously conducted by the Council of Ministers.
The ruling socialist majority amended the law on June 20, giving Prime Minister Edi Rama the right to purchase high value goods like platinum, gold, and silver for the State Reserves. They claimed amendments were necessary in order to simplify the purchasing of these products.
In his refusal, President Meta argued that the new law does not guarantee the protection of public interest, and amendments were not legally justified. He added that implementation of the law had shown no problems for 11 years. The President also explained that the necessity to simplify purchase procedures for high value goods is not grounded because the law already prescribes conditions for emergency purchases.
