In an interview with France24, Prime Minister Edi Rama discussed again the controversial waste management law, complaining that even foreign media had gotten has initiative all wrong:
This [waste management law] was never supposed to do anything else but implement EU legislation. We are the only country in the region that still hasn’t implemented EU regulation for recycling, in other means the right of the industry to import and export [waste].
Prime Minister Rama’s statement seems to suggest that he was merely following EU directives. EU regulations, however, are very clear on the legal matter of waste management in Albania.
European Commission regulation 1013/2006 on shipments of waste allows the shipment of waste from on EU country to another, but also gives each membership state the right to decide on a case-by-case basis about the import, following the national waste management plan.
Responding to a request of ABC News last year, the EC stated that Albania lacks the infrastructure to properly monitor and control waste imports into the country, which was also reflected in its Progress Report.
Moreover, the EU Delegation in Albania has confirmed through spokesperson Dasara Zeneli that Albania needs to comply to the EU directives and should develop the waste management monitoring, control, and reporting institutions and systems.
None of these issues would be solved by Prime Minister’s Rama waste management law, which would allow unmonitored access of foreign waste into Albania.
