FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The Chairman of the Democratic Party Parliamentary Group, Gazment Bardhi, has accused the majority of having transformed the Albanian Parliament into an institution that only approves government decisions, losing its constitutional function of control and oversight.
During the joint EU-Albania meeting at the European Parliament, Bardhi said that the way the Albanian Parliament functions is not in line with European standards.
" Unfortunately, in Albania this ratio has been steadily deteriorating. The Parliament is increasingly moving away from its constitutional function as an institution of control and oversight, to be reduced to a notary of government decisions. Just a few days ago, the Albanian Parliament gave the clearest demonstration of this institutional deterioration, a development that does not comply with European standards of the functioning of democratic institutions ," said Bardhi.
According to him, the parliamentary majority is preventing the opposition from exercising its constitutional rights, blocking legal initiatives and instruments of parliamentary control.
" Today, the Albanian Parliament does not lead the European integration process, because it no longer exercises the constitutional functions for which it was elected: it does not take legislative initiatives, it does not ensure government accountability, and it does not exercise effective control and oversight. But the problem is even deeper. The parliamentary majority has not only stripped the Parliament of these functions, but also denies the opposition the right to exercise them ," he said.
Bardhi also focused on the rejection of the opposition's requests for interpellations with Prime Minister Edi Rama.
" During this parliamentary session, the opposition has requested 11 interpellations with the Prime Minister. None have been held, because the Prime Minister refuses to account for the acts that bear his signature. Zero in 11 requested interpellations. Without parliamentary accountability, there can be neither a state of law, nor democratic institutions that function according to European standards, nor integration into the European Union ," declared Bardhi.
According to the head of the Democratic parliamentary group, the supervisory role of the Assembly in the European integration process has also been weakened.
" The Committee on European Integration merged with the Committee on Foreign Policy and the leadership was returned to the majority. Thus, the only institutional mechanism that guaranteed independent parliamentary oversight of the negotiation process and the involvement of the opposition disappeared. The same logic has been followed towards other control instruments. Five opposition requests for parliamentary investigative committees have all been rejected ," said Bardhi.
At the end of his speech, he emphasized that European integration is not measured only by the opening of negotiation chapters, but also by the real functioning of democratic institutions.
" A Parliament that does not take initiatives, does not control the government and does not exercise oversight, does not perform the function for which it was elected. We can give many names to this institution: executive secretariat, protocol office or government notary. But we cannot call it Parliament in the European sense of the word ," concluded Bardhi.
Lini një Përgjigje