FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The Special Parliamentary Commission for Administrative-Territorial Reform began its work today, contrasting two clear positions between co-chairs Luciano Boçi and Arbjan Mazniku. Both sides emphasized the importance of the process, but with different interpretations of the reasons and the direction the reform should take.
In his speech, Luciano Boçi stated that the commission was not established as a result of the obligations of European integration, but as a reflection of what he considers the failure of the current territorial model. According to him, the 2015 reform has brought negative consequences to the functioning of local government.
"Albania is getting ready to join the EU and standards are needed at the local level as well. What has brought us together is not actually the EU, but the failure of the 2015 reform, which turned into a centralization by removing competencies from local government and leading local government to malfunction in some territories," declared Boçi.
He added that the opposition is demanding a redesign of the administrative map and an increase in the number of municipalities:
"The main demand is more municipalities and more services. So a new territorial reform. We are here to cooperate, but not to be together for an outcome that the majority has pre-prepared."
Meanwhile, the other co-chair, Arbjan Mazniku, urged that the debate not turn into a political clash, but be based on data and technical analysis. He emphasized that preparing local government for EU standards is the main challenge.
"I will try to avoid at all times introducing the debate into the political fray. We need to base it on facts and figures. It makes sense for people to have political opinions, but we need to look at the figures and the experiences on the ground," Mazniku said.
He underlined that the focus should be on the functions and capacities of municipalities, not on their number:
"We are in a very active process at the central level for EU integration; in parallel, we need an intensive process at the local level so that municipalities are strong and capable of functioning at the European level, carrying out projects, and attracting funds. Let's not deal today with the issue of the number of municipalities, but with competencies."
Lini një Përgjigje