EU INTEGRATION
The session opened with a procedural dispute over the scheduling of a parliamentary debate on EU integration. The opposition sought an immediate debate; majority leader Taulant Balla proposed May 7 or 14. A vote approved May 14. Balla accused the Democratic Party of having voted against all 23 EU-related laws passed since the legislature opened in late September 2025, calling them “the newest converts to EU membership.” DP parliamentary group leader Gazment Bardhi responded that the opposition has requested the list of EU-related legislation more than ten times without receiving it, making informed voting impossible. Speaker Niko Peleshi said no such list is held or concealed in his office.
DP deputy Jorida Tabaku said the real obstacle to EU integration is the majority’s vote protecting former Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku’s parliamentary immunity from SPAK prosecution. DP leader Sali Berisha echoed this, adding that the immunity debate was also the reason the majority sought to delay the integration discussion. A separate dispute concerned proposed changes to the parliamentary rulebook. Tabaku said the majority is again pushing through unilateral amendments after the Constitutional Court previously sided with the opposition on an earlier set of such changes. She argued all rulebook modifications must be consensual. The majority indicated it is awaiting the Constitutional Court’s written ruling before proceeding.
INTERPELLATIONS
Multiple opposition deputies raised the sustained blockade of ministerial interpellations. Liberty Party deputy Tedi Blushi said his interpellation request to the Agriculture Minister regarding blocked IPARD funds — filed December 16 — has gone unscheduled for four months. DP deputy Klevis Balliu’s request targeting Prime Minister Rama over National Territorial Council decisions was blocked by Speaker Peleshi on procedural grounds: a prime minister cannot be summoned to interpellation on the basis of media reports. Majority coordinator Erion Ismaili said interpellations would be coordinated with ministers’ schedules.
DP deputy Saimir Korreshi addressed the absent Health Minister Evis Sala directly, stating that hospitals in Lushnja lack basic supplies including cotton wool and gloves, that an emergency call to 127 connects to Tirana rather than locally, that a hospital relocation is proceeding without a construction permit, and that nobody is accountable for any of it. He closed by asking, with undisguised sarcasm, that the minister at least be notified her salary has been deposited.
FUEL PRICE CRISIS
DP deputy Eno Bozdo presented a bill titled “On the mechanism for responding to fuel supply and price crises” and requested fast-track procedure for a plenary vote on April 16. The request was defeated by 77 majority votes. Bozdo argued that Albania holds zero strategic fuel reserves despite a legal obligation to maintain a 90-day reserve, and that Albanian consumers pay 30–40% more for fuel than consumers in Kosovo and North Macedonia. The bill proposed two mechanisms: removal of the circulation tax and carbon tax from the pump price, and adoption of a sliding excise model used in Italy whereby any VAT surplus generated by a price spike is redirected to reduce the excise duty by an equivalent amount. Balla replied that fuel is priced daily on international markets — citing British Petroleum as Albania’s main supplier — and that the existing Transparency Board mechanism, used effectively during the Russia-Ukraine crisis, is the appropriate instrument. He also noted the opposition’s absence during parliament’s vote condemning Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, framing the current price spike in that geopolitical context.
TOURIST PORTS BILL — PASSED
A bill on tourist port construction, introduced by Socialist MP Zamira Sina, passed with 76 votes in favor and 26 against. The bill expands the categories of entities eligible to develop tourist ports to include strategic investors. The opposition mounted sustained criticism throughout the day. Bardhi accused the majority of legislating for a handful of individuals, drawing a pointed contrast: the same majority that voted against fuel price relief for citizens voted in favor of reduced fuel costs for yachts. He catalogued what he described as a pattern of untendered strategic concessions — the Kukës airport, now used for car racing; the Vlora Triport, whose registered owner is a pensioner with no connection to the project; and a set of officials already under criminal investigation for their involvement in these procedures.
Tabaku said the bill violates the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and EU Chapters 5, 8, and 14, and stated she has formally notified the European Parliament. Economy Minister Delina Ibrahimaj defended the government’s economic record; Bardhi interrupted from the floor with personal accusations against the minister, calling her corrupt and demanding she account publicly for her wealth and for funds allegedly directed to her husband. Tabaku demanded an apology from the minister.
Socialist deputy Erion Braçe, while broadly supportive of tourism development, called for three conditions: marina infrastructure must remain public property, environmental protections must be guaranteed, and maritime security must remain exclusively a state function. Majority leader Balla used the debate to warn that Molotov cocktail attacks by protesters damage the tourism economy and harm ordinary Albanians.
MONEY LAUNDERING LEGISLATION — PASSED
Amendments to the law on prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing passed with 76 votes in favor and 27 against. The debate was among the session’s most substantive.
Finance Minister Petrit Malaj said the bill is a necessary step toward strengthening the legal framework and improving institutional effectiveness, framing it as part of Albania’s obligations to strategic allies in the context of global criminal and terrorist networks. Socialist deputy Pirro Vengu noted that Albania exited the FATF grey list in October 2023, while pointing out that several EU member states remain on it.
The opposition was skeptical. DP deputy Luçiano Boçi said the bill closes a few channels while the government opens fifty others for money laundering. Deputy Oerd Bylykbashi pointed to high-rise apartment prices — reaching 4,000–5,000 euros per square metre — as the most visible sign of laundered money entering the construction sector, adding that some buildings are reportedly guarded by private security to protect drug-money apartments. Bardhi cited the State Department’s own report, which flags Albanian criminal groups for using the construction sector to launder narcotics proceeds, and demanded that Prime Minister Rama come to parliament to account for building permits he has personally signed — including one issued to Artur Shehu, a wanted figure described as a leader of one of the most dangerous drug trafficking organizations.
Socialist deputy Erion Braçe took the unusual step of acknowledging that money laundering does occur in Albania, as it does across Europe and the world — citing even the Vatican’s past grey-list status — and argued that parliament should strengthen its oversight of the institutions responsible for combating the phenomenon rather than denying its existence.
PARLIAMENTARY INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEES — REJECTED
The majority defeated two opposition proposals for parliamentary investigative committees, both by 75 votes to 28.
The first concerned the Albanian Road Authority (ARRSH) and the legality of road infrastructure investments. Liberty Party secretary-general Tedi Blushi said four billion euros have been wasted on roads across the country, concentrated primarily in the Korçë and Elbasan regions, with nothing left standing. He called a majority vote against the proposal a constitutional assault and urged Socialist deputy Erion Braçe — whom he called the last genuine socialist in the group — to vote with his conscience. Balla rejected the proposal as unconstitutional, citing Constitutional Court jurisprudence establishing that parliamentary investigative powers operate only within the scope of oversight, not criminal investigation. Deputies, he said, are neither prosecutors nor judges.
The second rejected committee would have investigated the National Agency for Information Society (AKSHI) for cybersecurity compliance, citizen data protection, and potential risks to national security and Albania’s NATO obligations. It was defeated on identical grounds and by an identical margin.
DURRES NEW PORT — COURT RULING
DP deputy Oerd Bylykbashi reported that a court ruled today setting compensation for privately owned land expropriated for the new Durres port at €115 per square metre, against the government’s assessed valuation of €5.5 per square metre — a twentyfold gap. He also warned that decommissioning the existing Durres port infrastructure would take at least a decade to replace in strategic and commercial terms, with freight and military logistics shifting in the interim toward Bar and Thessaloniki.
TEACHERS’ PAY
Liberty Party deputy Erisa Xhixho said a June 2024 government decision unlawfully reduced teachers’ salaries by between 20,000 and 60,000 old lekë per month for a year and a half, with no reimbursement. She also raised a compounding grievance: teachers with 15 or more years of service whose diplomas predate 2011 are now required to obtain new professional licenses at personal cost — 100,000 old lekë to register and an additional 200,000 for the credential itself — while also being pushed toward master’s degrees, which she said serves primarily to fill universities emptied by student emigration. Education Minister Mirela Kumbaro said legislation passed in March corrected the underlying legal gap, bringing 6,761 education workers onto equal financial footing, and defended the timeline as requiring proper legal process rather than political declarations.
EURO DEPRECIATION
Finance Minister Malaj appeared earlier in the session to rebut opposition claims that the lek’s appreciation against the euro reflects criminal money inflows. He cited 2025 figures attributed to Eurostat: remittances exceeding €2 billion, tourism revenue of €5.7 billion (up 14.5% year on year), foreign direct investment at a historic high of €1.6 billion in the first nine months of the year, €1.8 billion in euro-denominated credit expansion, and €560 million in real estate purchases by foreign nationals. He said all flows pass through monitored banking channels and are consistent with legitimate economic growth.
RRJOLL PROPERTY DISPUTE
Mundësia party leader Agron Shehaj raised complaints from residents of Rrjoll village who allege their properties are being seized for a resort development connected to businessman and publisher Bashkim Ulaj, with the Prime Minister allegedly having told Ulaj the residents’ objections could be dismissed. Balla responded with a personal attack, alleging Shehaj purchased his parliamentary seat, and suggested Shehaj check whether he himself is under investigation for money laundering by an Italian prosecutor. Shehaj had triggered the exchange by criticizing Braçe’s acknowledgment of money laundering in Albania.
SUPREME COURT — PRE-TRIAL DETENTION
Shehaj also alleged that on the Prime Minister’s instruction, the United Colleges of the Supreme Court convened today to review pre-trial detention practice and duration, with the aim of releasing officials accused of corruption from custody.
AGRICULTURE
Blushi raised a pending interpellation on Serbian powdered milk flooding the Albanian market, which he said has gone unaddressed for three years alongside the IPARD freeze. Socialist deputy Erion Braçe attended the morning session carrying a bag of vegetables, ahead of his own requested interpellation with Agriculture Minister Andis Salla on the state of milk production, processing, and trade. Braçe raised a separate concern in that context: that the VAT taxation scheme is harming livestock farmers and that domestic production is being displaced by imports.
BANK OF ALBANIA SUPERVISORY BOARD
Parliament approved the appointment of Olta Rrushaj to the Supervisory Board of the Bank of Albania, with 74 votes in favor, 26 against, and 3 abstentions.
Compiled from plenary proceedings. All claims reflect statements made in session and do not represent editorial assessment.
