Bozdo: The majority will pass the "Durana" law in the Parliament without transparency

2026-03-30 10:18:00, Aktualitet CNA

Bozdo: The majority will pass the "Durana" law in the Parliament

Democratic Party MP Eno Bozdo spoke today at a press conference at the Presidency of the Assembly.

Bozdo stated during his speech that the majority is seeking to pass a draft law, which he describes as the "Durana" law, through the Assembly without transparency and without consulting the public.

The MP states that the adoption of such laws, very important and with great impact, without public consultation, shows that the role of parliament has been substantially reduced and does not perform an important function.

Among other things, it accuses the government of seeking the approval of laws on paper, "to deceive domestic and foreign public opinion that Albania is ready to enter the EU."

Full speech:

On January 13 of this year, in my capacity as a member of parliament, I wrote to the Minister of Economy and Innovation to obtain information on companies registered virtually in the Durana/Xhafzotaj Virtual Technology Park.

The request related to the names of the companies, their owners and how much money these companies have benefited from fiscal incentives, i.e. from Albanian taxpayers, by registering virtually in the Park. Because I did not receive a response from the ministry, I requested this information again, again in writing, at the beginning of March.

Providing this information is mandatory within 15 days, while it has already been almost 3 months and this information is not being provided intentionally, in serious violation of the Law on the Status of Members of Parliament, the minimum standard of accountability and mandatory transparency of Albanian institutions.

However, the majority is seeking to pass a second bill, which fundamentally amends the Technology Parks Law, or otherwise the “Durana” Law. This bill, which was brought to the Assembly as an initiative of a majority MP, is already following the well-known scheme of passing it very quickly, without transparency, without consulting the public, without the relevant relations.

First, the proposed amendments foresee the virtual phase of the Park's operation, sanctioning this concept in law. This means that until now, the concept of "virtuality" has been illegal and therefore the fiscal benefits received by companies are illegal.

But here another very important issue arises: granting fiscal incentives for virtual registration is a practice that the European Union prohibits, and even combats through the OECD's BEPS standard (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting).

This standard is mandatory for implementation in Albania as well. This standard fights exactly what the government is trying to approve: granting fiscal incentives to companies that operate virtually. Because every incentive must be granted for a concrete activity, for real employment, for a real developed product and for verifiable expenses. So practically, this draft law goes against the mandatory EU standard.

At the same time, Chapter 16 of the Acquis Communautaire stipulates that each Member State (and candidate country) must adopt the principles of the EU Code of Conduct for Business Taxation, which aims to eliminate tax measures harmful to competition. The regulatory framework for the Durana Park undermines competition and provides unlawful State Aid to some companies that register virtually and are totally exempt from taxes and duties, compared to others that choose not to register in this park!

Secondly, the draft law completely opens the door to non-transparent internal share purchase agreements between park users or developers on the one hand and public entities on the other, as well as the creation of joint companies, which could easily lead to situations where public interests are harmed in favor of private interests.

It is imperative that share purchase agreements or cooperation agreements between public entities and park users or developers be preceded by a competitive, public procedure, the agreement between them be published, and periodic audits be held, and their results again made public.

Thirdly, the draft law provides that within the boundaries of the park, the establishment of "Datacenters" will also be possible.

Here we should emphasize that the Democratic Party strongly encourages this type of business, has had it as part of its economic program, and is in favor of providing as many facilities as possible to attract this type of investment.

But on the other hand, due to its importance, this activity in the EU is regulated and monitored very carefully. The European Union has three important legal acts (there are two directives and one regulation) that address different aspects of this activity:

a) Energy Efficiency Directive —EED Directive 2023/1791

This Directive is the main EU instrument for data centres. Its Article 12 obliges all operators of data centres with a capacity of over 500 kW to report annually key performance indicators (KPIs) on total energy consumption, water consumption, use of renewable energy and waste heat.

b) NIS2 Cybersecurity Directive—Cybersecurity Directive 2022/2555

NIS2 classifies digital infrastructure — including data centers — as a “core” sector of national security. Albania, as a candidate country, is required to adopt NIS2 as part of Chapter 10 (Information Society and Media) of the accession process.

c) Regulation 2023/2854 and the Protection of Personal Data (General Data Protection Regulation) GDPR

The regulation governs the access, use and protection of personal data generated by connected devices and cloud services — core activities of data centers. This regulation imposes strict restrictions on the physical location of personal data of European citizens and on cross-border transfers. The lack of Albanian legislation on data centers makes it impossible to verify compliance with this regulation — a critical element for any European company that will place data in the Durana data centers.

Therefore, this activity cannot be included in the Park, because it must first be regulated by special legislation, providing answers to all concerns.

Ultimately, the adoption of such laws, very important and very influential, with dizzying speed and without public consultation, while not respecting even our minimal obligations towards the European Union in terms of legislative approximation, only confirms what the Democratic Party has expressed as its fundamental concern:

The integration process remains without any value and without any meaning from the actions of this majority. The role of the Parliament has been substantially reduced because it no longer performs any important function. The government only seeks the approval of laws on paper, for show, to deceive domestic and foreign public opinion that Albania is “ready” to enter the EU.

Unfortunately, the daily facts show the opposite. Through this behavior, Albania's perspective in the EU is becoming increasingly distant! The person responsible for this is one and only one: Edi Rama! / CNA