"The government has failed"/ Zhupa: EU report on waters, alarming for tourism

2026-07-06 12:57:00, Aktualitet CNA

"The government has failed"/ Zhupa: EU report on waters, alarming for

Democratic Party MP, Ina Zhupa, has denounced from Saranda the latest findings of the European Environment Agency, which, as the Democratic MP said, rank Albania at the bottom of the list for the quality of bathing waters.

According to Zhupa, this report constitutes an alarm bell for the health of citizens and a real damage to the image of Albanian tourism, for which she blames the negligence of the central and local government.

Focusing on the political debate, Zhupa rejected the government's claims that the protests are harming tourism, stating that it is precisely the facts about pollution that make the country unpresentable.

Zhupa said that before claiming quality tourism, the government must change its approach by investing in cleaning water sources, a necessity that, according to her, is currently completely lacking.

Full statement:

The latest report by the European Environment Agency and the European Commission on the quality of bathing waters has placed Albania at the bottom of this report.

It is an alarm for the quality of our waters, lakes, rivers and seas and is a danger to the lives of citizens, to the health of citizens, but also to tourists who choose Albania.

This clearly shows that local and central governments have not invested in what should have been the cleanliness of bathing waters.

The most problematic municipalities according to the report are the Municipality of Saranda, where we are located, the Municipality of Vlora, the Municipality of Durrës, and the Municipality of Pogradec.

Apparently, they do not prioritize taking care of the environment, but rather prioritize building in areas near lakes, seas, and rivers.

They shouldn't care where these inert materials will be dumped, where the wastewater goes, or clean these water sources.

Meanwhile, they anathematize the protest all day long that is harming tourism, but in fact is only giving Albania a more democratic face.

Meanwhile, what really harms tourism are the missing investments and the missing commitment of the government and local authorities, these reports harm it, which put Albania at the bottom of European countries, in fact where it does not deserve to be because by nature it should be at the top in terms of bathing water quality.

So before we talk about quality tourism, we will have to invest in quality tourism, which the Albanian government has not done and is not doing. /CNA