"Storm" Rama/ From warnings to reforms and waste corporations

2025-07-14 10:31:00, Politikë CNA

Prime Minister Edi Rama today gathered district leaders and Tirana district deputies to address the issue of occupying public spaces.

The Prime Minister's message was that all MPs should be intensively engaged in regional centers where the issue of public spaces is most acute.

"Today we meet again to continue addressing the issue of public spaces and in the meantime to discuss addressing those tasks that were left last time regarding the municipality of Tirana, but all the district leaders are also here as this is a process that is being extended step by step throughout the republic and it is very important that all MPs are intensively engaged in the district centers where the issue of public spaces is most tangible", said Rama.

Thethi

During his speech, Rama focused on the issue of the demolition of unauthorized buildings in Theth.

He rejected claims that the collapses are linked to oligarchs and resorts.

Meanwhile, he spoke again about prosecutor Elsa Gjeli, saying that he is awaiting the KLP's decision on her.

"Before I go into some details regarding the continuation of the work, I want to pause for a moment on the issue of Theth to address some perspectives that in my view deserve to be addressed so that it becomes very clear to everyone what our approach is and what our position will be going forward."

First, I have noticed that there is a theory that is very unfortunate in my opinion regarding responsibility, regarding guilt, who is at fault, and it seems as if some of those who comment are trying to blame the state structures. So on one hand we have some poor people who have given up their livelihood to build some houses and on the other hand we have a state that has let them do this in violation of the law and then remembered to hit them.

I want to clarify that this is not about some poor people, this is about people, individuals who have climbed up there in a significant number of cases are not residents of that place and even in the flagrant case that became the cause of this process, it is about individuals who have not even appeared to claim anything and the State Police is investigating how it happened and who is behind the criminal occupation of the heart of Theth, which is the famous postcard of Theth, and it is about constructions that are not for show, but for profit.

On the other hand, I don't know of any theory that amnesties the lawbreaker by blaming state structures if they don't prevent the lawbreaking or if they don't catch the violator the second he starts committing the violation.

Of course, the structures also have their responsibility and have taken this responsibility, it remains to be seen what responsibility the High Council of Legal Prosecution will take with Ms. Gjeli, who has not even accepted to start an investigation based on the complaints made and I want to say that in Theth, 40 subjects have been targeted who in a number of cases have had more than one building, so they have had two and three and the State Police has a considerable number of complaints made to the Prosecutor's Office regarding these subjects and the Prosecutor's Office has not taken any action.

However, the State Police has taken its share of responsibility, just as the municipality of Shkodra has taken its share of responsibility regarding the territorial protection inspectorate.

The other thing I want to emphasize is that there is another theory that a priest brought up, surprisingly, yesterday that someone brought to my attention and I was surprised that a man of God had entered this story talking about seduction and lies, as if we were seducing them, lying to them, and then breaking their trust.

We have not betrayed anyone, we have gone to Theth together with the mayor and the Albanian Development Fund and the Cadastral Agency and since we have gone and promised the legalization of all the old houses in Theth, which was the main problem of those indigenous residents there, we have concluded that process with about 300 to be exact, legalizations that they now have and have their own property in the Theth area, so our promise was “we will legalize the property of our grandparents”. Our promise was not and we have never done this at any level and none of our representatives in any corner of Albania “give us your vote and build without a permit”.

And all these buildings that have been demolished to the last stone are buildings built in recent months, they are not buildings from the time we were there. There has been a huge uproar in Theth and I repeat not only from some of the residents but from individuals who have no connection to Theth at all, who have gone up there to build. We have legalized it, we have made the urban plan as we promised, we have also decided on the financing to carry out the necessary transformation in the central area of Theth and it is a protected area where, unlike what I heard that is also preached that we are paving the way for oligarchs, although there are no oligarchs in Albania, there is no question of allowing construction and making tourist resorts, it is absolutely out of any option.

So I want to say that all the theories about this operation are unfortunate, they are based on disinformation. Thethi and its inhabitants are not the ones who have appeared on the screens making noise. There was also a bannerman recently. They are a handful of people who have no connection at all with the truth of this story and with our relationship with Thethi and the inhabitants of Thethi.

We will continue to support all those people who have properties in the mountains, on the condition that they contact the institutions and obtain the relevant permit.

We have even made the Mountain Package to make things even easier for them, considering that some of them do not have property titles because in certain areas 7501 has not been recognized, but the theory "why in season", "wait for it once", we do not have to wait and even more so since this is happening all over Albania, it is happening in the coastal area as well. I want to tell you that in the coastal area there have been a series of attacks and demolitions of buildings by those of the so-called oligarchs, but they do not appear on television, because they do not show them. But there have also been very heavy fines for violations in construction and for violations of rules at construction sites during all these days on the coast", said the Prime Minister.

Confiscation of the palace in Vlora

The Prime Minister announced that today a building in Vlora will be confiscated which is in violation of the building permit.

"Today, a confiscation will be made of a "quasi" palace under construction in the city of Vlora, which is in violation of the building permit and this process is a process that aims to unite two things so that we are very clear. We do not have a minute to lose, because we have undertaken to enter the European Union and we have undertaken to conclude the legalization process within 2028, which includes all the digitalization of maps, etc., etc. But whoever will legalize anything in violation of the law and after the deadlines set by the law, forget it," Rama said.

Among other things, he warned that all those buildings erected for profit or any type of building erected in violation of public space, public infrastructure, infrastructure projects, protected areas, critical infrastructure will be razed.

"The history of building today, legalizing tomorrow, will no longer work and all those buildings erected for profit or any type of building erected in violation of public space, public infrastructure, infrastructure projects, protected areas, critical infrastructure will be leveled. There will be no tolerance, no dialogue, no prohibition in this process and for this reason it is very important that all teams of deputies who together received 83 mandates are close to the communities and are on the side of the overwhelming majority of people, who have been and are being hindered every day in their community life by those who, with excessive courage, but also due to the turning a blind eye of many inspection forces on the ground, have occupied public space", emphasized the Prime Minister.

Tirana, the hot spot for space occupation.

Prime Minister Edi Rama stated that a group of 60 local architects, divided into eight groups, has been established to begin designing the renovation of points where demolition will take place and where spaces will be freed up.

"Tirana is the hottest area also because of the great attraction it has in all directions and the large number of consumers it has, and there is no neighborhood, no residential block that does not have its occupant.

Very good work has begun to be done by the chief inspector, but it needs to continue throughout the territory and all the data that is being collected by deputies in all areas will need to be translated into action plans.

In parallel, we have established a group of 60 local architects divided into eight groups. Persida has taken on the role of coordinator of these groups to begin designing the renovation of the points where demolition will take place and where spaces will be freed up.

This will be urban renaissance 2.0 in Tirana and in all the big cities. Shkodra, Lezha which surprisingly or not so surprisingly has fewer problems, because in Lezha the "police" is in charge. Then Durres, Tirana, Vlora, Fieri, Elbasan, Korça are the same, even though the "police" is not in charge, with fewer problems of this nature.

While I am not counting all the units on the coastline, there must be increased pressure on all those who build and at the same time on all attempts to build without permission and to occupy the territory. It will not be easy, but it will be unstoppable, constant and will continue as long as it will continue, until we conclude that there are no more opposing tendencies. It is always, always less, but it is still too much. It cannot be compared to years ago from the point of view of the chaos that is created, but it is too much, and a definitive limit must be put on all this abusive activity throughout the territory, public space is shared and a definitive limit must be put on another aspect as well, said Rama.

Normative acts for the occupation of public spaces

Rama: I have spoken to all the mayors, I have spoken to all the structures, there is no private property in and around a new building. The construction permit is issued for this construction on a territory and therefore the law has a utilization coefficient. The moment you have built the entire area around it, it is yours as much as it is and all the other residents and such as the staircase of the building, such as the elevator, such as the common areas, common, the environment around the building is common, and it is not even common only for the co-owners, it is also common for those who live around there and for those who have to go from point A to point B, because the roads and sidewalks that are placed in the plans when the construction permits are issued are not in vain and there cannot be private sidewalks.

Even more so, terrible practices, such as those of placing a chair, then a tent, then a tent, then a metal structure and then a request to be legalized, as has happened in some scandalous cases up to and including the Lungomare of Vlora and all those cases when claims of legalizations on sidewalks are made, we will have to bring them back. We will make a reform on this topic, we are working for days and very soon, perhaps due to the emergency, for this work of drinking water that will pass a little later, we will have to make it into a normative act and we will put those 83 votes at the service of all citizens who seek a final transition from European Albania in their hearts and minds, if not in their daily lives, to Albania, a member of the European Union.

So in this regard, I believe that we are doing the right thing and we will continue to do it, considering that all those who were in the May 11 team, elected to the next parliament or not, are part of this team that will join Albania in the EU and will have to be connected to the territory; they will have to be connected to the community, they will have to be there, to receive all concerns in real time and to address all issues in real time.

Internal organizational reform in the Municipality of Tirana, a new corporation for the waste treatment system and a new enterprise for the water distribution service are needed.

"Now, we have another task to address some issues in the Municipality of Tirana related to the administration of a city that grows daily, where there is a very large load of needs that increases daily; cleaning, public spaces that we are discussing, water supply and all other services, and for this reason we have set up working groups to assist the municipality with an internal organizational reform and a comprehensive reform of services.

These will be further discussed by the members of the working groups, in turn with the municipal structures, but I want to emphasize the issue of water supply, where we are ultimately certain that we must move to another phase and create a water distribution operator just like the electricity distribution operator. We need a national water company and we need a new corporation that will address the investment problem, address the problem of all relationships with donors and financial institutions throughout Albania that are patchy and that will address the problem of fragmentation of resources and fragmentation of management that after 30 or so years, it is futile to expect to bring us the desired results, even though through what improvements, from the unification of operators in different territories, the improvements are visible but they are very insufficient and we cannot wait and wait, so whether for water or for waste treatment, we will have to move to the national level and we will have to create synergy with enterprises, with international corporations of the highest level at a certain stage. This will help us, we believe for 1001 reasons, to take water supply services, investments, and of course transparency in all these processes where there are many actors, there is a lot of fragmentation, and there are many losses of all kinds, to another level.

We have a waste treatment system map that today is much different from what it was, to be honest, when there was no waste treatment at all, but it needs to be consolidated and a waste treatment system needs to be created at a national level.

Also, since we are here, we are working intensively with the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure on a new oil supply system. It is a necessity and it is an opportunity now to move to the supply of oil with a new component of the state as a protagonist in the organization of contracts and in the supply of oil, which we are very confident will bring much more efficient control, whether over the price, or over the entire oil circulation system and so on; the same thing, we are working with the Ministry of Health on the issue of medical drugs to supply the entire system, whether public or private, with drugs and again with the state as a party, as a protagonist. The time has come to move to a new role of the state, of the government in the economy; to produce success by becoming a party, by becoming a part and for this reason, if you look, we have changed the entire approach to property in its entirety for a long time now and we have placed the state in the role of the owner who does not give up property, but takes its share on behalf of the citizens", said Rama.

Food safety

Prime Minister Edi Rama stated that very big steps forward need to be taken because this is one of the weakest points in relation to the negotiations for membership in the European Union.

He said that the suspension of the AKU's activities and the start of an examination process for all AKU inspectors, both oral and written, as well as opening the opportunity for others to join the Agency, is only the first step, while the process of controls and confiscation of milk and dairies without invoices has begun.

"The last one I have is food safety. Here too, we need to take very big steps forward because it is one of the weakest points we have in relation to the negotiations for membership in the European Union and here too, with the suspension of the AKU activity and the beginning of an examination process for all AKU inspectors, both oral and written, as well as opening the possibility for others to be included in the Agency, we have only taken the first step, while as of today and I was looking at the information before I came here, the process of controls and confiscation of milk and dairies without invoices has begun. That is, without food safety, even more so in these high temperatures where very serious things can happen that harm the health of consumers. Fresh milk and dairy products without invoices and fresh meat without invoices will not be allowed and anyone who will trade them will lose them as a commodity and this is just the beginning of a much stricter control in terms of food safety.

Overall, I believe that it will be a job that will be based on continuity, but it will be a job that will not be as difficult as it would have been not many years ago because the foundation is established and because the vast majority of citizens are already very clear about this.

99% of citizens, by this account, do not build without a permit and those 1% who do so are not the people, they are not even poor, they are nothing more than conscious violators of the law and nothing justifies violating common property, common spaces or building haphazardly even on your own property. This era should be considered closed.

In closing, I want to say that those 83 mandates received are a huge burden for all of us, they are not more power, but they are a huge responsibility and we must experience them as such and this must be conveyed to all levels below.

"Thank you to the media and we continue with the rest," said the prime minister./ CNA