Removal of the right of municipalities for building permits/ PD: Serious violation of the independence of local government

2024-06-24 14:01:00, Politikë CNA

Removal of the right of municipalities for building permits/ PD: Serious

The head of the Department of Local Government in DP, Ylli Asllani. Source, PD

The Democratic Party has condemned the government's decision to transfer construction permits with a volume of over 5000 m3 under its jurisdiction, removing this opportunity from the municipalities.

The Secretary of the Local Elected People's Forum of the DP, Ylli Asllani, says that this decision violates the independence of the local government.

Asllani declared that they will appeal this violation of local autonomy, clearly stated in 2006 by the Constitutional Court and the Congress of Local Authorities of the EC at the request of the former mayor Edi Rama at the time.

Full statement:

The Rama Government has seized a series of powers of the local government in granting Construction Permits through two legal amendments to Law 107/2014 'On Planning and Development of the Territory' as well as amendments to the Decision of the Council of Ministers no. 408 "On the approval of the territory development regulation".

Through these interventions, the independence of the local government has been severely violated by denying the municipal units a main competence such as the granting of the Building Permit, the Municipal Councils have been denied the public review of local urban planning documents as well as the acceptance without debate of TIP housing, for all citizens of each local unit!

In this way, the government is creating a dangerous precedent, appropriating the right of the local government to grant Building Permits, which the Albanian Legislation and the decisions of the Constitutional Court have recognized to municipalities and municipal councils.

Dear citizens,

With this act, the asphyxiation of opportunities, the blocking of almost all the activities of the municipalities and the ignoring of the civil capacities of local and professional elected officials of a region has been carried out!

What worries us is the fact that these changes violate local autonomy and contradict the principle of decentralization of power as defined in Article 13 of the Constitution.

The Constitutional Court has clearly stated the competence of local government over urban planning and territorial development.

Above all, this unprecedented act, which gives undeserved power to the central government over matters that are under the jurisdiction of the local government, was carried out in a non-transparent manner, without debate and away from the attention of the interested parties!

What happened?

Before the changes, the law "On planning and development of the territory" determined the rights of the Mayor and the Municipal Council on the granting of building permits, as well as the Municipal Council had the responsibility to monitor compliance with the legal framework, for public participation and review of local documents. planning and control of local development during the process of their drafting.

The proposed changes avoid Municipal Councils even though the European Charter of local self-government recognizes and sanctions the irreplaceable role of councils in the exercise of local autonomy.

As if these changes were not enough, the selfishness of the government and the tendency to control the granting of construction permits for its clientelistic interests, the government intervenes and makes changes in VKM 408/2015 "For the approval of the territory development regulation", making all "Construction Permits" with a volume of over 5000 m3, such as multi-functional construction complexes, tourist complexes, traditional tourist resorts and villages, water parks, entertainment or entertainment complexes, containing water in the basin, ski plants, cable cars and ancillary infrastructure.' As well as 'all facilities without exception in areas with priority economic, industrial, cultural and tourist development, regardless of size and location.'

So, as you can see, the local units are left with their fingers in their mouths and the government takes full authority in granting construction permits for every facility in the entire territory.

Also, we note with more concern the changes proposed by the government in this VKM also in terms of TIP construction projects in the Regulation of Territory Development.' where it determines "that citizens in rural areas will build their houses according to the ready-made model offered by the government".

This for us is a monopolization of the housing project market, as well as the imposition of the government's tastes on the one hand, but on the other hand, an infringement of the freedom and right that everyone should enjoy for their construction model, based on the regulation and development characteristics of the area. This centralized approach recycles the mentality of the dictatorship, where it was built with the model imposed by the communist regime.

Dear citizens,

These interventions also belie the rationale of the failed territorial and administrative reform of 2014, in which the Rama government preached that the 61 large municipalities would have power over construction permits in their territory, as they now had the skills and capacities to Did the reform bring you?

After this pseudo-reform, the human catastrophe and abandonment of the Albanian village and the entire country is well known!

It is now clear to everyone that the new territorial map was an instrument to destroy the administrative structure of the nation in favor of the interests of an occult policy!

The question arises, who is responsible for the depopulation that is endangering the existence of the Albanian nation?

Dear citizens

You can easily ascertain that all the moves of this government take you away from public services and transparency of decision-making.

The battle for the usurpation of territories and clientelistic interests are the only eternal battle of Edi Rama!

Not only for memory, I would bring to mind the year 2006, when, ironically, today's Prime Minister, who is infringing on the independence of the locals, directed you as the Mayor of Tirana then to the Congress of Local Authorities of the EC and the Constitutional Court to protect it from encroachment of local autonomy in the urban area by the government of that time.

The President of Congress Z himself arrived in Tirana, Giovani de Stassi, who supported the implementation of the European Charter for Local Autonomy and recognized the right of the Local Government to plan and manage the urban territory.

Likewise, the Constitutional Court considered this concern of Rama and decided that the approval of Building Permits as a matter of urban planning is the competence of local bodies...

In this way, today we will have to appeal, precisely that violation of independence against the local authorities, which was once clearly expressed in 2006 by the Constitutional Court and the EC Congress of Local Authorities at the request of the former mayor Edi Rama.

Dear citizens,

Now it is becoming more and more clear that the Renaissance alternative has turned into a heavy burden for the citizens and an obstacle for the European aspiration of the Albanians!/ CNA