Debate over fuels, DP against the SP initiative: The reserves should be bought by tender, not from a private operator!

The Democratic Party has demanded changes to the government’s initiative to create the oil reserve.

Eno Bozdo, in a statement to the media, demanded that the purchase of fuel be made through tenders and that the company that will manage it should not be private.

“In the draft law presented by the government, which aims to establish the fuel security reserve, the financing burden will again be borne by the consumer. The reserve will be created. It will require around 300 to 350 million euros and the burden for it will fall again on every Albanian. The government has chosen to carry out all fuel purchase procedures directly, at the table, in deliberate avoidance of the public procurement law. The draft law envisages that the company which will manage this reserve of around 350 million euros in case of crisis will be private, hidden under the name of a public operator. For this reason, the Democratic Party parliamentary group has today filed in Parliament the amendments to this draft law, which among other things demand: one, the oil security reserve should be financed 100% from the state budget and no new tax may burden Albanians for this purpose. Two, all procedures should be held with competition and transparency according to the laws in force, because this is Albanians’ money and not money to be handed on a platter to the government’s clients. Three, the public operator, the company that manages oil supply in case of crisis, cannot be private as the government wants,” the MP said.