The clash over the territorial map / Bardhi: Rama wants to abolish another 15 municipalities, we want power close to the citizen

The chairman of the Democratic Party’s Parliamentary Group, Gazment Bardhi, has expressed the opposition’s firm stance against the Socialist majority’s proposal for the New Territorial Reform. In a reaction made public on social media after the parliamentary group meeting, Bardhi underlined that in the next parliamentary session two completely different concepts for local government will face each other.

The clash of the two models, 46 or 100 municipalities?

According to the opposition representative, the map proposed by the Socialist Party, which foresees shrinking the country to 46 municipalities, is guided only by political motives. In contrast, the opposition proposes a reorganisation with 100 local units.

“Tomorrow, two models face each other: the PS’s map with 46 municipalities serves Edi Rama’s electoral interest; the DP’s map with 100 municipalities puts the citizens’ interest at the centre,” Bardhi declared.

Centralisation of power and removal of competences

The chairman of the DP group accused the prime minister of formalising through this reform a concentrated model of governance, stripping municipalities of their basic functions in favour of central government.

“He has meanwhile taken competences away from municipalities through laws and government decisions, from water supply to waste management. Now he also wants larger municipalities, without returning the competences and funds they need to serve people,” he said.

According to him, the opposition’s proposal aims at full decentralisation, bringing public services closer to communities and increasing investment budgets at the local level.

The balance sheet of the 2014 reform

Closing his statement, Bardhi also dwelt on the consequences of the administrative reform carried out a decade earlier, calling it a failure that is now being sought to be deepened even further.

“The 2014 reform left behind fewer investments in many areas, closed schools and health centres and services further away from residents. The PS wants to deepen this failure by abolishing another 15 municipalities, and to make people’s lives even harder,” the chairman of the DP parliamentary group concluded his reaction.