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Albania Lawmakers Set Off Flares in Parliament to Protest Vote
Posted
December 8, 2023
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0:40Now PlayingThe Albanian Parliament passed the annual budget and other draft laws on Thursday in a disrupted vote from the opposition who used flares and noise to protest against what it considers authoritarian rule by the governing Socialist Party.
The opposition has disrupted the Parliament’s sessions for months, saying that the left-wing Socialist Party doesn't let them create investigative commissions to probe what they consider government corruption scandals.
The disturbances started just before prosecutors accused Sali Berisha, the former prime minister and president for the centre-right Democratic Party, of corruption over of a land-buying scheme that’s now under legal investigation in the capital, Tirana.
Opposition parliamentarians regularly pile up chairs, use flares, small fires and grab microphones when Socialist counterparts take the floor.
“You saw today how they cunningly and, in a rush, the Socialist Party voted in the budget, which for the first time hits the middle class, the most important class for citizens in a democracy, those who keep democracy on its feet,” said Democratic party lawmaker Ervin Salianji.
The 74 seats the Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama has in the 140-seat parliament were enough in an eight-minute vote to pass the 2024 budget and then close the session.
“We are ready to talk with everyone for the benefit of Albanians, for items that serve to Albanians,” said Socialist parliamentary group head Bledi Cuci.
The opposition pledges to radicalise its fight until the rights of investigative committees are accepted.
The parliament’s disruption may be an obstacle in the implementation of the country’s much-needed reforms, at a time when the European Union has agreed to start the first chapters of approximating Albania's laws with its acquis communautaire.
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