Begaj Signs $302 Million Loan Into Law, Bardhi: President Has Become the Majority’s Notary, Rama Has Undermined the Balance of Powers

President of the Republic Bajram Begaj’s decision to promulgate the law ratifying the $302 million loan agreement has prompted a strong reaction from the opposition.

Gazment Bardhi, head of the Democratic Party’s Parliamentary Group, officially stated that the head of state’s action clearly demonstrates that Prime Minister Edi Rama has dismantled the constitutional mechanisms that guarantee the separation, balance and oversight of powers.

According to Bardhi, the President has shirked his responsibility to uphold the Constitution and has chosen to act as a “notary for the acts of the Socialist majority.” He warned that this course of action poses a serious risk to Albanian democracy.

In his full statement, Gazment Bardhi said:

“The fact that the President of the Republic promulgated the law ratifying the $302 million loan agreement on July 30, even though the Constitution was openly violated during its adoption, clearly shows that Edi Rama has eliminated every constitutional mechanism for the separation, oversight and balance of powers in Albania.

In a democratic system, the head of state cannot serve as a notary for government decisions. The Constitution requires the President to verify whether laws have been adopted in compliance with constitutional procedures and, when violations are identified, to return them to Parliament for reconsideration. This power is not merely a matter of protocol, but an essential instrument for checks and balances.

Since Bajram Begaj took office, this instrument has virtually ceased to function. Apart from one case involving his personal interests, the President has not returned a single law to Parliament for reconsideration, including acts with serious constitutional issues that were later also found to be unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court.

This conduct cannot be regarded as the exercise of the President’s constitutional duties. On the contrary, it represents the surrender of the head of state’s function to the will of the government. Instead of defending the Constitution and institutional balance, Bajram Begaj has chosen to play the role of notary for the acts of the Socialist majority.

If the President no longer uses the powers vested in him, if Parliament is transformed into an appendage of the government, and if independent institutions are weakened or brought under control, power is no longer separated but concentrated in a single pair of hands. It is precisely the concentration of power in one person that poses the greatest danger to any democracy.

The collapse of democracy does not necessarily occur through a single decision. It unfolds gradually, day by day, when institutions remain silent, when constitutional obligations are abandoned, and when arbitrary rule is accepted as a form of governance.

By promulgating this law, despite the clear violation of the Constitution during the adoption process, the President of the Republic has dealt another blow to the rule of law and the constitutional order. This action shows that the institution that was supposed to serve as the Constitution’s last line of defense has chosen not to fulfill this obligation.

I strongly condemn both this decision and the role that the President of the Republic is assuming in undermining constitutionality, democracy and the principle of the separation of powers in Albania. The Constitution stands above everyone, and no one can regard it as a mere formal obstacle when confronted with the abuse of power.”