Berisha Opposes Territorial Reform: It Is Being Used as an Instrument to Depopulate Albania

Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha has opposed the new territorial reform proposed by the Socialist Party, describing it as a “platform for depopulation” and for driving Albanians out of the country.

According to Berisha, the 2014 territorial reform, which reduced the number of local government units from around 400 municipalities and communes to 61 municipalities, seriously undermined decentralization and led to a lack of services for citizens.

He said that the policies pursued by the government since 2014 have encouraged Albanians to abandon their settlements. Berisha warned that protests against the reform would continue.

During his speech, the DP leader greeted the tens of thousands of citizens who, according to him, have protested in various parts of the country. He described this confrontation as a battle for the “honor and dignity of the Albanian nation” and called on citizens to continue what he described as a “peaceful uprising” against the government.

Berisha said that Edi Rama no longer enjoys legitimacy and that this had been demonstrated, in his view, through the electoral map and the division of local power. He argued that the 2014 reform, which reduced the number of local government units from around 400 to 61, represented the greatest blow to the democratic principle of decentralization.

He also accused the reform of having, together with the policies implemented over the years, become a mechanism for depopulating Albania and driving out Albanians because of the lack of services and, according to him, their complete boycott.

“Edi Rama’s territorial reform, combined with the policies pursued from 2014 to the present, has surpassed by more than twice, in terms of its power to drive Albanians from their homes, villages and cities, Vaso Čubrilović’s platform,” Berisha declared.

According to him, this platform involved the withdrawal of services, the destruction of education and healthcare, the neglect of infrastructure and intimidation through the police, while it was also accompanied by an international agreement with Turkey for the transfer of Albanians from Kosovo to that country.

Berisha claimed that, despite the oppressive regimes of Georgijević and Panić toward Albanians in Kosovo, Edi Rama had more than doubled the number of Albanians who had left Albania compared with those who were expelled from Kosovo.

He accused the prime minister of concentrating all powers in his hands and of complete centralization, saying that in some respects he had even surpassed Enver Hoxha. According to Berisha, instead of correcting the problems of the first reform, Rama took another step by proposing the reduction of 15 municipalities and lowering their number to 46.

According to him, this proposal has sparked a strong reaction both among residents of the municipalities that are to be reduced and among citizens of the areas that lost local government in the most unjustifiable manner in 2014.

Berisha said that Edi Rama’s centralization of power was similar to the rule of a sultan, claiming that such a concentration of power had never before been seen in Albania’s history. He accused the prime minister of seeking to continue driving out Albanians and fill the country with citizens from Asia or other states, an action he described as “the most criminal, most anti-Albanian act.”

“I wholeheartedly salute the citizens—young and old, men and women—who during the 70 days of protests raised, as never before, the honor and dignity of the Albanian nation in the battle for the future,” he said.

Berisha also greeted citizens throughout Albania, particularly the residents of the municipalities that the new reform designates for abolition, as well as those in areas that, according to him, are expected to join the protests.

“I salute the tens of thousands of citizens across the country, from the municipalities that Edi Rama has earmarked for abolition through the new reform, as well as the residents of other areas who are preparing to rise in a powerful peaceful uprising, until the Sultan of Surrel, this ruler who has lost all legitimacy, is overthrown,” Berisha said.