Blushi accuses: “KAYO is a mafia scheme, has eliminated constitutional oversight and public procurement laws

The general secretary of the Freedom Party, MP Tedi Blushi, has warned that Albania is experiencing a deep crisis in respecting fundamental rights, freedom, democracy and the principles of the rule of law.

In a speech delivered at the Parliamentary Committee on Stabilisation-Association EU-Albania, Blushi reconfirmed his political force’s commitment to advancing the European path, but insisted that this process must be based on concrete and sincere implementation of EU reforms and standards.

Two key current issues were placed at the centre of his attention: the mechanism known as “KAYO” and the open clash between the executive and the justice system over the issue of magistrates’ salaries.

Blushi described the blocking of the opposition’s request for a parliamentary investigation into the “KAYO” scheme as the newest unconstitutional act of the Assembly. He condemned that this move has destroyed any form of audit of state funds and bypassed public procurement legislation. At the same time, he accused the prime minister of deliberately exploiting the tension around judges’ and prosecutores’ salaries as a direct attempt to bring the judicial power under full control.

He then elaborated on a series of other concerns. He stressed that state violence has become the norm, where freedoms are violated daily and institutions are used as instruments of intimidation against critical voices. He recalled that the civic protest demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama has entered its 114th day, initially triggered by savage violence against a citizen opposing the project in Zvënec. According to him, since the beginning, demonstrators have faced continuous state pressure, threats, brutal force and illegal arrests, including minors kidnapped by unidentified civilians.

The MP also accused the government of downplaying this violence by treating it as merely a “public order” issue, thus creating an unacceptable justification for restricting the right to assembly. He mentioned the “electoral farce” of May 11, 2025, the fusion of the ruling party with the state and the influence of crime money in blocking political rotation, facts that, he said, have also been confirmed by international reports.

Blushi also focused on the state of justice, stressing that the main problem is not the high salaries of magistrates, but the fact that Albania remains first in Europe for corruption and second in the world for bribery, a decade after the adoption of the Justice Reform. He added that the backlog of cases has exploded from 20,000 to around 200,000, turning delayed justice into denied justice.

Regarding media freedom, he emphasised that it is not a privilege that the government or courts can grant or restrict, calling the new regulation of the Special Court against Corruption and Organised Crime, which enters into force on September 1, 2026, an unconstitutional act that demands immediate repeal. In this context, he cited as an example the case of his party leader, Ilir Meta, whom he described as a victim of political persecution. According to him, Meta was kidnapped in October 2024 by still unidentification persons and is held in prison without evidence, in extreme isolation, being denied the right to communicate with the media, a right that, he stressed, was not denied even to Navalny in Russia.

He also denounced that the court hearings against Meta have been made non-public by court order, that he is denied meetings with party colleagues and MEPs, and that proceedings are dragging on to illegally prolong his pre-trial detention. Blushi noted that the recommendations of the Albanian Helsinki Committee and the Ombudsman to end the violations of his rights continue to be ignored.

In closing, he stressed that the true measure of a state governed by the rule of law lies not in the stability of power, but in the equal application of the law for all, without distinction. According to him, Albania should not be assessed only on reforms on paper, but on their capacity to guarantee in practice human dignity and European standards of freedom.