Centralization of Power? BIRN: Critics Question Government’s Plan for Municipal Map

The Albanian government plans to reduce the number of municipalities from 61 to 46, but critics fear the reform will deepen the isolation of rural communities from public services and weaken environmental protection.

Erjon Zylyftari was furious.

“It is an injustice and a great disgrace,” he declared at the end of July, when he resigned as the local leader of the Socialist Party in the small town of Poliçan, in southeastern Albania.

The reason was the government’s plan to dissolve the Municipality of Poliçan and merge it with the larger Municipality of Berat, as part of a broader territorial reform that is also causing friction within the ranks of the ruling Socialists.

“I have been betrayed, just as you have been betrayed,” Zylyftari said, before several Socialist Party supporters set fire to their party membership cards in protest.

The government of Prime Minister Edi Rama argues that the current map, with 61 municipalities, no longer reflects Albania’s demographic and economic reality.

Under the proposal, 15 small municipalities will be dissolved and merged with larger units, reducing the total number of municipalities from 61 to 46.

Critics, however, say the reform will lead to a greater concentration of power and push rural communities even farther from public services, further fueling depopulation.

The reform comes just 12 years after the last change to the territorial map, when the number of local government units was reduced from around 400 to 61.

“The decisive factors will be the elements that accompany the reform,” said local governance expert Agron Haxhimali. “The level of decentralization, the functions to be carried out, the organizational structure of the municipalities and the territorial distribution of services.”

“However, the experience of the 2014 reform was not always positive for the communities of the former municipalities,” Haxhimali told BIRN.

“In many cases, problems emerged with access to services, representation due to distances and the functioning of administrative units. These are mistakes that the new reform must avoid and not repeat.”

Tense meeting

Co-chairs of the Territorial Reform Commission, Arbjan Mazniku and Luçiano Boçi

Albania’s municipalities were conceived as important units of government, responsible for waste management, drinking-water supply, urban planning, public transport, social services, environmental protection, energy efficiency, climate-change adaptation, civil protection and local public procurement.

But of the 61 municipalities in total, only 10 are classified by the government as units with strong economic performance, 12 as having medium performance and 38, or 63 percent of the total, as having low performance.

Arbjan Mazniku, Minister of State for Local Government and co-chair of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Administrative-Territorial Reform, said the changes are necessary to give municipalities “greater capacities and prepare them for the challenges of Albania’s membership in the European Union,” which Rama says the country will achieve by 2030.

In a press statement on July 31, the Socialist Party denied that the reform would lead to the “disappearance” of any city or municipality.

“The municipalities included in this process will retain their names, identities and urban centers,” the Socialist Party declared.

“They will be integrated into a new administrative structure through a merger with neighboring municipalities, while retaining city status as constituent units within the new local government entity.”

But a four-hour meeting on July 31 between Rama and Albania’s mayors took place in a tense atmosphere, according to media reports, and ended with two mayors leaving the meeting.

Environmental concerns

Karavasta National Park

The commission for territorial reform was established in November last year at the request of the Socialist Party and its main rival, the Democratic Party.

However, the final report was drafted solely by Socialist Party experts, after the Democrats failed to extend the commission’s mandate.

Zylyftari is not the only Socialist representative to oppose the plan.

Josif Gorrea, the Socialist mayor of Divjakë, has also publicly opposed the merger of this municipality in southern Albania, an area rich in biodiversity and protected territories, with the Municipality of Lushnjë.

Gorrea told BIRN that his team was preparing “official objections,” “public hearings” and a vote in the municipal council.

Taulant Bino, head of the Albanian Ornithological Society, a Tirana-based nongovernmental organization, said the plan for Divjakë Municipality was particularly concerning.

“Territorial organization cannot be based solely on administrative, economic and demographic indicators,” he said. “Natural capital, particularly protected areas of national and European importance, does not appear to have been considered as a separate criterion.”

Divjakë Municipality covers an area of around 310 square kilometers, of which 207 square kilometers are included in Divjakë-Karavasta National Park, which also extends, to a lesser degree, into the territory of Fier.

“Although Divjakë Municipality is not legally the park’s administrator, it remains a key actor in governing the territory where the park is located,” Bino emphasized.

“Decisions on local planning, land use, urban development, tourism, infrastructure, waste management, agriculture, fishing and economic development have a direct or indirect impact on the park’s ecological integrity.”

Olsi Nika of the organization Eco Albania also singled out Divjakë-Karavasta National Park as one of the main concerns.

“Transferring this territory to the larger Municipality of Lushnjë risks moving the park from the center to the margins of local-government priorities,” he said.

“The role of municipalities becomes particularly important in territorial planning, local development and decision-making on projects and permits that could have a direct or indirect impact on protected areas.”

Opposition MP: We were denied any role in the reform

Democratic MP Jorida Tabaku during a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on European Affairs

The Democratic Party has criticized the reform, accusing the Socialists of denying the opposition any “meaningful influence” in the process.

“Territorial reform is never simply about drawing lines on a map,” Democratic MP Jorida Tabaku said. “It determines how close citizens are to public services, whether communities are properly represented, how public money is distributed and, ultimately, where political power lies.”

“Municipalities should be democratic institutions, with their own authority, finances and accountability,” Tabaku added.

“But far too often in Albania they have functioned as extensions of the central government. Mayors are treated less as independent representatives of their communities and more as local implementers of the government’s political and administrative priorities.”

Jurgen Isufllari, an employee in the housing sector at Maliq Municipality, which under the plan will merge with Korçë Municipality, said the changes would further fuel depopulation.

He said residents were skeptical about how the budget funds allocated to the “larger municipality” would be distributed.

“They argue that cultural and historical aspects cannot simply be merged by joining two municipalities, because they represent different realities,” Isufllari told BIRN.

Ibrahim Sako, a lawyer from Cërrik Municipality, which will merge with Elbasan Municipality, said the plan was not supported by sufficient studies.

“Territorial divisions must be based on common economic interests, culture and traditions, with consultation always taking place and the will and wishes of citizens being taken into account,” he said.

According to him, the risk is that services will move even farther away from citizens, while investment will become concentrated in urban areas with higher population density.

Hanajs Mehilli, an activist and mountain guide who opposes the merger of Selenicë and Vlorë municipalities in southern Albania, said: “A reform that moves decision-making even farther away from communities must demonstrate with figures how it will improve services, rather than assume that a larger administrative unit is automatically more efficient.” /BIRN