Clash in the territorial reform commission, Zhupa tells the mayor of Gramsh: Stay there, keep your place as a guest

As July 15 draws near, the deadline for submitting the new territorial map to Parliament, the atmosphere of understanding shown earlier between the DP and SP during hearings across the districts in the special parliamentary commission on Administrative-Territorial Reform appears to have faded under the high temperatures of June.

In the meeting hall of Parliament’s presidency in Tirana, the commission meeting was accompanied by strong clashes after opposition representatives insisted that the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg also be included in the process.

The debate intensified further when Democratic Party MP Ina Zhupa took the floor and began speaking about the protest. At that moment, the Socialist mayor of Gramsh, Besion Ajazi, who was present at the hearing as an invited guest, asked her to keep the discussion focused on the issue for which he had been called and not on the politics of the day with Flamingo inside.

“Dear colleagues, I have no intention of asking you what I will speak about, nor of pleasing you with what I am saying. You can wait. The lack of patience is reflected in that square filled with citizens. You have a local government that today has no voice. If you ask them yourself, they tell you they have no idea what plans there are for their municipality. And you are going to decide what the procedure is… stay there, keep your place as a guest,” Zhupa said.

Socialist co-chair of the commission Arbian Mazniku reacted immediately, responding to the DP lawmaker.

“Do not tell any official elected by the citizens to ‘stay there and keep your place.’ He got more votes there than you did,” Mazniku said.

Mazniku also insisted that the July 15 deadline for submitting the report to Parliament be respected, stressing that after that it will be Parliament itself that decides what will happen next with this reform.