Disagreement over the resolution / Tabaku: The integration process is being used by the government not for European standards, but for tailor-made laws

Democratic Party MP Jorida Tabaku stressed that the opposition’s amendments to the resolution presented at the Stabilisation and Association Committee reflect Albania’s real problems, and were supported by Members of the European Parliament.

In a reaction, she said the government is using the integration process not to build European standards, but to approve tailor-made laws.

“The system built by this majority has been based on the merging of the party with the state, the political use of institutions and citizens’ data, as well as turning the public administration into an electoral machine,” she wrote.

According to her, parliament has been turned into a notary for the interests of the ruling minority. SPAK has been constantly targeted whenever investigations touch people in power.

“SPAK’s latest files on organised crime have also shown that Albanians’ property has been treated as spoils of power, ready to be distributed to government clients and criminal groups. Meanwhile, lawful owners have spent years being sent from one administrative office to another, without receiving either their property or the justice they are entitled to,” she added.

Full reaction:

After two days of debate in the Stabilisation and Association Committee, where opposition representatives presented with facts and arguments the real concerns of Albania and Albanians, Members of the European Parliament approved by consensus 31 of the 35 amendments submitted on behalf of the opposition in the final recommendations of the Joint Committee. These amendments are clear proof of the country’s condition.

They show that the European integration process has been used by the government not to build European standards, but to pass tailor-made laws, laws that serve a privileged minority. Integration has been treated as a notary of the abuses of those in power, not as an instrument for the democratisation of the country.

The system built by this majority has been based on the merging of the party with the state, the political use of institutions and citizens’ data, as well as turning the public administration into an electoral machine.

Parliament has been turned into a notary for the interests of the ruling minority. SPAK has been constantly targeted whenever investigations touch people in power. Institutions are used to politically protect those under investigation and to obstruct justice.

SPAK’s latest files on organised crime have also shown that Albanians’ property has been treated as spoils of power, ready to be distributed to government clients and criminal groups. Meanwhile, lawful owners have spent years being sent from one administrative office to another, without receiving either their property or the justice they are entitled to.

Public procurement has also been turned into spoils of war. It is micromanaged by the system to reward those who serve the machinery of power.

One of the most important amendments is the call for the repeal of the strategic investments law. For more than three years, we have called for this law to be scrapped, and most recently we have once again submitted to parliament a proposal for its repeal.

This law did not bring development. It created privileges, concentrated public and private assets in the hands of a minority, and turned the state into an intermediary for clientelist interests.

The approval of these amendments is a clear message: Europe does not accept laws on paper, nor facade integration. It demands the rule of law, competition, protected property, independent justice and institutions that serve citizens.

Albania does not need a system that works for the minority. It needs a state that works for the majority.