The Socialist Party’s proposal for a new administrative-territorial reform has also been opposed by residents of Maliq. Under the SP’s proposed draft, Maliq Municipality is expected to be dissolved and incorporated into a larger administrative unit with Korça.

However, residents stress that this change would make it more difficult to access services and increase costs for citizens. They say the distance to Korça would make access to public services more difficult, especially for more remote mountainous areas.

“As a resident of Maliq, I think this is being done for political reasons. For 30 years, politics has not served the interests of citizens. Maliq has not been treated properly; it has been sacrificed for politics,” one resident said.

Another citizen said the merger with Korça would create direct problems for the community. Residents also raised concerns about administrative services, asking why they should have to travel to Korça for matters they can currently resolve in their own municipality.

“Citizens would immediately face a crisis; the distance is too great. This policy is disappointing. Services would be a problem. We have these services here, and you are telling us to go to Korça?” another resident said.

Meanwhile, a former resident of the area said that dissolving the municipality would affect farmers and economic development.

“It will affect farmers. The connection with Korça will become more distant. This is a large and strong municipality; it does not meet any of the criteria for dissolution,” he said.

The post We Are Sacrificed for Politics”/ Maliq Residents Oppose Territorial Reform: No Merger with Korça appeared first on Albeu.com.

Opposition to the plan to merge municipalities has also included Memaliaj. Following an appeal urging citizens to take part in the announced protest, Mayor Albert Malaj said he would support their cause.

In a statement on social media, Malaj, the only Democratic mayor in the south of the country, argued that Memaliaj ranks as the second-largest municipality in Gjirokastër County both in terms of population and area and, therefore, should not be dissolved.

He criticized the way the new territorial reform is being carried out, stating that the process has not been transparent and that no public hearings have been organized with the residents of the 53 villages that make up the municipality.

“I have presented all the arguments showing that such a decision leads to the loss of our identity, traditions and culture, slows the pace of economic development, further fuels depopulation and runs counter to the spirit of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, at a time when Albania is seeking membership in the European Union,” Malaj declared.

According to him, the decision to merge Memaliaj with the Municipality of Tepelenë has crossed every limit in its treatment of residents. The mayor also addressed several questions to the Territorial Reform Commission, which considers the Municipality of Memaliaj a burden on the budget.

“To the commission that sees the Municipality of Memaliaj as a burden on the budget, I want to ask one question: what are Albanians’ taxes for? Are they for AKSHI, for tunnels that cost tens of millions of euros more than projected, for luxury concerts or for charter payments?” he said.

The mayor of Memaliaj said that such decisions do not serve to build a community’s future, but merely remove from the map what, in his view, they have not known how to develop.

The post “Rama is erasing what he failed to develop,” Memaliaj mayor says: They called us a burden on the budget, the money is needed for AKSHI appeared first on Albeu.com.

After another accident at a construction site in the capital, the acting Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning, Fitore Pacolli, issued a sharp reaction targeting the Municipality of Pristina and the Municipal Construction Inspectorate, whom she holds directly responsible for overseeing safety measures.

Expressing condolences to the family of the person who lost their life and wishing a speedy recovery to the injured, the senior official stressed that the latest event marks the fourth serious case with consequences for citizens’ lives and property recorded recently in Pristina. According to her, it is intolerable that no one is held accountable for these repeated incidents.

Pacolli underscored that the primary and immediate burden for issuing permits, controlling working conditions, and preventing such tragedies falls precisely on the Municipality of Pristina and the relevant inspectorate. She described these ongoing failures at the local level as unacceptable and demanded that accountability be immediate and unavoidable.

The minister also announced that the institution she leads is diligently investigating any possible violations and will insist that all those responsible face justice. She also addressed the professional chambers that oversee the sector, calling on them to urgently analyze whether there have been violations of professional standards and to apply disciplinary sanctions, including the permanent revocation of licenses for guilty professionals.

In closing her reaction, Pacolli reconfirmed that the protection of citizens’ lives, property, and respect for construction standards are non-negotiable and that no compromise of any kind will be tolerated.

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The European Union Mission in Kosovo has expressed regret over the demolition of houses carried out the previous day on the shores of Lake Ujman, also known as Gazivoda. This action, according to the European office, occurred while the affected persons had already initiated legal steps within the 15-day period mentioned in the notices of the public enterprise Ibër-Lepenc for the liberation and clearing of plots.

In a Facebook post, the EU highlights concern over the lack of respect for proper legal procedure in this situation, as well as in other episodes that have occurred in northern Kosovo since February of this year. The Union demands an immediate halt to any demolition, forced displacement, or property usurpation, until outstanding questions regarding law enforcement, proportionality, property rights and human rights, as well as access to effective remedies, are properly resolved.

Brussels calls on the authorities to cooperate without delay with the affected communities and municipalities, seeking solutions within the legal framework. It is also underlined that the participation of Kosovo Police in such operations must remain strictly within the limits of its legal mandate, be based on concrete requests or authorizations from responsible instances, and be documented as required.

According to the statement, irreversible enforcement measures, in the context of still-open judicial proceedings and contradictory ownership claims, raise deep concerns for the rule of law. In line with Kosovo’s European aspiration, the EU expects the authorities to address this matter with urgency and transparency and to ensure that similar actions will not be repeated.

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Klinaku asked that the Municipality compensate material damage for the wheelchair in the amount of 150 euros, as well as for an assistant from 2015 until 14.09.2022, based on the minimum wage of that time in the amount of 250 euros net, which according to him reaches a total of 21,000 euros. He also requested 300,000 euros for non-material damage, linking this to the emotional suffering and fear experienced by the plaintiff for the period from the beginning of 2015 until 14.09.2022.

According to him, for both categories of damage, material and non-material, for the period from the beginning of 2015 until 14.09.2022, the total amount is 321,150 euros, due to what he described as severe discrimination caused by the violation of rights protected by the anti-discrimination law.

On the other hand, the lawyer for the Municipality of Prishtina, Kaltrina Velegu, requested that Faruk Kukaj’s claim be dismissed as unfounded, arguing that the plaintiff had failed to prove the existence of discrimination or unequal treatment.

Velegu stated that they stand by all positions presented earlier, including the response to the lawsuit and the closing statement dated 14.09.2022. According to her, the plaintiff proved neither discrimination, nor unequal treatment, nor any other violation of his rights by the defendant, and she therefore requested that the lawsuit be rejected as unfounded.

She also reiterated that, even after the administration of evidence and the review of the case, the party representing the Municipality stands by all the claims presented during the proceedings. According to Velegu, the plaintiff failed to prove any discriminatory act by the Municipality of Prishtina, and they therefore proposed that the court reject the claim as unfounded.

At the conclusion of the hearing, judge Blerand Rrmoku announced that the main hearing in this case had ended and that the judgment would be drafted within the deadlines set by the provisions of the Law on Contested Procedure. He added that the decision would be communicated to the parties in due time.

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