Territorial Reform, PD and SP appoint technical experts, hearings with civil society and interest groups start next week

The opposition and the majority have gathered in the Special Commission for Territorial Reform, where the names of technical experts have been appointed. At the last meeting, the request to increase the experts of the parliamentary groups from 4 to 6 was rejected, while the chairwoman of the Committee, Anila Denaj, made a proposal for next week to exhaust the hearings with the civil society organizations and said that they are waiting for an answer from the Assembly. formal whether there will be additions so as not to hinder the commencement of the work of the experts who have been defined. Two technical experts were nominated by the majority: Adelina Farrici and Artan Shkëmbi. Agron Haxhimali and Roland Bejko were nominated by the opposition as technical experts in this commission. Among others, Xhelal Mziu has given his proposal to gain experience from the countries of the region for the Special Commission for Territorial Reform. "I would propose extras that I think would make an extraordinary contribution to benefit from that reform which would eliminate the problems that have been identified so far and which would be closer to the standards of EU countries. Insists that the Territorial Reform Commission must find modality with Kosovo, Montenegro and northern Macedonia. I am not saying to invite them to testify here before us or to contribute, but I say it is not an excessive luxury for this Commission to undertake a quick tour in these 3 countries to see their innovations in relation to us and I'm sure they have more powers than us and not to go to the invention of the wheel, but to implement standards that have evolved the most. "All three have innovations that are more than us, but I am sure that they will contribute maximally to a complex reform not only in one aspect", declared Mziu.

Çupi: The Territorial Reform of 2014 failed

Meanwhile, MP Dhurata Çupi said that the Territorial Reform of 2014 failed. In the first meeting of the Commission for this reform, Çupi in the role of co-chair said that this reform has failed, because according to her, it has not guaranteed service to citizens and has not reduced the number of local officials employed. According to the Democratic Co-Chair, out of 19 thousand employees in communes and municipalities that were in 2014, today there are 39 thousand. "Territorial reform has failed, now we must return it to the citizens. We aim at the decentralization of local government, the provision of public service as close as possible to the citizens and the great geographical distance. The other goal was for local self-government, but the mayors are dependent on the central government. We are forced to return to reform because it did not meet the expected expectations. Today from 2014 with 19 thousand employees of municipalities and communes, today we have 39 thousand. "While the goal was to cut staff," said Dhurata Cupi, co-chair of the Parliamentary Commission for Territorial Reform.