Albanian President Veto Law Granting Additional Funding For New National Theater – Released
Albanian President Ilir Meta sent a new law back to parliament, refusing to give it official approval.
The law in question is another normative law proposing changes to the 2021 state budget, which includes the allocation of 900 million lek (7.4 million euros) to the Municipality of Tirana for the construction of the new theater. national.
Meta said the allocation of these funds, at taxpayer expense, is a violation of the Constitutional Court’s ruling.
In July, the court ruled that the decision to transfer the theater from the Ministry of Culture to the Municipality of Tirana was unconstitutional. It automatically canceled it and sent it back to the department. A few days later, the Council of Ministers transferred it to the municipality claiming that they did not have the funds to build it, but the municipality did.
Meta wrote in its ruling that “the government continues to adopt decisions in the spirit of unconstitutional acts. The Government and Parliament have openly circumvented and challenged the decision-making power of the Constitutional Court. The money is given for a project and a property which should not have been and which, according to the decision of the Constitutional Court, no longer fall within the competence or the property of the Municipality of Tirana.
On Tuesday, Meta sent the Aliens Act back to parliament, saying it paves the way for cheap labor to be imported into the country to replace immigrant Albanians. This was to the dismay of many foreign residents who eagerly awaited a less expensive and streamlined application process, including provisions for self-employed, remote workers and retirees.
He also vetoed other amendments to the State Budget Management Law that would increase the country’s public debt.
In his decree, Meta declared that the law was unconstitutional and goes beyond the powers of the Council of Ministers.
According to Meta, the normative act by which the amendment was adopted can only be used in emergency situations, which is no longer the case for Albania.
He sent the law back to parliament, asking it to explore a more sustainable way to help the Albanian economy in the long run, without risking another risky increase in the country’s public debt.
Albanian public debt currently represents around 86% of GDP. The amendments proposed by the government would have increased this amount to an additional 1 billion euros for next year.
The laws will be sent back to Parliament, which will have to vote on them again. If a majority vote is obtained, they will be adopted without the approval of the President. Parliament meets in September with the presence of opposition parties after an 18-month break following the abandonment of their mandates.