The meeting that Prime Minister and Socialist leader Edi Rama held today in Kuç, Vlora, was attended by the mayors of municipalities affected by the changes to the territorial map, as well as the mayors of municipalities in the central region.
KUÇ – Prime Minister Rama’s 4-hour meeting with the left-wing mayors of the municipalities affected by the territorial reform was conducted in harsh tones and strong clashes between the head of government and 4 of the mayors of the municipalities that are expected to be merged, Policani, Dimali, Selenica and DivjaKa.
According to reports from inside the hall, the mayor of Poliçan Adriatik Zotkaj left the meeting after a heated exchange with the prime minister, which went as far as insulting him. Zotkaj was criticized at the meeting by Raam for the fact that the socialists burned membership cards in Poliçan.
While Zotkaj, who has publicly been against the merger of the Poliçan municipality, with the argument that services will be taken away from citizens, responded, “the community responded to the ungrateful action of the SP and the Prime Minister. If there is any ungratefulness, it is that of the SP.”
Another fierce clash was with the mayor of Dimal, Juliana Memaj, to whom Rama addressed ironically: You great leaders!
While Mema responded: What a black leader! We have become like municipal workers (speaking about the lack of competences of local government)
This sentence irritated Prime Minister Rama, who threw Mema out of the meeting.
The mayors of Selenica and Divjaka, Nertil Bello and Josif Gorrea, have also debated with Prime Minister Rama and Arbjan Mazniku, standing by their arguments against the merger of the municipalities.
Prime Minister Rama, for his part, has claimed that the mayors of these municipalities are inciting the communities of those areas against the territorial reform.
Meanwhile, the mayors also claim double standards when it comes to selecting municipalities that should be merged. According to them, there are municipalities like Peqin, Vau i Dejës or Rroskovec that have lower performance indicators but will retain their municipal status.
Municipalities like Maliqi or Këlcyera have not expressed any objection to how they will position themselves with the new territorial map.