Raad van Europa bemiddelt bij conflict tussen Albanese regering en gemeenteraad Tirana (en)

Strasbourg, 13.01.2006 - Giovanni Di Stasi, President of the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, will pay an official visit to Tirana on 16 and 17 January to discuss the situation of local democracy in the country and the implementation of Congress recommendations.

He will meet President of the Republic Alfred Moisiu, Prime Minister Sali Berisha, Mayor of Tirana Edi Rama, as well as Lutz Salzmann, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission in Albania. The programme also includes meetings with Minister of Public Works, Transport and Telecommunication Lulzim Basha, Vice-Minister of Interior Ferdinand Pone, Ombudsman Ermir Dobjani, Deputy Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania Alex Finnen, and Ambassador of Austria Klaus Derkowitsch, for EU Chairmanship.

The visit follows the decision of the Congress Bureau on 16 December 2005, in the light of the deadlock between the Tirana municipal council and the central government concerning public works in the capital. The Bureau asked the President to pay a visit to Tirana to see whether the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government are being complied with in practice, especially as regards Article 8 which provides that supervision of local authorities should aim only at ensuring compliance with the law and exclude any supervision of the expediency of actions that fall within local authorities' own areas of responsibility.

Contact: Dmitri Marchenkov, Head of the Communication Unit of the Congress;

Tel: +333 88 41 38 44; Email : dmitri.marchenkov@coe.int