An ironic debate featuring heated exchanges took place in the Law Committee between its chair, Ulsi Manja, and opposition MP Saimir Korreshi, as they discussed the agenda and proposals concerning the administrative map.
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Korreshi objected to the way the discussions were being conducted and requested that the opposition’s initiative also be included on the agenda, arguing that it had been drafted following consultations with experts and citizens.
Their exchanges also included banter, with Korreshi making fun of the presence of the cameras.
Korreshi: Thank you, Chair! Are we doing this just to get on TV?
Manja: I’ll answer you directly. This is the session that is broadcast on TV.
Korreshi: You put the camera there so you would look good.
Manja: When you speak, I’m not on camera.
Korreshi: Thank goodness I combed my hair today. As for the agenda, it can be changed. It’s not the New Year’s calendar, which is set once and for all. It’s not true that we weren’t there, as you say. We were present—how could we have drafted 401 pages otherwise? It isn’t a pie that you put in the oven and take out. Serious work has gone into it. You did the same thing to us as with the judges’ law, which arrived as something else entirely, and those provisions for money laundering were approved without any signatures at all. We stand by 100 percent of it, because that is the conclusion we reached after speaking with the best experts. Let’s hold a hearing with the citizens—no one wanted this map with 46 municipalities, and no one wants it. Yet you still want to vote for it. We have submitted the legislative initiative. You don’t even have an urban transport service; citizens will have to wait for two hours. Listen to our proposal as well—we’re not saying we should go back to wearing traditional wooden clogs. There are no longer any elections in the administrative units because they have all been appointed. They said they would reduce the number of employees, but they increased it. If you go and use the services in the administrative units, you file a complaint and they rush to remove the rubbish. I’ll stake my neck on the fact that the mayors have never set foot on the roads in the villages. The mayor doesn’t deal with fences.
Manja: The fence is not among the issues under discussion today.
Korreshi: I’m a villager, so I deal with fences too. My final proposal, also based on Article 31: Turn off your microphone and let me go on TV, because I’m better-looking than you.
Manja: Go ahead, no problem.
Korreshi: Change the agenda, Mr. Chair. Since Begaj also opened the door to national security and we fortified the walls, let’s include the Democratic Party’s proposal as well, since we also have these friends from the cities, so they can go out and work, clean the roads and do some work. They also burn fuel, and you’ve raised its price to 200 lekë.
