In what many experts are calling one of the most blatant grabs for power in post-communist Albania, the country’s Minister for Local Government has just given himself the power to approve or block any development decision made by elected municipal councils.
Not by law.
Not through parliament.
Not with a vote.
But through a self-written administrative order.
According to Point 13 of Directive No. 1, dated June 19, 2025, a municipality’s decision to designate a priority development zone is not legally valid unless it is certified by the minister himself.
Translated simply: Local government decisions are worthless without the signature of a single minister in Tirana.
⚠️ Translation: “If you’re not with us, forget about development.”
This order effectively gives the minister the power to:
- Punish disobedient municipalities by blocking their projects
- Reward political allies with green lights for development
- Filter economic progress based on party loyalty, not citizen needs
A mayor from the opposition, even with full council approval and strong public support, can now be completely neutralized by a single bureaucrat.
This is not administration.
This is soft dictatorship.
🧱 Municipal councils are now symbolic. The real power sits in a government office.
People vote in local elections thinking they’re choosing who will shape their city’s future. But after this directive, those votes mean nothing if the minister disagrees.
Councils have been reduced to advisory groups with no actual power, while the minister has taken on the role of territorial governor, one who decides who develops, and who is left behind.
🧾 He didn’t get this power from Parliament. He just wrote it himself.
This isn’t a law. It wasn’t passed by MPs.
It wasn’t debated.
It wasn’t consulted with local governments or civil society.
It’s just a piece of paper, signed by the minister, granting himself unprecedented control over the development of every square meter in the country.
If this doesn’t terrify you, it should.
This is how democracies quietly die.
🧠 This isn’t just administrative overreach — it’s institutional sabotage.
Every line in this directive is one more step toward total centralization, the end of local autonomy, and the creation of a one-party command system in disguise.
What happens when the minister decides not to “certify” a project in a town that voted against the ruling party?
The investment dies. The project stalls. The citizens are punished.
🚨 Welcome to a country where progress needs political permission
There are no tanks on the streets.
There are no televised crackdowns.
But there is a directive that forces every local decision to pass through a political filter.
In modern terms, this is administrative authoritarianism — and it’s already here.
⚠️ This sets a terrifying precedent for every city and town in Albania
Today, it’s about development zones.
Tomorrow, it could be about education.
Next week, about public services.
If this model spreads, nothing local will be local anymore. It will all pass through a party-controlled central command.
📍 The end of democracy doesn’t always come with a bang, sometimes it just needs a signature.
There was no vote. No law. No uprising.
Just one minister who decided to change the rules and gave himself the right to decide who wins, who loses, and who stays stuck in the dark.
This is not democracy. It’s a warning. And it’s already too close.
