Smoke bombs and firecrackers inside the chamber by center-right opposition representatives, supporters of former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, also accompanied today’s parliament session, where the center-left majority voted for Prime Minister Edi Rama in record time, less than 8 minutes. The final draft of the budget law and the 2024 budget.


Today, a dense cordon of Republican Guard members in civilian clothes was deployed in front of the seats where members of the government sit, while others were present in the space separating the opposition seats from the majority seats. There was no shortage of clashes with center-right MPs who tried to stack chairs in the middle of the room.


For more than a month, the opposition has been trying to obstruct the work of the National Assembly, in protest against what it calls a “flagrant violation of constitutional rights” by Rama’s socialists, who are accused of preventing the formation of some investigative committees. But for the leader of the majority bloc, Bledi Goche, “the decision to reject the opposition’s requests is simply related to the fact that they were not submitted in accordance with the rules.”


Discussions on the budget law usually take about two days, not just a few minutes. But from Zhuqi’s point of view, this was a choice conditional on the opposition’s aggressive stance. “What is important is that the text – he emphasized – was subjected to intense discussions in parliamentary committees,” which were also conducted online to prevent it from being boycotted, he stressed.

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