Prime Minister Edi Rama appeared in Elbasan to defend the new territorial map, at another meeting presented by the government as a public consultation. According to the official version, the merger of several municipalities will not affect existing services, while the new units will function as “cities” rather than simply administrative units under the authority of larger municipalities.
Which municipalities are expected to merge
According to the statements made in Elbasan, the reform envisions the merger of Elbasan with Cërrik and Belsh, as well as Librazhd with Prrenjas.
Rama presented this reorganization as a step that, according to the government, creates the conditions for more sustainable economic and social development in these areas.
The government’s promise: no services will be cut
At the center of the prime minister’s message was the political guarantee that this reorganization would not bring any reduction in services for citizens.
He argued that existing municipalities today perform fewer functions than they should and that the aim of the reform is to increase administrative capacity, not reduce it.
“City” instead of administrative unit
Rama rejected the idea that the municipalities to be dissolved would automatically be turned into administrative units, saying that the envisaged model is different.
According to him, if Prrenjas merges with Librazhd, or Cërrik and Belsh with Elbasan, they will not function as simple administrative units, but as “cities” within the new local administration structure.
In his explanation, the scheme will have three levels: the municipality, the city, and then the administrative units, with the aim of preserving service coordination.
Comparison with the 2015 reform
The prime minister compared the current objections with the debates that accompanied the 2015 territorial reform, saying that similar fears and doubts existed at that time as well.
According to him, time showed that the earlier objections were unfounded and that investments and services improved after the merger of communes with municipalities. This remains part of the government’s argument for pushing forward a new wave of changes to the local map.
The meeting in Elbasan puts territorial reform back at the center of political and local debate, especially over how the real impact on services, representation and the autonomy of the areas that will be included in the mergers is being presented.
For the moment, the government is selling the project as an expansion of capacity rather than a new local centralization, but this is precisely where the strongest public questions are expected to focus.