The debate over the new territorial map has flared up again, this time with Dimal at the center. One day before the vote in Parliament, Mayor Juliana Memaj openly came out against the draft law and accused the process of lacking transparency in the way data for the municipality she leads had been collected and compared.
Public clash ahead of the vote in Parliament
During a televised debate, Socialist MP Arbjan Mazniku again presented the majority’s version of how the territorial reform is expected to work. Facing him, Dimal Mayor Juliana Memaj challenged not only the conclusions, but also the process that preceded the drafting of the bill.
Memaj: There was no cross-checking and the data are not clear
Memaj said that in Dimal’s case there had been no transparency regarding the records produced by experts and that there had been no cross-checking before the draft law was prepared. She questioned the accuracy of the figures presented by Mazniku and insisted that the municipality she leads covers 21 budget programs.
According to her, the measurement should be made precisely through budget programs, which, she argued, include within their elements the functions exercised by the municipality. At this point, her objection goes beyond a technical debate and touches the very basis on which the reform is being built.
Mazniku defends the methodology and pushes the case for merging with Berat
Mazniku said that the assessment for Dimal had been carried out using the same standard that, according to him, had been applied to the country’s 61 municipalities, referring to the Ministry of Finance’s budget programs. According to his version, Dimal functions well financially, but does not cover all the budgeted services it is supposed to provide.
He argued that the issue is not linked only to administrative functionality, but also to demography and economic performance. Along these lines, Mazniku defended the idea that Dimal would benefit from closer integration with Berat, citing historical ties, a shared economy, and the fact that part of the services, trade, and daily movement takes place there.
Objection from Dimal: economic indicators, the municipality says, are better than in Berat
Memaj directly rejected that reasoning, saying that no accurate data had been presented. She claimed that the economic indicators of Dimal Municipality are higher than those of Berat Municipality.
At the same time, the mayor stressed that Dimal has been among the municipalities that have invested from their own revenues, an argument aimed at overturning the claim that the municipality lacks sufficient sustainability or potential to continue as a separate unit.
The clash between local government and representatives of the majority shows that the territorial reform is being accompanied by objections not only of a political nature, but also over the way the changes are being justified.
In Dimal’s case, the debate remains open between the figures presented by the government and those disputed by the municipality, precisely on the eve of a vote with direct consequences for the country’s administrative map.