PM Rama meets Tirana Municipality staff, condemns gathering outside SPAK and pledges full support
Prime Minister Edi Rama held an unusual meeting with the entire staff of Tirana Municipality in Skanderbeg Square, reaffirming his support for their work in the capital while Mayor Erion Veliaj remains in pretrial detention despite not being formally charged. However, Rama openly criticized the gathering of municipal employees outside SPAK during the court session that ruled on Veliaj’s security measures. While acknowledging their emotional reaction, he made it clear that such actions should not be repeated.
“It was a mistake that, no matter how innocent, must not happen again—not by you, nor by anyone working for the Albanian state in any institution. No one should appear on the premises of an independent branch of power like the judiciary.”
Why is this important: Both SPAK and the Special Court (GJKKO) reacted to the gathering of Veliaj’s supporters outside their buildings, claiming that such actions intimidate judges and prosecutors. They also accused the police of failing to intervene, while law enforcement responded that it was a spontaneous gathering, not an officially planned protest.
Meanwhile, the opposition, despite staging its own protests outside SPAK twice a month when its leader Sali Berisha appears before investigators, described the municipal employees’ gathering as an institutional coup by the government against the judiciary.
Rama’s strong condemnation of the incident signals that it was not an organized act of political pressure on SPAK, as the opposition claims. By calling it a mistake that must not be repeated, he clearly distanced the government from any attempts to influence the judiciary.
Context: During the event, which also featured a documentary showcasing the transformation of Tirana over the past 20 years—first under Rama himself as mayor for 11 years, then Veliaj for the last 9 years—the Prime Minister vowed to “transform the judiciary just as we transformed Tirana.”
While reaffirming full support for justice reform, he also cautioned against potential errors in prosecution that could impact lives and stressed the need to uphold legal standards.
Rama assured municipal staff that they will have full government support and urged them to work even harder to make Tirana the capital of a European Albania by 2030.
“Your collective responsibility is to ensure that the engine of Tirana Municipality does not stop for even a minute but keeps running 24 hours a day in every direction.”
War of words: The opposition mocked the event, calling it an anti-rally, while Rama dismissed the claim, saying:
“Anti-rallies died in 2013 when the Democrats went into opposition, because they were the ones who invented them.”
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