Albania

The Constitution of the Republic of Albania, as a fundamental law of the state does not clearly define and express the right of citizens and civil society regarding engagement and participation in public decision-making processes, as the purpose of the constitution is the concrete definition of some key principles or the absolute exclusion of the circumstances considered unacceptable. The adjustments made by the constitution cannot be always complete and exhaustive since it does not arrange every detailed aspect of the organization of the social and political life of a country, but only certain principles and the basic criteria on which it should be based on.

Although it is not defined in writing and in exhaustively way, the right of the citizens to participate and engage in decision-making processes comes from a set of state principles guaranteed by the Constitution, such as: “the right to referendum”, “the right to freedom of speech “right to information” “right to assembly” “right to organize” “right to propose laws” “freedom of access to public information” right to a healthy environment” etc.

The implementation of the fundamental rights and freedom as mentioned above is regulated by constitutional provisions, international agreements ratified by law, laws, acts and other bylaws. Below you will find specified legal provisions regarding the right of the citizens to engage and participate in decisionmaking processes according to the hierarchical order defined in Article 116 of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania.

The Code of Administrative Procedures is an important law, which provides some basic procedural principles, including the one concerning participation.

The Law no. 139/2015 on Local Self-Government is one of the main legal instruments of law which guarantees citizens the right to be informed and to participate in decision-making processes. The provisions of this law are in accordance with the principles of the Charter European Convention on Local Self-Government. One of the innovations of this law is the principle of subsidiarity, a principle regarding performing functions and exercising competencies at a level of government. The article 3 sets the goal for effective and efficient governance and a close proximity to the citizens through the recognition of the existence of different identities and values of communities, respect for the fundamental rights and freedom of sanctioned citizens in the Constitution or other laws, the choice of different types of services and other local public facilities for the benefit of the community, realization of services in forms appropriate based on the needs of community members, as well as the effective promotion of inclusive community participation in local government.

The Chapter VI entitled “Transparency, Consultation and Citizen Participation” is quite important since it guarantees the right to information and participation of the citizens in the decision-making processes.

The article 15 ensures transparency of the activity of the self-government units enabling the publication of any local government act on their official websites as well as their location in public places designated by the units. According to point 3 of this article, each unit of local self-government has the obligation to appoint the transparency coordinator and approve the transparency program accessible to all citizens, especially to the ones from the poorer strata of the community, ensuring legal provisions about the right to information. This law through article 18 guarantees the population the right to participate and to hear about the process of reviewing and approving acts. This right is endorsed through counseling sessions in the form of open meetings with residents and groups of interest, meetings with specialists, interested institutions and o non-profit organizations, or through the local referendum initiative.

Consultation sessions with the community before reviewing and approving acts are always mandatory in the following cases: 

• The Municipal Council elects from its composition the commissions of the council and approves the regulation internal of its operation;
• The Municipal Council approves the budget and its amendments;
• The Municipal Council approves the alienation or transfer for use of third-party properties;
• The Municipal Council decides on local taxes and fees according to the tax legislation in power;
• The Municipal Council approves norms, standards and criteria for the regulation and discipline of functions to guarantee the public interest.

The law provides the same provisions as the one mentioned above for consultation sessions with council communities. The importance is to inform the citizens about the acts of the council, which should always be published on the official website and are located in free-access public places within the territory of the unit local. Article 18 enables the council to publish acts in other certain ways in their regulation.

The law no. 146/2014 “On public notification and consultation”, is a very important law for guaranteeing the participation of citizens in local self-government. This law regulates the process of notification and public consultation of draft laws, draft strategic documents, whether national or local, as well as of policies of high public interest. The provisions of this law determine the procedural rules that must be applied to guarantee transparency and public participation in policy-making and decision-making processes by public bodies aiming to promote transparency, accountability and integrity of public authorities.

The law no. 119/2014 “On the right to information” guarantees the right to information in relation to information produced or held by public authorities.

In the country context, two innovations stand out:

• Gender Sensitive budgeting, which aims to involve many women and girls who raised their demands in meetings where the direct participation of citizens is the main criteria.
• Public hearings where community voice has influenced decision-making processes: the success in the practice of public hearings lies in the fact of how much of the citizens suggestions are taken into account. In most cases after the organization of public hearings, the citizens are not informed about the changes made or the status of their proposals/suggestions.

In Albania the PB process started in 2004 and was inspired by the Brazilian experiences. 

No information available

1. PB have been suspended: 70%
2. PB continued to function normally: N/A
3. PB have undergone changes/adaptations: N/A

During the Pandemic the PB processes were suspended. The processes started with meetings that were organized outdoors taking into account the number of participants, but then it was suspended.

In Albania, there are still major obstacles for an effective participation of citizens in the government matters. On the one hand, local governments don’t use effectively all the precise instruments for citizens’ involvement, as well as citizens are generally not very active in decision-making processes.

There is a lack of trust between citizens and local government. A good opportunity to build a “bridge” and overcome this situation is the use of appropriate strategies and instruments to encourage citizens and local officials to interact regularly with each other, increase knowledge about each other and thus develop trust in each other.