Prime Minister Edi Rama continues to call the GJKKO's decision to suspend his minister Belinda Balluku, who has been named a defendant by SPAK and is being investigated for scandals worth millions of euros in the Llogara Tunnel and Tirana's Grand Ring Road, absurd.
Rama says that the decision to suspend it "concretely undermines the functioning of the government and the public interest." For this, he brings an example, claiming that the launch of transoceanic flights from Albania to Canada is almost complete, but has been blocked only because it cannot be signed by Balluku, who is suspended.
Rama's full reaction:
Here are concrete examples from my desk today, very current, of why I have asked the Constitutional Court to lift the absurd suspension of a member of the government and why suspending a minister (for the first time in the world) brings consequences that specifically harm the functioning of the government and the public interest:
Discussions at the technical level have been concluded and the positive response of the Canadian side has paved the way for the conclusion of the bilateral agreement between Albania and Canada for the launch of transoceanic air flights between the two countries. However, this procedure cannot currently proceed with the further steps of its approval and signing, since the Constitution gives the exclusive authority for these steps to the minister and his decision-making powers cannot be delegated to anyone else. Therefore, the suspension in question places a big question mark on the start of flights in June 2026, as predicted.
But also, currently, there are 36 other acts of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, of which only 18 are acts for reconstruction, which remain suspended along with the minister, while every day that the minister's suspension is extended, the list of blocked works is also extended.