The Chairman of the Socialist Party Parliamentary Group, Taulant Balla, responded in Parliament to the opposition's accusations regarding the increase in oil prices, emphasizing that this is an issue directly linked to global developments and not to the decision-making of the Albanian government.
In his speech, Balla stated that oil is a commodity traded on the exchange, and its price is determined by international markets. He highlighted that Albania is supplied by major international companies, such as British Petroleum, which operate based on exchange prices.
Balla also defended the role of the Transparency Board, noting that this mechanism was used during the previous crisis following the war in Ukraine and has been effective in stabilizing prices.
Regarding the political debate, he accused the opposition of using the issue for daily rhetoric, while adding that the proposed draft laws from them will be discussed in Parliament according to the consensus-approved calendar, specifically on the 30th.
Full speech: Here, instead of justifying the request of 36 deputies for reasons of the expedited procedure, daily politics was made over a fact that is global. But before I go there, to continue what I said at the beginning of this session regarding another request, and I mentioned a fact that seemed ridiculous to some because I reminded you of the German Bundestag. It is a model I follow, and in the German Bundestag, not 2025, but 2024, because they haven't released the 2025 figures yet, there were 83 laws passed, none of which came from the opposition. Zero laws from the opposition, and it is natural, the federal government also has exclusivity in the Bundestag, and then the rest, about 13-14 laws, were from the coalition, and there are also 3 laws passed with the consensus of both the opposition and the majority.
And the invitation is open again if you want to work together, but not with this—again, I can't find a nicer Albanian word than "gërdufja" (ruckus), without force, without Molotov, without excess, without violence, without ruckus, let's approve it.
Now, for the transparency of the public and also the colleagues here. We had a conference of chairmen 40 hours ago, which is the institution where we meet, discuss issues. This thing here, which you just heard, none of them even mentioned. In the conference of chairmen, we made the calendar and said what is on the 7th, what is on the 16th, what is on the 23rd, what is on the 30th, and we approved this draft law by consensus to be on the 30th in the calendar. What happened? From Tuesday, to this Wednesday morning to Thursday, why didn't you tell us in the conference of chairmen? And we could have approved it, but we approved it by consensus, and I'm sorry, but we just approved the calendar, and to be honest, Mr. Eno, we can't do what you say, we don't have the possibility. We can't undo what we approved by consensus, even though it won't escape discussion on the substance of what you propose.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, dear Albanian citizens, it was said here that oil in Albania is more expensive than in other countries. Oil is a commodity traded on the exchange. Albania buys on the exchange today. The company that brings it to Albania, British Petroleum, is one of the three largest oil giants in the world. Every morning...
Mr. Chairman, please, because then these get provoked... These, when they get an answer, also get provoked and can't hold back. But let me finish. Let me finish.
British Petroleum, which is the main supplier of Albania today, sells at exchange price every morning. And is it our fault, the gentleman said, that the United States of America attacked Iran and as a result, the Iranian regime blocked the Strait of Hormuz, leading to an increase in the exchange price of oil? Yes, we supported the President of the United States of America and the strike on the Iranian regime, again I remind you that it is in your shame that you were absent in the Albanian Parliament during the Condemnatory Declaration of the Albanian Parliament against the regime and the Revolutionary Guard of the Iranian regime. But this has nothing to do with what was just said here. The Transparency Board is a mechanism used even 4 years ago when Russia attacked Ukraine, and it certainly had its effects, but we will discuss all these when the discussion of this draft law from your side comes. Don't be annoyed that we vote against your legislative initiatives, not because of your legislative initiatives, I said there may be cases where there are proposals that make sense. But we are ready, and once again we are ready to discuss your legislative initiative, but not with this variant as I told you at the beginning of the session, but if you want, let's sit down and discuss it. Certainly, we have our initiatives, the government has its own initiatives, the government is doing the right work regarding addressing this global oil price crisis, and certainly on the 30th or whenever we have set according to what we agreed in the calendar, we agreed in the calendar, we will also have a discussion on this issue and the official position of the government regarding this draft law. Thank you.