Prime Minister Edi Rama has announced that the government will repeal the Strategic Investments Law. He made the statement during a press conference with journalists from European Union member states.
The head of government said that the law has fulfilled its purpose and is no longer necessary. He noted that it played an important role in attracting strategic investments to Albania, but added that work is already underway with the European Union to draft a new investment law aligned with EU standards.
“To begin with, the Strategic Investments Law has never been unfair, despite what some people claim. In fact, many of those who criticize it do not even understand what they are talking about. The good news is that we will leave it behind because it has accomplished its mission and is no longer important.
We are not fighting to preserve it, nor are we saying that the assessment of the law is wrong. We will simply phase it out. Nevertheless, the Strategic Investments Law helped us bring to this country investments that otherwise would never have materialized.
Today, we no longer need a Strategic Investments Law because capital is already flowing into Albania and major investors are coming. In fact, they are not particularly interested in special incentives. Of course, they want legal protection and certainty, but we have no problem providing that.
As far as I understand, this is also part of the negotiation framework with the European Union, and we are already working on a new investment law together with the EU. Everything we do is based on EU standards, and that is very clear.
Albania may dream, imagine, or envision whatever it wants, and the government may have its own ambitions, but there is one guarantee for everyone: activities that harm the environment cannot take place because we must comply with European Union standards.
That is why I said that for years now, you no longer see developments or construction projects in Europe that damage the environment. Not because people want to carry them out and are prevented from doing so, but because this is an entirely new era of tourism. To remain competitive, it is clear that you cannot succeed by ignoring nature. It is impossible.
That is why I feel frustrated with those who fail to understand that bringing €4 billion in investment to Albania and creating something extraordinary—something whose very DNA is based on nature-oriented development—is a blessing for the country.
There are deadlines in place. The current law will cease to be in force, and a new law will be drafted. This has been planned for a long time. The end of 2027 has been set as the deadline, although it may happen sooner since work on the new law is already underway. The new legislation requires time because it must be reviewed by the European Commission.
If the law is ready this year, we will approve it this year. There is no question about that. However, this has nothing to do with what is happening in the streets or with the current controversy surrounding this issue.
This debate has gone completely off the rails. People are talking about things that do not exist and making claims that are simply false. We are continuing our work and will present the facts at a calmer moment.
We are currently working on what we call the ‘flamingo files,’ and we will show just how much deepfake content, misinformation, fabrication, and manipulation is being injected into the information circulating from certain sources and amplified by others,” Rama stated.
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