Albania Socialists Step Back From Media Laws Showdown

Albania Prime Minister Edi Rama speaking in parliament on 30 January. Photo: Malton Dibra/LSA

The head of the Socialist parliamentary group, Taulant Balla, said the vote would be postponed while the Council of Venice, the advisory body to the Council of Europe, carried out an express evaluation.

"The Venice Commission had notified us that it has agreed to check [the laws] using fast-track procedures on 21 March. The vote on the decree of over audiovisual media will be postponed while we wait for the Venice Commission report," he said.

A group of Albanian human rights organisations welcomed the decision but said it was insufficient, as it was "not enough of a step toward the return [the country to its] constitutional foundations".

Prime Minister Edi Rama first proposed the laws in December 2018, claiming the country needed to discipline the online media, which were allegedly out of control.

Following a yearlong battle and several revisions, parliament adopted the laws last December despite strong protests from local and international media organisations.

President Ilir Meta then stepped in and used his powers to block them. Socialist MPs had appeared poised to overturn his veto by a vote in parliament.

On Thursday, Article19, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, ECPMF, and the European Federation of Journalists, EFJ, all issued final appeals against the laws.

"Our message to Albanian PM Edi Rama: Don't go ahead with these shameful censorship laws in parliament today," Ricardo Gutiérrez, General Secretary of EFJ, said on Twitter.

Following the decision to scrap the vote, the ECPMF welcomed the withdrawal, calling it "a small victory".