Statement to the Members of the Tirana Municipal Council

Honorable Mayor and members of the Municipal Council,

I have been informed by the media that, on September 23, 2025, a meeting of the Tirana Municipal Council will be held, with the aim of approving the proposal addressed to the Council of Ministers for my dismissal from the position of Mayor, with the justification of my absence from duty for over three months.

I want to clearly emphasize that this absence is not a consequence of my will, but the result of a disproportionate security measure and that will be challenged in every judicial instance, up to the European Court of Human Rights.

This measure has not only isolated citizen Erion Veliaj, but has paralyzed the governance of the capital, leaving over 1 million citizens of Tirana without elected leaders. The judicial system, in the absence of full responsibility for the power and consequences of its decisions, did not take into account that the security measure had to balance the public interest of the criminal investigation with the equally major interest of guaranteeing local government. This is the real reason that has produced today's political, institutional and constitutional crisis. Its cause is neither the Chairman of the Socialist Party, nor the Socialist Party, nor you councilors, but a judicial decision-making that has unjustly interrupted a constitutional mandate. Any attempt to hide this truth does not serve the solution, but diverts it.

Absence imposed by a precautionary measure, not by a final decision of guilt, is neither a voluntary absence nor a serious constitutional violation, but a blatant violation of the principle of democratic representation and a dangerous precedent for local government.

I understand your concern to seek a political solution. But I cannot understand that this crisis, caused by the court and where the “victim” is the local self-government, should be “solved” with another violation of the Constitution by the local government itself. Such a decision would replace the will of 160 thousand voters, who have spoken politically, with a legally unjustified act, creating a dangerous precedent for local democracy.

I have said it and I repeat it, and I want you to believe me as you have all these years: it is not about my personal interest. The mandate is not mine, but of the citizens of Tirana, who for the third time have given me the honor of my life by entrusting me with the leadership of the city. The mandate has not protected me, on the contrary, it is the reason why I am isolated today, but it obliges me to defend the four-year contract that the citizens have signed with their vote. I have the obligation to defend every drop of sweat that we have shed together to earn that trust.

The Mayor of Tirana is a constitutional body that has the right and the Tirana Municipal Council has the obligation to respect due process in every decision it makes. For these reasons and in respect of the constitutional principle of due process and the right to be heard, I request to be present and heard at the meeting of the Municipal Council, to provide the necessary clarifications before the decision is made on the proposal for my dismissal.