Signature collection is now under way for the citizen-led, non-partisan referendum seeking the repeal of Law No. 21/2024, as ADCN calls for sustained public, civic and European attention to a process at the intersection of environmental protection, rule of law and democratic participation.
On 20 August 2026, Albania’s Central Election Commission approved the official signature sheet for the referendum initiative seeking the repeal of Law No. 21/2024. Albanian citizens are now being asked to provide the 50,000 signatures required under Article 150 of the Constitution for the initiative to advance.
Law No. 21/2024 amended Albania’s existing protected-areas framework under Law No. 81/2017. The referendum concerns those 2024 amendments specifically — not Albania’s underlying protected-areas legislation.
This is therefore more than an administrative stage. It is a live exercise in direct democracy, public participation and environmental governance, and an opportunity for civil society, environmental organisations and European partners to follow, support and scrutinise a constitutional process with implications for Albania’s protected areas and its wider European path.
From protest to constitutional action
Law No. 21/2024 changed the rules governing Albania’s protected areas, introducing “tourism of excellence” and widening the legal basis for tourism and related development within protected territories. The issue is therefore larger than any single project: it concerns how much protection protected status actually provides, who has the power to weaken it, and in whose interest those decisions are made.
Vjosa–Narta brought those questions into public view when development pressure on this internationally important wetland helped ignite the Flamingo Revolution — a sustained civic mobilisation that began with the defence of one landscape and grew into a broader demand for accountability, justice and the right of citizens to challenge decisions taken over public land and the country’s natural inheritance. The Bern Convention and the European Parliament’s ENVI Committee have since scrutinised development pressures affecting the area. Vjosa–Narta became the symbol; Law No. 21/2024 revealed the national stakes.
The concerns now reach beyond environmental policy: the European Parliament, in its 2026 assessment of Albania, has raised wider concerns over high-level corruption, weak oversight, transparency, meaningful civil-society consultation and corruption risks — including in concessions, licensing, construction and spatial planning — while also calling for incompatible changes to protected-areas legislation to be reversed. The issue is therefore one of nature, rule of law and democratic accountability.
This is more than a signature threshold. After months of protest, citizens are carrying their resistance into the Constitution itself — asking not only whether Law No. 21/2024 should stand, but whether the right to direct democracy can still serve as a meaningful check when political institutions fail to act.
The formal initiative places a legal responsibility and moral commitment on the 12 citizen initiators; the referendum itself belongs to the Albanian people.
The Albanian Diaspora Civic Network (ADCN) supports the process through research, public information, civic education, volunteer coordination and international outreach.
European and civil-society engagement
At this stage, international attention can make a practical difference: by giving visibility to the signature campaign, supporting transparent public participation and independent scrutiny, connecting the initiative with environmental, democracy and rule-of-law networks, and engaging directly with the citizen initiators and the Albanian people.
Nature is not for sale. It is protected and passed on.
Contact: team@albaniandiasporacivicnetwork.com
Selected official sources
- Constitution of the Republic of Albania, Articles 150–152
- Law No. 21/2024, Official Publications Centre of Albania
- European Commission, Albania Report 2025
- Bern Convention Bureau, Meeting Report, 17–18 June 2026
- European Parliament ENVI Committee, Exchange of Views on Environmental Protection in Albania, 14 July 2026
- European Parliament, Resolution on the 2025 Commission Report on Albania, 17 June 2026
- Central Election Commission of Albania, approval of the standard referendum signature sheet, 20 August 2026