Erion Veliaj

Veliaj was one of the earliest activists of MJAFT!, a civic organization created in 2003 aimed at protesting social and political injustices in Albania. He soon became one of the central figures of MJAFT! due to his many TV appearances. Veliaj was involved with MJAFT! until November 2007. Mjaft organization showed the controversial Muhammad cartoons on its pages when Veliaj was a leader of it.[8]

In 2008, Erion Veliaj and a few other activists from MJAFT! created G99 (Group 99), a center-left political party.[9] While initially unaligned, G99 ended up joining other political parties of the center-left coalition in the 2009 Parliamentary Election. Erion Veliaj ran as G99's leading candidate for the district of Tirana. Despite the media attention, Erion Veliaj and G99 only earned 0.86% of the vote, failing to win a seat in the Parliament. In 2011, Veliaj leaves G99 and joins the Socialist Party of Albania.

In the Socialist Party, Veliaj was nominated to serve as Secretary for Youth and Emigration.[10] In 2013, he was nominated as a candidate for MP representing the district of Gjirokastër.[11] The center-left coalition of political parties won the 2013 Parliamentary Election and Veliaj was appointed to serve as Minister of Social Welfare and Youth in Edi Rama's new cabinet.[12] He resigned in 2015 due to him being nominated as SPA's candidate for Mayor of Tirana. Veliaj was elected Mayor of Tirana with 53.58% of the vote, defeating Democratic Party's candidate, Halim Kosova and the independent candidate, Gjergj Bojaxhi.

The issue of urban air pollution is a growing concern in Tirana, and the role of the car can be controversial.[13] In September 2015, Tirana organized its first vehicle-free day. In January 2017 the new Skanderbeg Square was inaugurated by Veliaj and the Prime Minister.[14] In July 2017 the Municipality of Tiranë voted to raise the water tariff significantly, Veliaj promoted this action by arguing that it would eventually make drinking water available 24 hours a day, and help improve its access and quality.[15] During his term as Mayor, he has earned the nickname ‘Lali Eri’, which can be translated as Dude Eri.

• Reja (the cloud), a project from Sou Fujimoto;[16]
• Plastic bags reduction project;[17]
• Skanderbeg Square - featured also as one of the installations at the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial;[18]
• Pazari i Ri, in an urban renewal project, the "New Bazaar" neighbourhood was rebuilt.[19]

Ardit Gjoklaj, a 17-year-old boy died on 7 August 2016 working in very poor conditions in the landfill of Sharrë. His death became controversial because the company that managed the landfill of Sharrë, "3R" was promoted publicly by Erion Veliaj himself as having good working conditions. The judicial process surrounding the case was also very controversial.[20]

On November 27, 2018, in a televised speech to the City Council, Mr. Veliaj reacted to the developing story about a police officer who lost her fingers in clashes with protesters in Tirana, by saying "We are all men here. Would any of us have eyes to marry someone with no fingers?"[21]

In a 2011 email to EU representatives, Mr. Veliaj briefed them on what he claimed was a politically motivated kidnapping of Kavaja's mayor's wife, Griselda Roshi, which allegedly led to a forced abortion. He related the kidnapping to the fact that Elvis Roshi had been able to flip a district such as Kavaja that traditionally voted for the DPA.[22] The story was debunked after Ms. Roshi revealed to Albanian authorities that she had made up her kidnapping and was not pregnant.[23][24][25] In a 2011 meeting on human rights in Albania, MEP Tanja Fajon used this debunked story as an illustrative example. She later apologized and claimed Mr. Veliaj never updated her on this story.[26] This controversy has raised serious concerns over Mr. Veliaj's using of fake news and personal connections to influence high-ranked EU officials.[27]

After attending the annual UN Bridge for Cities 4.0 Conference, the Tirana mayor claimed through social media post that an award was given to Tirana as "one of the 10 cities with the best economic performance”. The claim was verified afterward by a fact-check journalistic initiative called "Faktoje". The journalist of "Faktoje" asked the organizers of the conference if there was any UN award distributed to the mayor of Tirana. The organizers' reply clearified that the conference was held in the form of a roundtable, with no awards distributed to any mayor or city.[28]

On November 13, 2018, in his speech to the City Council, Erion Veliaj reacted to peaceful protests against his local government's decision to demolish some 317 houses without properly compensating residents, by calling the families protesting the forced eviction "people who don't belong to this city", "people who have no roots in this city", and "cavemen".[29] A large number of Tirana's residents, including a majority of families whose homes are set to be demolished, moved from rural parts of Northern Albania to the capital in the early 1990s. This segment of the population has faced continuous discrimination and prejudice.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and the opposition have accused the municipality of Tirana for lack of transparency, particularly for the way it raised fares for bus passengers and budget.[30]

Many in the civil society have accused him for favouring the construction oligarchy and that the General Urban Plan of Tirana he supported will destroy what little is left of Tirana's green spaces. His way of handling the protests against the playground in the Tirana Lake Park has also been criticised.[31][32]

Amidst the protests against the construction of a new theatre building in the historic National Theatre in Tirana, on 8 May 2020 the Albanian government transferred ownership of the land of the National Theatre to the Tirana Municipality through a special law. This law emphasized that the land must be used only for the construction of a new theatre building.[33]

After more than two years of consecutive protests for the protection of National theatre and after a dubious legal procedure, the building was demolished on Sunday 17 May 2020 by police bulldozers with heavy police presence [34] at 4:30 in the morning. This action which was took place during the emergency state in Albania due to Coronavirus pandemic.[35]

This decision drew the widespread condemnation from several local activists, opposition political parties, artists and international organisations against the Municipality of Tirana and the Albanian government. Europa Nostra called the demolition of the theatre as illegal and against the rule of law. The Delegation of European Union in Albania voiced their concern regarding the lack of dialogue between the authorities and societies before the demolition took place.[36] In neighbouring Kosovo, ten theatres cancelled their performances in protest of the demolition.[37]