Debt of 302 million dollars from the USA/ Why was the agreement kept secret? What does the law provide?

The Albanian Parliament approved yesterday with 74 votes in favor, only from the socialist majority, the 302 million dollar loan agreement with the United States of America for the modernization of the Armed Forces.

What sparked debate was the way the document was made available to MPs. 

The agreement was treated as a confidential document and the deputies were not given a copy to take with them. According to the procedure followed in the Assembly, they were invited to familiarize themselves with its contents in a special environment, only after signing the confidentiality declaration.

This practice was opposed by the opposition, which demanded that MPs be able to review the agreement before voting, as they argued they could not vote on an agreement without first being familiar with its contents. 

So, the question naturally arises as to what makes this agreement confidential and to what extent does the law allow for limiting access?

What does the law say about “confidential” information?
Law No. 10/2023 “On Classified Information” stipulates that classified information is not simply a document that an institution decides to label “confidential.” The law also stipulates where the classification level and its retention period are determined.

Albanian legislation recognizes four levels: “ Top Secret”, “Secret”, “Confidential” and “Restricted”. The “Confidential” level is applied when unauthorized exposure of information could cause harm to national security.

In the case of the agreement with the US, the fact that it is related to the defense and modernization of the Armed Forces may be one of the elements that requires information protection.

The law includes in the categories that may be subject to classification information on defense plans, the capacities of the Armed Forces, their equipment and modernization, as well as documents containing classified information in procurements in the field of defense and security.

But this does not automatically mean that this entire defense financing deal must be classified. 

The law requires that classification be related to the interest of national security and also stipulates that classification cannot be used to conceal the failure to implement laws, administrative errors, or to delay the provision of information that does not require protection for reasons of national security.

This is where one of the main questions about the $302 million deal lies: is the entire agreement classified or just parts of it?

Who classified the agreement?
The law stipulates that the classification authorities are the institutions and heads of departments that have received the right to classification, while the Prime Minister and the President are direct classification authorities. For heads of other institutions, this right is obtained with authorization from the Prime Minister.

For this reason, one of the pieces of information that needs to be made clear in the case of the agreement with the US is who decided the classification, at what level it was made, and when this decision was made.

Why was it brought to Parliament urgently?
According to the opposition, the agreement was approved in principle by the Council of Ministers on June 19, 2026, giving the government about five weeks to forward it to Parliament for ratification.

It was precisely for this reason that the opposition explained that there was no urgency that justified approving the agreement within the same day.

The government and the socialist majority, on the other hand, argued that the funding is important for strengthening defense capacities and fulfilling Albania's commitments to NATO.

The debate also escalated over parliamentary procedure. The opposition referred to Article 83 of the Constitution, which stipulates that the Assembly may review and approve a draft law through an expedited procedure, but not earlier than one week from the start of the review procedure.

In this specific case, the opposition requested that the agreement be reviewed and voted on at a later session, after MPs had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the text.

The law also allows for partial declassification.
Another important element is that the law does not only recognize complete declassification.

It also provides for partial declassification, which means that some information can be removed from the classification regime while the rest remains protected.

So, the law also provides for the possibility of declassification when publication is dictated by more important state interests than the need to keep the information classified.

Therefore, for a loan of 302 million dollars, citizens have the right to know what the money will be used for, what the terms of the agreement are, and what obligations Albania assumes.

Therefore, the government and the Parliament should clarify which parts are confidential and why the rest cannot be made public. /Politiko.al/