Council of Ministers (Albania)

Council of Ministers
Këshilli i Ministrave
150px
Overview
Established	4 December 1912
State	Republic of Albania
Appointed by	President of the Republic
Main organ	Council of Ministers
Ministries	15
Responsible to	Parliament of Albania
Headquarters	Dëshmorët e Kombit Boulevard 7, 1010 Tirana, Albania
Website	kryeministria.al

The Council of Ministers (Albanian: Këshilli i Ministrave) is the executive branch that constitutes the Government of Albania. The Council is led by the Prime Minister of Albania. The prime minister is nominated by the President from among those candidates, who enjoy majority support in the Parliament; the candidate is then chosen by the Parliament. In the absence of the prime minister, the Deputy Prime Minister takes over his functions. There are 19 other government members, serving as deputy prime ministers, government ministers or both; they are chosen by the prime minister and confirmed by the Parliament.

As of April 2017, after a reshuffle, 50% of the cabinet ministers are women. The Parliament of Albania must give final approval of the composition of the cabinet. The Cabinet is responsible for carrying out both foreign and domestic policies. It directs and controls the activities of the ministries and other state bodies.

Overview

Rank

Council members are subdivided into three substantial ranks, along with one honorary rank:

• Prime Minister,
• Deputy Prime Minister,
• Ministers, which are the highest-ranking members of the Government
• Deputy Ministers, that assist ministers in specialized areas of their portfolio and
• General Secretaries (Sekretari i Përgjithshëm) that assist ministers in less important areas and occasionally attend sessions of the Council of Ministers.

Role

The Council is responsible to the Parliament of Albania. The Parliament may choose to pass a motion of censure forcing the Council of Ministers to resign. This has the effect of forcing the Government to be composed of members from the majority political party in the Assembly or to be allied to the majority in a coalition. Ministers are required to answer written or oral questions put to them by members of Parliament, known as Government questions. In addition, ministers attend sessions of the Parliament when laws concerning their assigned sectors and departmental portfolios are under consideration.

Cabinet ministers cannot propose legislation without parliamentary approval. Ministers can however propose bills to Parliament and any such legislation is generally very likely to pass. On occasion, the majority opinion in Parliament may differ significantly from those of the executive, resulting in a large number of riders.

The Cabinet plays a major role in determining the agenda of the Parliament. It can propose laws and amendments during parliamentary sessions. It also has a number of procedures at its disposal to expedite parliamentary deliberations.

History

With the unilateral declaration of Albania's Independence on 28 November 1912 by the Ottoman Empire, one of the first governing bodies to emerge from the All-Albanian Congress was the formation of the Provisional Government and the Council of Ministers as the highest executive body in the country. However, the government did not last long due to its non-recognition by some of the Great Powers of the time. On 29 July 1913, Austria-Hungary, France, Great Britain, and Italy, together with Greece and Romania as interested parties, agreed to adopt the Organic Statute of Albania (Statuti Organik i Shqipërisë) which would serve as the first constitution of the new state created. The statute sanctioned since in the 1st Article that Albania was a constitutional, sovereign, and hereditary Principality under the guarantee of the six Great Powers. Its formal adoption took place in Vlorë on 14 January 1914. On 22 January 1914, Ismail Qemali, one of the founders of the Albanian state and head of the Provisional Government, was forced to resign and hand it over to the International Control Commission (Komisioni Ndërkombëtar i Kontrollit të Kufinjve) which would serve as the highest executive body until the appointment of the monarch from the Great Powers and his arrival in Albania.

The Statute in Chapter V entitled § Government Bodies sanctioned the central government institutions, as well as their competencies and duties. Article 72 states: The Albanian Government consists of a Council of Ministers headed by a Prime Minister. While in the next article it described the composition of the council, where there are a total of 4 ministries, which are: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Finances and the Ministry of Justice, while the Prime Minister simultaneously exercised also the role of Minister of Foreign Affairs. The PM, as well as all ministers were appointed by the Prince, whose oath before taking office should be taken, as well as the handover of office after resignation. Although the statute sanctioned only 4 ministries, in the first government appointed by Prince Wilhelm, there were more departments than anticipated.

Incumbent Government

Main articles: Rama I Government, Rama II Government, and Rama III Government

Office	Portrait	Incumbent		Term started
75px Prime Minister		Edi Rama (born 1964) 85px	PS	15 September 2013 (2013-09-15) 13 September 2017 (2017-09-13) 18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) ↓
95px Deputy Prime Minister		Belinda Balluku (born 1973) 25px	PS	25 July 2022 (2022-07-25) ↓
85px Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs	75px	Olta Xhaçka (born 1979) 65px	PS	4 January 2021 (2021-01-04) 18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) ↓
85px Minister of Defence	75px	Niko Peleshi (born 1970) 65px	PS	18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) ↓
85px Minister of Internal Affairs		Bledar Çuçi (born 1970) 65px	PS	18 December 2020 (2020-12-18) 18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) ↓
85px Minister of Finances and Economy		Delina Ibrahimaj (born 1983) 65px	PS	18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) ↓
100px Minister of Infrastructure and Energy		Belinda Balluku (born 1973) 65px	PS	17 January 2019 (2019-01-17) 18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) ↓
85px Minister of Education, Sports and Youth	File:Evis Kushi.jpg 75x75px	Evis Kushi (born 1975) 35px	PS	15 September 2020 (2020-09-15) 18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) ↓
110px Minister of Justice	75px	Ulsi Manja (born 1973) 55px	PS	18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) ↓
110px Minister of Culture		Elva Margariti (born 1980) 65px	PS	17 January 2019 (2019-01-17) 18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) ↓
85px Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development		Frida Krifca (born 1978) 55px	PS	18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) ↓
85px Minister of Health and Social Protection	75px	Ogerta Manastirliu (born 1980) 65px	PS	13 September 2017 (2017-09-13) 18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) ↓
85px Minister of State for Relations with Parliament		Elisa Spiropali (born 1983) 65px	PS	17 January 2019 (2019-01-17) 18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) ↓
90px Minister of Tourism and Environment	75px	Mirela Kumbaro (born 1966) 40px	PS	18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) ↓
70px Minister of State for Youth and Children		Bora Muzhaqi (born 1990) 65px	PS	18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) ↓
85px Minister of State for Standards and Services	75px	Milva Ekonomi (born 1962) 45px	PS	18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) ↓
80px Minister of State for Entrepreneurs		Edona Bilali (born 1989) 65px	PS	18 September 2021 (2021-09-18) ↓

Governments of Albania (1912–present)

No.	Government	Mandate		Days
1st	Provisional Government	4 December 1912	22 January 1914
–	International Control Commission	22 January 1914	17 March 1914
2nd	Përmeti I Government	17 March 1914	3 September 1914
3rd	Toptani Government	5 October 1914	27 January 1916
–	vacant	23 January 1916	30 October 1918
4th	Government of Durrës	25 December 1918	29 January 1920
5th	Delvina Government	30 January 1920	14 November 1920
6th	Vrioni I Government	19 November 1920	1 July 1921
7th	Vrioni II Government	11 July 1921	11 October 1921
8th	Sacred Union Government	16 October 1921	6 December 1921
9th	Koculi Government	6 December 1921	6 December 1921
10th	Prishtina Government	7 December 1921	12 December 1921
11th	Kosturi Government	12 December 1921	24 December 1921
12th	Ypi Government	24 December 1921	2 December 1922
13th	Zogu I Government	2 December 1922	25 February 1924
14th	Vërlaci I Government	3 March 1924	27 May 1924
15th	Vrioni III Government	30 May 1924	10 June 1924
16th	Noli Government	16 June 1924	24 December 1924
17th	Zogu II Government	6 January 1925	31 January 1925
18th	Zogu III Government	1 February 1925	23 September 1925
19th	Zogu IV Government	28 September 1925	10 February 1927
20th	Zogu V Government	12 February 1927	20 October 1927
21st	Zogu VI Government	24 October 1927	10 May 1928
22nd	Zogu VII Government	11 May 1928	1 September 1928
23rd	Kotta I Government	5 September 1928	5 March 1930
24th	Evangjeli II Government	6 March 1930	11 April 1931
25th	Evangjeli III Government	20 April 1931	7 December 1932
26th	Evangjeli IV Government	11 January 1933	16 October 1935
27th	Frashëri Government	21 October 1935	7 November 1936
28th	Kotta II Government	9 November 1936	7 April 1939
–	Interim Administrative Committee	8 April 1939	12 April 1939
29th	Vërlaci II Government	12 April 1939	3 December 1941
30th	Merlika-Kruja Government	3 December 1941	4 January 1943
31st	Libohova I Government	18 January 1943	11 February 1943
32nd	Bushati Government	12 February 1943	28 April 1943
33rd	Libohova II Government	11 May 1943	12 September 1943
–	Interim Executive Committee	14 September 1943	4 November 1943
34th	Mitrovica Government	5 November 1943	16 June 1944
35th	Dine Government	18 July 1944	28 August 1944
36th	Biçaku Government	6 September 1944	25 October 1944
37th	Democratic Government of Albania	23 October 1944	21 March 1946
38th	Hoxha II Government	22 March 1946	4 July 1950
39th	Hoxha III Government	5 July 1950	19 July 1954
40th	Shehu I Government	20 July 1954	21 June 1958
41st	Shehu II Government	22 June 1958	16 July 1962
42nd	Shehu III Government	17 July 1962	13 September 1966
43rd	Shehu IV Government	14 September 1966	18 November 1970
44th	Shehu V Government	19 November 1970	28 October 1974
45th	Shehu VI Government	28 October 1974	26 December 1978
46th	Shehu VII Government	27 December 1978	18 December 1981
47th	Çarçani I Government	15 January 1982	23 November 1982
48th	Çarçani II Government	23 November 1982	19 February 1987
49th	Çarçani III Government	20 February 1987	21 February 1991
50th	Nano I Government	22 February 1991	11 May 1991
51st	Nano II Government	11 May 1991	12 June 1991
52nd	Government of Stability	12 June 1991	6 December 1991
53rd	Technical Government	18 December 1991	13 April 1992
54th	Meksi I Government	13 April 1992	10 July 1996
55th	Meksi II Government	11 July 1996	1 March 1997
56th	Government of National Reconciliation	12 March 1997	24 July 1997
57th	Nano III Government	25 July 1997	28 September 1998
58th	Majko I Government	2 October 1998	25 October 1999
59th	Meta I Government	28 October 1999	6 September 2001
60th	Meta II Government	6 September 2001	29 January 2002
61st	Majko II Government	22 February 2002	25 July 2002
62nd	Nano IV Government	29 July 2002	10 September 2005
63rd	Berisha I Government	11 September 2005	17 September 2009
64th	Berisha II Government	17 September 2009	15 September 2013
65th	Rama I Government	17 September 2013	13 September 2017
66th	Rama II Government	13 September 2017	18 September 2021
67th	Rama III Government	18 September 2021	Incumbent

See also

• Politics of Albania
• Prime Minister of Albania