Albania’s ruling Socialist majority has unveiled its proposal for the Administrative-Territorial Reform 2.0, which would reduce the number of municipalities from 61 to 46 by merging 28 existing municipalities into 13 new administrative units.

According to the proposal, the reform is based on an assessment of the 2014 territorial reform and consultations conducted across the country. The government says the changes aim to strengthen the administrative, financial, and technical capacity of local governments, improve public services, and better align local governance with the requirements of Albania’s European Union integration process.

The draft also introduces a new local governance tier, the “City,” replacing the current “Municipality – Administrative Unit” model with a three-level structure: “Municipality – City – Administrative Unit.”

The proposal would affect municipalities with a combined population of approximately 225,000 people. Several municipalities—including Pustec, Finiq, Dropull, Tropojë, Has, Skrapar, and Konispol—would remain unchanged due to demographic, geographic, and identity-related considerations.

Under the proposed procedure, municipalities will have 60 days to review the draft, hold public consultations, and adopt official positions before submitting their opinions to Parliament for further consideration. The proposal has been presented solely by the Socialist majority after the opposition withdrew from the bipartisan parliamentary commission tasked with drafting the reform.