When almost a year has passed since the approval of the "Mountain Package" that aims to return the capital of the Diaspora and not only, as an investment in the Albanian mountains, the balance still remains on paper. Municipalities have moved at a slow pace in relation to the declaration of priority areas, leaving the government dissatisfied, which has set a condition of 1000 targeted investments. So far, only 13 municipalities have declared these areas.
In 2024, the government began to roll out for the first time what it dubbed the “Mountain Package,” an initiative that aimed not only to turn attention to the country’s rural areas through investment, but also to be an incentive for the return of those who had emigrated. This open invitation at the height of informal “seasonal” migration, but also formal migration to the EU, aimed to bring back to their roots those who would like to invest their savings in their homeland.
Almost more than a year after the conception of the "Mountain Package" in meetings and then its marketing as an initiative that would return the land of the ancestors to the heirs who invested, in practice we are still left on paper.
The process of preparing the legal framework, which also provided for incentive measures, was finalized at the beginning of last year. Even today, it is the Municipalities that have taken the most time to finalize the priority areas where the projects part of this package will be implemented.
Such a delay has recently been criticized by the Prime Minister, who in a meeting with mayors underlined that if they do not move quickly and concretely finalize the investments planned in this package, they will not be re-elected.
But what specifically happened with the "Mountain Package" and which are the areas declared priority?
Almost a year after the initiative, not all municipalities have declared priority areas
The "Mountain Package" came into effect in April last year and from that moment on, municipalities across the country were asked to prepare priority areas where potential investments could be developed.
The Minister of State for Local Government, Ervin Demo, in a recent meeting with mayors, said that interest in this package was high and there were about 80 concrete expressions of interest. Mr. Demo would consider the “Mountain Package” a strategic instrument for the development of rural and mountainous areas, the return of investments and the creation of sustainable local economies.
According to him, last year around 4,800 expressions of interest were registered for the “Mountain Package”. “After a detailed analysis in four municipalities (Shkodër, Shijak, Elbasan, Përmet) for the declared priority areas, 80 concrete expressions of interest were identified, which can be followed up with formal applications to the respective municipalities.
"According to the legal framework and ordinances in force, municipalities have the responsibility to follow all steps for the approval of these applications in priority areas," the minister would underline.
According to the legal framework, municipalities must, through analyses with staff, declare priority areas in their territory, which will be able to benefit from the facilities provided by this package.
The government has previously clarified that the law does not solve the issue of ownership, which is dealt with in a completely different legal framework, but aims to facilitate the issuance of relevant permits and the development of concrete projects for all those who own property in one of the priority areas, through facilitating procedures and fulfilling a series of conditions.
The successful completion of the project that receives approval after relevant verifications by the institutions gives them the opportunity to finally be provided with a certificate of ownership.
A fiscal stimulus is also planned for a certain group of the first 500 investors of this package, with details expected to be provided in more detail in the accompanying bylaws of the package, which will be forthcoming.
Prime Minister, criticism of mayors, conditional re-nomination for the "Mountain Package"
The promotion of economic activity through new investments from the "Mountain Package" has been seen as an instrument to make municipalities more financially independent, linked to the transfers that the state budget often directs towards them. The slow progress in declaring priority areas brought criticism from the Prime Minister for the mayors.
The re-nomination of the mayors will also depend on the progress of this entire process, where the condition is the figure of 1 thousand investments.
"We had an exclusive meeting (meeting held in October 2025) for the Mountain Package. Today, as we speak, we are in conditions where not all municipalities have completed the first phase. It is unacceptable.
What should our objective be? When the Mountain Package was announced on its website, on the first day there were 700 or so applications from Albanians abroad.
It is a safe instrument to attract the savings of Albanians abroad and for Albanians to do a safe business, which brings them more income than any ordinary job in England, or in Greece, etc.
Now how is it possible that the first phase has not yet been completed in all municipalities? What is this science to determine the map where this development will take place? I have asked the director of the National Planning Agency to be available to each municipality for the maps, for whatever you need in terms of technical assistance.
"I have also asked Minister Demo to set a target for each municipality. Our ambition should be 1,000 investments from this package, which if you divide them into 60 municipalities, according to the potential, is not much," Rama would say.
The package offers tax exemption for the first 500 investors.
The first investors under the Mountains Package will have a number of fiscal incentives, which will be extended for a period of 10 years. This will apply to at least the first 500, while the rest will only benefit from the simplification of bureaucratic procedures. But what are the benefits in fact?
"Subjects that benefit from ownership of the surfaces under this law and that implement the project and exercise the activity declared by them, benefit for a period of 10 years:
"The facilities provided for in the first point may be benefited by no more than 500 entities that have obtained ownership under this law, in the relevant area. If there are more than 500 requests, priority will be given to those that were submitted earlier," it says on the special page of the Mountain Package.
What is the Mountain Package and how does it work?
In a brief explanation, the Minister of State for Local Government provides details on what the Mountain Package is, who benefits and how it works:
What is it?
An opportunity for citizens to invest in tourism, clean energy, livestock, etc., benefiting from financial incentives and land ownership.
Citizens who do not have land ownership documents, but:
• They have been using or owning the property for more than 10 years
• They can prove its continuous use through supporting evidence or documents (such as invoices, contracts, community-recognized statements, etc.);
• Those who have inherited it, received it as a gift or in other informal ways, but who are not yet the legal owners according to official documents.
What benefits?
10 years exemption from: ◦ Income Tax; ◦ VAT; ◦ Property Tax; ◦ Infrastructure Impact Tax • Opportunity to acquire land ownership for only €1.
Express your interest in investing on the paketaemaleve.gov.al portal or on e-Albania. Locate the location of the property you own on the map and fill in the required fields: – the relevant region and municipality;
– time of possession;
– a brief description of the investment. Benefit from land and fiscal benefits, while the ownership certificate is obtained after the investment is completed. /Monitor.al
