Statement of the Minister of Social Welfare and Youth, Blendi Klosi:

Hello!

I am pleased to take this opportunity and make clear to the Albanian citizens the approval of 4 very important decisions that are directly related to each pensioner in our country and to the social contribution scheme, a major commitment of our government to end the chaos in social care institutions we inherited from the previous government.

The most important decision of the Council of Ministers in this regard is that on pensions increase:

The Council of Ministers approved today the decision to increase pensions based on the price index. Pensions will increase by 1.6%, and the pension increase will apply to all categories of pensioners. The pension increase is 1.6% higher than a year ago, when pensions increased by only 1.3%, and it is higher than this year price inflation which was 1.2%.

In addition, I want to emphasize that this year the pension increase has been done for the first time calculated according to the prices of the specific basket of goods and services for retirees. This allowed us to make a pension increase even higher than the inflation prices of the basket for the rest of the citizens.

Pension increase implements our promise for attention to this category, towards which we feel compelled to continually make improvements in the scheme.

I want to emphasize also that our philosophy of increased pension is totally different from that of our predecessors, who led to the bankruptcy of the social contributions scheme because they made no analysis and openly violated the law.

Unlike our political opponents who, having no responsibility, treated pensions as if they were electoral political decisions, our approach is completely different. Our decisions on pensions make a balance between the growth of pensions and a guaranteed sustainability of the social contributions scheme.

The decision we took today on pension increase will apply from 1 August 2016. The financial impact of the implementation of this draft, from August 1 this year until the end of the year, are expected to be 662 million ALL, and they will be borne by the funds allocated for the pension increase in the state budget of this year, hence in the second half of this year. This is a result of the excellent performance of the new pension system in our country.

The beneficiaries of the pension increase provided for in this draft will be 635 thousand pensioners, 461 thousand of which in the city and 142 thousand in rural areas.

The early retirement supplementary pensions of the former servicemen, policemen and employees of the Guard, of the State Information Service, Prisons Police, Fire Protection and the Service of employees of Internal Control of the Republic of Albania, as well as special treatments of former underground workers, military industry, former pilots, former servicemen and those of our country’s submarines amount to 32 thousand.

Even after applying the index, in addition to income from pensions, the pensioner will continue to receive additional income provided with special decisions of the Council of Ministers. In addition to the decision to increase pensions, the government passed today also some other decisions with regard to this scheme.

The Council of Ministers approved the decision to equalize the additional amount of special state pensions. The decision does justice to a range of distinguished personalities of art, culture, sports, science, who retired in different years with decisions on special pensions.

These pensions were not equal because treatments with special pensions have been different in different years. For this reason, these prominent names in these fields, to whom we all pay a special respect and honour for the contribution they have given, will receive equal pensions.

With this decision, we avoid such injustice because financial treatment is based on the additional allocation of the special state pension. 286 personalities, who currently receive a retirement or family pension, and have contributed in the aforementioned fields, are expected to benefit based on this decision.

The financial effects of this decision start from 1 August this year, and the fund for them is completely covered by the state budget. These pensions also will be indexed at the rate of 1.6%, as all other pensions.

The Council of Ministers also adopted two other decisions with an aim at improving the criteria, rules and procedures for pension benefit. Adjustments are made for these categories, and the old pension scheme is being deleted every day from the list of obstacles and problems created due to the neglect that the previous government showed with regard to this state pyramid.

In addition to these decisions, we are reviewing other decisions to end once and for all the chaos created in the social contributions scheme. We will end the injustice, unequal treatment, bureaucracy, delays and suffering of the Albanian citizens who have contributed over the years.

A voluminous, titanic and updated work is being done to fix any injustice created over the years, to any group, large or small, with the only aim: give everyone what they deserve, according to their contribution, and provide service to every citizen quickly, without delays and without hindrances, so that everybody will get what they deserve.

Thank you!