Press release of Minister of Social Welfare and Youth Erion Veliaj, following the meeting of the Council of Ministers:
As you know, a new pension scheme starts on 1 January. It is a simple and fair scheme that will be implemented for the first time in Albania.
It is simple and fair because, as we say, it gives to Cesar what belongs to Cesar. This means that the working years of everyone are multiplied with the average salary they have received their entire life, in order to have the percentage of the pension that everyone will receive when old.
You know that, although the schemes starts January 1st, it has already produced results because the Institute of Social Insurances has already 40 thousand additional people, whether employed or declared as such who come from illegal employment and who will become part of this scheme of social insurances.
The good news is also that for next year our pension scheme and pension fund will receive fewer subsidies by the state budget.
There are 30 million dollars less which as a result of the formula, of the reform, of the new scheme, of the increased number of contributors, will not be subsidized by the state budget. The money we will save from the first year, for an amount of 30 million dollars, is equal to the amount needed to build 15 schools or two hospitals. Despite these positive effects, although the new scheme is not effective yet, we are preparing some other packages on pensions.
You know very well that the committees completed their work yesterday, and tomorrow the Parliament will adopt the law on pensions for miners.
3820 miners will benefit immediately, mainly in areas and districts of Albania where there are mines. Tirana is the leading city, followed by Bulqize, the whole district of Diber and some other districts of Albania.
The scheme for miners immediately lowers their retirement age by 5 years, while raises pensions twice for some and three times for others, compared to the special treatment they receive today
However, a very important part of the scheme and the soundness of the pension scheme are pensions in villages. The scheme now has 290 thousand insured in the village declared as self-employed in the agricultural sector.
The Council of Ministers is about to bring to Parliament a draft law, which writes off arrears and fines on pensions and unpaid social security for 290 thousand Albanian citizens residing in the village.
I want to inform you that this is the last amnesty, because the new law will be into force starting from January 1st and there will be no amnesty, and the new formula will be applied correctly.
In order to understand the obligations we are talking about, I want to let you know that from 1994 until 2001 only 15 dollars were paid to ensure 1 year of pension.
This means that to pay for social insurances for the years 1994-2001 in total, only 120 dollars are needed to be paid to ensure approximately 8 years of pension.
With this, I am saying that if among these 290 thousand Albanian citizens declared as self-employed, there are some who want to pay off arrears for the years they didn’t pay social insurances because of immigration or because of their business in the village, this is the perfect time.
December 31 is the deadline to pay without interest, without any penalty and at a low cost all the years of retirement, or the uninsured gaps, as the only way to have a dignified retirement, the same as the city’s pension with the new formula, starting next year.
I also want to inform that all Albanian immigrants will benefit from this amnesty, this last chance to buy retirement years without any additional charges, no fine and arrears.
This is done deliberately in the end of the year, given that immigrants come to visit Albania for the holidays. It is also a way to encourage bilateral agreements on the recognition of years and their pension contributions.
This means that for pension or agreements that we expect to sign this year with Canada, a country outside the EU, with Macedonia, a country in the region, with Hungary and Romania that are EU member states, as we did with Luxembourg and Belgium, are in favor of immigrants – we have just begun discussions with Italy and Greece – to ensure that they maximize their working years in Albania, buying social security arrears without any additional cost to fines and arrears.
From January 1, since the new law enters into force, this new formula that will provide higher pensions and make the scheme more sound, reducing the subsidy by the State, recover financially this scheme, we will not have any legal chance for doing an amnesty of this nature.
This means that after January 1 fines and arrears will be applied for every unpaid social security of the previous years.
This means that if somebody doesn’t pay today the unpaid obligations of the years 1994-2001 or from 2001 to 2014 at a very lower cost compared to those in the city, they will have to pay them starting from 2015 at the price of 2015 and in 2016 at the price of 2016.
Therefore I would like very much that we could use this two months until December 31 to make citizens aware, to make aware those who benefit directly from the scheme in the village, and make aware immigrants of this last opportunity, an excellent opportunity to pay all arrears to make sure that no Albanian citizen will be left without a worthy pension in Albania, that all immigrant will have counted every year of contributions paid in Albania at the modest prices that this bill enables.
