Speech of Prime Minister Edi Rama at a meeting with veterans of the Anti-fascist National Liberation War, on the occasion of 29 November

 

Honourable Speaker of the Assembly!

Very honoured and beloved veterans and relatives of the martyrs’ families!

Dear MPs, and ministers!

Yesterday we celebrated the memorable Independence Day of Albania. I had the privilege to be in Berlin with German Chancellor, a visionary woman who holds today the wheel of a united Europe while leading a country that is a friend and a strategic ally of Albania, and a woman who is a dearest friend of the Albanians.

Chance would have it, and it was a very particular emotion, Angela Merkel wished the Albanians in my presence on the day of our national flag. It was also a very special motivation to be extended on such a memorable day her direct public congratulations on the progress made by our country in the recent years, and also to find once again Germany’s firm support for Albania. We will have to wait for mid-December in order to hear the last word regarding the European Commission’s positive recommendation for the opening of negotiations for Albania’s EU membership. But today I can tell you that I am sure that Germany will be completely on our side. I don’t think that there could be a more appropriate day in the aftermath of such an important meeting with Chancellor Merkel, than this November 29 commemorating the liberation of the homeland, to comment on a meeting of such importance.

Angela Merkel spoke yesterday unequivocally and publicly on the progress of these years, saying these words: “today we can say that Albania has changed dramatically over the recent years, and very important reforms have been made. These reforms, – she continued, – must continue, and the EC, which follows the ongoing developments in Albania, has also acknowledged this progress in its last report.”

As I get to know now better the Chancellor and her tone increasingly restrained, let me share with all of you the heartfelt congratulations that she expressly addressed to me on these steps made forward. I’d like to share them with Ilir Meta, the co-leader of the coalition in the first place, without whom our deep and difficult reforms would have been impossible; with another coalition partner, whose role also has been key in the key moments of the legislative process, especially in terms of Justice Reform and of the Territorial Administrative Reform; with members of the government coalition who have worked as a compact team in these 3 and something years, without distinction of party and parliamentary groups, and have supported and improved every important project of our government in the Assembly of Albania. And last but not least, with the Albanian citizens without any doubt, who are a precious source of great energy of this government and my primary motivation in carrying out this high duty.

Quite frankly I would like to share also with the opposition the congratulations of Chancellor Angela Merkel on what she called, and I quote: “Radical changes of recent years”. But unfortunately I cannot. Not because the opposition does not know November 29 although it has never fired a single shot, neither because of the lack of generosity, but because I cannot pretend that I don’t see and I don’t hear, not just what the opposition does in parliament every Thursday, or in platforms and stands every day. This part, no matter how painful and often impossible to swallow due to the very low ethical and moral level, could be accepted with a great generosity. But it is impossible for me to pretend that I don’t see and I don’t listen what the Democratic Party has done and keeps constantly doing to ruin the image of Albania in the eyes and ears of our international friends and partners, by trying persistently to hinder, block our country on the path of negotiations, with any sort of slander in order to persuade Brussels and whoever it can among the EU member countries, that this country is Colombia, that the government of this country is a drug cartel, that the majority of the Albanian parliament is a criminal hideout, and that Albania is a pit of all evil from where everybody wants to escape.

Above all, I cannot share with the Democratic Party the congratulations of the German Chancellor because now it is clear that it is neither Brussels, nor Germany, or France or the Netherlands, or any other member state, but it is simply our opposition that has raised a wall that prevents today Albania from having the immediate opening of negotiations, because this party has blocked the implementation of the Vetting law.

Now “we must continue naturally and together along this path, in these important milestones”, Chancellor Merkel said yesterday. “This, – she continued, – includes, inter alia, the continued implementation of the judicial reform”. We all know that for the European Commission this implementation starts with the enforcement of the Vetting law without which no negotiations with the EU can be launched.

Therefore I want to call on this November 29 on all average members and voters of the Democratic Party, who are in their legitimate right not to want to be governed by us, to put pressure on the leadership and those MPs of the opposition who are part of the choice to raise that wall, in order to remove the wall that have raised in front of Albania, thus blocking the fulfilment of the only condition for opening negotiations, the enforcement of the Vetting law. This is unacceptable because it is not against us, but against Albania, against the future of every community, every family and every average people of this country. That is why when it comes to this law that guarantees for the palace of justice to be cleaned of corrupt judges and prosecutors, Albania should be one, united. Albanians should get together, socialists and democrats, Gege, Toske and Chams, here in Albania or wherever they live regardless of religion, region or ideas.

If it is impossible for a handful of people gathered under the roof of the DP headquarters to join Albania and demolish the wall behind which the corrupt kidnappers of the justice system hide, it is not only possible, but also a patriotic obligation for all, for every MP, member or voter of that party that should not fear a new, fair and equal justice for all, from those who are at the top to those who are at the base of the pyramid of our democratic system.

I am proud today, for to be honest I have always wanted to get a positive recommendation for the opening of negotiations within this mandate, but also considering from where we started, it seemed quite an uphill climb to reach the top in less than 4 years.

“I believe that we can say in general that now the most important part has been done”, the German Chancellor said yesterday, and added that “whoever looks at the conflicts of domestic policy in Albania, they know that it takes a lost of strength and courage to move forward on this path.”

This is very true, as it is equally true that – just as the Chancellor announced herself at the end of her very synthetic pronunciation in yesterday’s press conference – later we talked in detail about how Germany could help to ensure that progress can be mastered successfully on this path.

The conversation that followed was open and intense, with many details about the problems and how to approach them. Of course, there was no need for us to hear yesterday from the Chancellor to be fully aware that while waiting for the Vetting to be unblocked and the cleaning of the justice system of corrupt judges and prosecutors starts concretely, we must continue to make progress in the implementation of 5 key priorities agreed with the European Commission. This has been clear to us since the first day of our government. We said this clearly also on the day when the last progress repost was published. The fight against organized crime has given, obviously, results that couldn’t even be imagined up to three years ago, and which were received as an expression of clear progress also in the report of the Commission.

However, for us in the first place, but certainly for the Commission and the European Union, these results are far from being sufficient. Of course, we are glad that the Commission and all of Albania’s sincere friends and partners have assessed with very positive remarks the progress made on the modernization of the State Police, and the results achieved in the fight against drug trafficking at this stage of the process. I haven’t heard the word “cannabis” any single time, either in Brussels or in Berlin, and in any other meeting with my counterparts or higher European or American representatives. But undoubtedly I know, all of us know very well, and we are the first to know that in this fight the best is yet to be done. Also, the best is yet to be done also in the fight against corruption, which means reforms and modernization.

But neither these issues which, as the Chancellor underlined, are permanent in the working agenda, nor the coming elections are conditions to launch negotiations, but just criteria of the democratic development on the path of EU membership.

Therefore the “cat and mouse” game played by the Democratic Party and the media, its portals and channels of public contamination for alleged provisos for the process, is simply part of the old game of that party to disorient the Albanian public with endless lies and manipulations of the truth and of the facts. Today, on this blessed day of the liberation of our homeland, which coincides with the fourth November 29 for me as Prime Minister, I am even more confident, even more determined, even more motivated than I was on 29 November 2013, that this coalition can make, we are making and will actually make Albania a dignified state among EU states.

Today, economy is no longer in a serious gridlock like it was on 29 November 2013, but is increasing steadily, although this is not enough.

Today, public finances are not in a deep crisis, as they were on that November 29, and public debt is not having a threatening increase, but it has started to decrease, although this is not enough.

Today, the purchasing power of Albanians in not anymore half paralysed, but it is booming step by step, although this is not enough.

Today, taxes on income from salaries or business are no longer a loop around the neck of those who earn less, but the lesser you earn, the lesser you pay, although this is not enough.

After we transferred 140 million dollars in three years from the state budget to the budgets of employees in the state or in the private sector, through tax cuts, today, with the new draft budget we are ready to transfer another $ 100 million from the state budget to the budget of pensioners and families of our employees through the largest increase of wages and pensions in a single budget year during these 25 years, although it certainly is not enough.

Today, we are no longer threatened by the energy and financial collapse as we were on November 29, 2013, but are able to invest every year more than we did in over 20 years taken together to restore our downgraded electrical power network, although this is not enough.

Today we are no longer threatened by the widespread criminality, and mocked due to the corruption of police officers on every corner and at every step, but we have a State Police that is strengthened morally and professionally every day, although this is not enough.

Today we are not threatened by the destruction of the next generation because of textbooks out of any standard, and because of illiterate teachers or teachers who don’t teach according to their profile, but we have students learning from textbooks of the highest European standards, and teachers who get the job based on their diploma and merit, although this not enough. Today we are not threatened by the educational degeneration of our society due to degrees that are purchased in quintals like leek in the wholesale market, but we have a system of higher education that has started to move on the tracks of competition and merit, although this is not enough.

Today, we ate not continuing anymore on the path of a frightening future without crafts, but after more than 20 years we have reopened the path of quality vocational education, although this is not enough.

Today we are not in a place where drugs are more expensive than in the country of origin, or where hospitals have no medicines, no sheets or blankets, but we have a government that fights every day, among 1001 deficiencies and difficulties generated by a 20 and some year decay, in order to improve healthcare service little by little, every day, although this is not enough.

Today we do not just sit back and watch the monuments of cultural heritage being demolished and dissolved in front of our eyes, but we are continuously saving them and have kept an entire inventory of our cultural treasures, although this is not enough.

Today we are no longer threatened by deforestation, but we have them all under our protection and are renewing them, little by little, in every new sowing season, although this is not enough.

Today we are not a place where you can build without permission anywhere you want and then get flooded by the river along with your home, or be without the legalization permit your whole life, but we have stopped illegal constructions and are moving towards the figure of 100,000 legalizations by the end of this year, although this is still not enough!

Today, we are not wasting public money anymore to transform the agricultural budget into electoral crumbles, but we are investing so that farm family can go from alimony to entrepreneurship, although this is not enough.

After we got a country where cities were turned into dormitories and parking lots without any free public spaces and social environments, we are returning to communities their cities with a massive operation that has started from the city centres and which will be extended step by step further to the outskirts of the new rural municipalities, although this is still not enough.

I could go on further, much further, because the list of the things that we have done is long, but no matter how long it is, it is not enough.

What I believe is enough right now is the fact that under the leadership of this governing coalition, Albania is taking a historical turn. Today we are no longer a parable without national and European identity in the region and in Europe, but we are a country with a dynamic foreign policy that does not negotiate national interest and the dignity of the country and of the Albanians wherever they are, and the framework of values and principles the democratic European family where we belong with our heart, mind and attitude, even though we are not members of the European Union.

I believe, dear and beloved friends here present, that you share with me the view that everything we have done since 29 November 2013 when we climbed on this sacred hill for the first time, as a new ruling force for Albania, and until today, the last 29 November of this first term of government, is enough to hold our head up, in honour of the heroes and martyrs of the National Liberation War.

Of course, we’ve made our mistakes. We are certainly not perfect and have many things to improve, but also there is no doubt that there is one thing we have never done during this time of great responsibility for our homeland; we have never betrayed Albania and its citizens in our decision-making or our attitudes. And as long as the people entrust us this great responsibility, we will lead the country with the will to improve continuously, with the awareness that we need to become more modest every day in the line of duty, and accept the inherent errors in a daily voluminous work, and above all with the determination to never betray our people, the wonderful people of this country for the freedom of which those whom we honour today with infinite gratitude gave their lives.

Happy 29 November, the Liberation Day of the Homeland!

Eternal glory to the heroes and martyrs of the National Liberation War!

My best wishes to all the veterans and families of the martyrs!

May you be healthy and successful!

Many thanks!