The continued modernization of Albania’s public administration – an indispensable and ongoing continuous process, closely related to the country’s European Union (EU) integration process – remains one of the government’s top priorities, as a key tool to improve the quality of services to citizens and business and as a condition for the integration processes.
An expanded meeting took place today to take stock of main accomplishments of the public administration over the years, as well as to highlight the need for embarking on a new stage of energizing and professionalism to significantly boost Albania’s performance by strengthening good governance, rule of law and anticorruption.
The event was organized by the Minister of State for the Public Administration and Anti-Corruption, Adea Pirdeni, and was attended by public administration employees and executives at all levels.
Prime Minister Edi Rama, who was part of this special format, said in his remarks that “today there are reasons to be confident that Albania can count on this public administration and it can deliver on joining the European Union faster than other countries in the region.”
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Prime Minister Edi Rama: Hello everyone! I am convinced each and every one of you are now wondering: “Why are we here?” in this format, which is actually the first of its kind. And the answer is pretty simple: because we have already embarked on a different stage along our path to become full-fledged members of the European community. You are now in a different phase of an absolutely historic effort, because ultimately joining the EU itself is historical, because this way Albania will be confirmed as democratic state, a state with strong institutions that fully guarantee everyone’s freedom and rights, as a decent state for the future generations.
Albania has never before had the opportunity it has today and Albania has never before been able to be the country with the state granting all the citizens the rights the opportunity to coexist in a safe rule of law, to be governed well and to enjoy freedom of merit-based competition.
Albania enjoys today not only this theoretical opportunity, which has been theoretically granted to the country since it set about on this path towards freedom and seeking to join the European family, but Albania has today real, practical, concrete opportunities within sight of everyone, because the horizon of the eventual unification with the European family is no longer just a dream, it is no longer an illusion or just an ambition, but it is a tangible reality.
And the reason why you are here today is that the public administration is irreplaceable, inalienable and a critical factor to deliver EU integration and other national priorities. Albania’s EU accession speed will solely depend on commitment and performance of the public administration. Most importantly, commitment of the public administration will determine the quality of democratic life of the institutions, quality of the state functioning, as well as the quality of the guarantees for every individual in this country.
I would like to tell you all and I don’t exaggerate it if I were to ask you all to see yourself as players of the national team and despite the fact this is a very big team, despite the fact that this team faces no opponent in the eyes of the entire Albanian nation, despite the fact that this team thankfully does not all dress the same on this occasion, each and every one of you carries today exactly why are part of this team, being part of the public administration, the same mission carried by every player of our national team. But unlike our national football team that makes the whole Albania smile for one night when winning a game, this national team won’t win neither one nor several football matches or would qualify for the European or world championship, this national team will win the future of Albania.
And this is not rhetoric. This is a fact!
The truth is that in this historical context and in this great effort Albania should make as part of all steps along the European Union membership process, being part of the administration is not simply being in what is historically called it will always be called a public mission for the administration, but it means being part of a historical, national mission that happens once in a lifetime.
Certainly, being in office, we bear the burden and the responsibility to commit much more to the well-being and state of mind of the public administration.
I can of course comment on the fact that we have already delivered and we have increased wages and a fresh pay rise will enter into force this year. However, it is not about wages only, since there are many other aspects that must definitely come together to guarantee this well-being, so that the administration and every employee in the administration is all the more motivated to do the job properly.
The so-called screening process in Brussels has clearly shown that Albania’s public administration is rich in precious human assets and resources.
I was initially sceptical about the EU-funded SIGMA mission, which ranked Albania first in the region for the human capital of its public administration in 2021. I was sceptical about it, thinking we ranked first among the worst countries. But this was not the case! The process in Brussels showed that it was an objective assessment and that our administration is an incredible asset that has an extraordinary potential.
We will focus on the EU membership process without considering anything, without taking into consideration what those friends sitting there told us, without taking into consideration all the speculations, because we should believe that this is in our hands and that we will be ready to join the EU faster than the EU becomes ready for us. This way we will build a country working just like any EU member state.
In order for my speech not to last longer, I would like to conclude by saying that it is our goal to build a new climate in every space of the public administration, because when you break a record – and we actually broke a record with the successful completion of screening process and with the beginning of a new phase of the EU accession negotiations – a day later you should mobilize new strength within your inner self to move further forward.
You must know for sure that this world belongs to those who dare, this world belongs to those who resist, this world belongs to those who instead of finding excuses and reasons to complain and blame others, they waste no time by resorting to neither find excuses nor reasons to blame others but move forward to achieve their goals and after every blow, after every failure they find no reason to give up, but instead find more reasons to persistently move forward and achieve what they have in mind.
Thank you!
