Prime Minister Edi Rama’s remarks at public meeting as part of “The Municipality We Want” national campaign in Berat:

Hello everyone!

Thank you very much for this exceptional reception!

We are here today as part of a series of public meetings across the country. “The Municipality We Want” is the name we call this series of meetings.

Through such meetings we want to share several simple truths with the people, telling them at the same time why we think it is crucially important to motivate as many people as possible, so that in the upcoming June elections we succeed not in wining against them …, whom I don’t know what to call…however our battle is not fought against them. We have always won and will keep winning every battle against them, as this is the easiest part, but our battle goes on against the problems and troubles concerning the citizens and the unhealed wounds of a long and painful past, we are combating unemployment, poverty, corruption, and those who continue to be in state offices, although they are not worthy of delivering service to citizens.

What we have already done for Berat over the past four years speak for itself, as the city has changed a lot and will go through more changes, because a lot remains to be done.

There is still a lot to be done, especially in Berat’s rural area, where wonderful hardworking people get by with producing, exporting and even doubling agricultural exports thanks to the government support over the past few years, yet they still face problems that need to be addressed and require further government support.

Here in Berat, we have succeeded in making local resident look to the future after creating an atmosphere and a space that sees a constantly growing number of tourists. Indeed, the number of small enterprises has grown significantly, just like it is the case of the new guesthouses to tap nature and cultural heritage potential in order to improve household economy.

This area has tremendous potential to further develop not only agriculture, but also agritourism and transform countryside homes or build guesthouses and small hotels and rural tourism facilities. To this end, the government has adopted policies to give a fresh impetus to agritourism sector and clear the way for everyone who wish to invest in their private homes, or in their ancestors’ countryside homes and turn them into profit-making instruments and lucrative businesses. This is completely possible. It’s not something we’ve been dreaming about, but it’s something that others have already done much earlier than us. Agritourism is the best way to overcome rural poverty right where mass agricultural practices and conditions for agricultural exports are not present.

I believe that the early agritourism examples speak for themselves. I believe that agritourism sector represents the best investment opportunity for every immigrant to return back home and invest their savings in their private houses. It has been calculated that such an investment income generated by an agritourism business is much higher than the annual income someone would earn while working abroad.

We are well aware of the needs to improve the education or health infrastructure conditions here. We have already launched a major investment to build 300 healthcare centres across the country. You might have come across such centres that represent important models of a fundamental transformation. The old health centres are not adequate as they fail to provide decent health services to people although their committed and hardworking health personnel try to do their best. The health centres’ transformation is one of the government’s top priorities during this term in office and the work is already underway. Some 80 new health centres were built last year, while 100 other centres will be constructed this year and a total of 300 will be built by end of this term in office.

The country’s economy has been put on the right track, although it is never enough when it comes to the economy and it can never be enough if we were to compare ourselves to others. It’s a bit, but one thing is for sure, we’re on the right track. It is not enough, yet for sure that more small enterprises are operational today and government has levied a minimum profit tax rate of 0 to 5 percent on the small enterprises.

The need to further increase private sector workers’ salaries, especially improving wages for the lower wage workers, remains a serious problem, but this can be done only by further growing investment and economy.

Not far from here, we expect conclusions of a colossal investment from oil and gas company SHELL in Shpirag. The initial data are promising ones and a final result will emerge following the final test, which means that if the final test confirms what previous tests have already confirmed, then a major discovery with a great impact on the national economy will be made and such a discovery will provide for around one billion euros worth of investments each year. It will certainly boost employment in the area and will bring more expertise and know-how in this sector, as many young people will be trained to work in that sector and above all provide fresh opportunities through a significant injection in the country’s economy.

The unemployment, although the unemployment rate has dropped to the lowest level in past 27 years, it still remains a serious problem especially for the university graduates, who, because of the chaotic education policies over the years, remain jobless or fail to work in the sector they are trained for.

Throughout this period of time and at this crossroads, where many things have changed and many have yet to change, a number of problems have been solved, many other remain to be resolved and when Albania is very close to finally opening the accession negotiations with the EU, we face an absurd political situation with those who have been elected to represent the people in the Parliament and do their job and the role of the opposition towards the government, but instead they have decided to abandon their duty and take to the streets, prompting violence and calling for government change through violence.

These are things Albania has seen in the past and has experienced many years ago. Things that seemed would never come back and it seemed that the necessary maturity had been finally reached so that no madness of such proportions is no longer a behavioural pattern, but unfortunately, once again, those who represent the Democratic Party and the smaller opposition parties are acting in full contradiction to the country’s interests and contrary to the logical sense of democratic life.

One thing is for sure. Government is the only thing to escape unscathed from such methods. The government will be not affected at all. Quite the contrary! If it were for the government and the parliamentary majority, we could have chosen to shun such a discussion and decline to mention such threats, but a lot of important things are affected.

Most importantly, Albania is badly affected.

Albania is affected, because it is seen by the world as a country where one should not go to invest, as a country that should not be visited and consequently this affects every family and individual residing here in Berat, because, should there be a smaller number of visitors, then less money is spent and less income is generated by the local small business and owners of guesthouses, who would therefore give up plans to invest more.

Everyone’s economy is directly affected. The Berat residents and other citizens from all over the country who decide to follow the crowd are in their own right to dislike the government and not to vote the Socialist Party as a ruling majority, yet they are just hurting their own selves. Because it is not wise at all to close the shop and follow the crowd. By doing so they are conveying to international tourists not to visit Albania and the city of Berat.

But is not about the foreign visitors only, but about Albanian families that would opt to consume less at a time of uncertainty, anxiety, calls for violence and destruction. You may ask retailers in Tirana what they might tell you about their sales following the famous 16 February protest. Consumption fell because people tend to consume less and wait and see how this situation is going to end.

There is no chance that the situation hurts the ruling majority in even the slightest degree. This must be clear. There is absolutely no way for that to happen. Yet it will affect the economy of each individual and household. I have already told and I will tell once more a very simple example; A florist in Tirana I know for many years, told me it was the bouquet of flowers she was selling after 16th of February. Normally, people tend to save more and spend less in a situation of ambiguity and uncertainty, and they start to avoid buying flowers and other luxury goods and bit by bit they give up buying other consumer goods.

Who will likely win in such a situation?

The common citizens of this country are the ones to lose in such a situation, those who have started to see the light over the past few years. This light is still far away, yet it is a light, since the opportunities for trade, business and tourism are growing.

When talk about tourism data, we mean large groups of consumers who help the country’s consumption and economy to grow. When we talk about growth in tourist numbers, this is all translated into thousands of new jobs created during the tourism season. No new jobs are created should tourists decide not to visit the country. When we talk about the increase in the number of tourists visiting the country, it implies a growing volume of positive messages that are sent all over the world for others to visit Albania next year. But such situation and such attacks delay things and shove away the opportunities that are being now provided.

On the other hand, who would ever accept that lawmakers resign from their parliamentary mandates, claiming they are doing so in order to join the common citizens and become one of them.

This is unacceptable and there is no international partner to accept it.

Is this a joke!

Voters have elected you to represent them in the parliament and not to abandon your duty, claiming “I want to become one of the folks,” i.e. take to the streets without caring about what happens to Albania, although nobody hears your voice.

However, to all of those who have been worried and have written to us, urging us not to give up and not to step down, I would like to simply tell them this is not a question of what we want, but a matter of which is our duty.

Our duty is to remain loyal to the contract we have with the majority of Albanians who gave us the mandate to govern the country until 2021.

There is something else too. Why are they doing so? Can you tell me what are they going to do in Berat in June elections? Will they unite together? Will they come here? Then what? They will just hand over the Municipality of Berat and remember what I am saying now. They are going to hand over the municipalities of Berat, Kuçova and Skrapar. All three. They will hand over them peacefully. They might say “we won’t take part in the local elections.” I think they will, but what is the problem if they don’t? We are with people and the people are with us.

Apart from the elections, there is something else worrying them. They are worried because new justice bodies they sought to hamper since the very first day are being created.

We cherish no negative feelings towards anyone and I am sincerely sorry about both Monika and Lulzim and those poor ones who follow them.

Have you seen them? Have you seen them on TV when appearing in press conferences. They have gone completely pale. Look at them when appearing on TV, saying “we are going to fight.” This is all I have to say about them. To conclude, I would like to reiterate nobody should think that we and I personally are satisfied with what we have already done and we feel good about how are things going. The truth is that we have done a lot and no one can deny it, but many things are not going well and one of the things not going well is what has been one of our solemn commitments.

I recall that Berat was one of the most aggressive districts in terms of benefits of sharing power. The state offices still fail to deliver public services to citizens. The local administration still includes parasites and predators, people who unjustly and undeservedly receive government wage and still harass ordinary citizens. However, we haven’t sit back and do nothing. I believe the public service delivery has improved compared to what it was just few years ago, although the public service delivery still lags far behind our ambitions and that’s why we have built a mechanism to help whoever asks but is denied a public service.

We have built the real co-governance mechanism with every common citizen having just to access the Albania We Want platform and the relevant cabinet member and the whole government will side with him.

I have asked the co-governance platform team to provide some examples and I would like to invite them to share their experience with the platform.

– Thank you very much Mr. Prime Minister for finding a way to address the citizens’ problems! I was overbilled by the power distribution operator. I filed complaints with the company for more than three months but failing to address the matter. Then I accessed the Albania we Want platform and my problem was tackled in three days only. Thank you very much and keep strong because you are really on the right track.

PM Edi Rama: It’s quite simple. Overbilling is unfair, yet this is the case. If we were not willing to show attention to his plight and no such a mechanism was built, then no response was to be provided to this citizen from Ura Vajgurore, just like it is the case of dozens of thousands of other citizens across the country.

Today, it is definitely wrong that consumers are overbilled, yet such a thing happens. But every citizen facing such problems should no longer waste time and instead just open the smart phone, download the application and access to the co-governance platform and his case will be then immediately taken over by the relevant minister. It is the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure that has tackled this case in collaboration with the co-governance platform team in three days only. Therefore, I would like to encourage each and every one of you not to hesitate whenever a public administration employee fails to deliver services and instantly address the platform in order to receive a final reply within 10 days.

– I am a retired man. I served in the army for over 31 years until I retired in 1992. In 1994 I reached the retirement age, but I was entitled a ridiculous pension payment. For years I wandered in vain, knocking on the social insurance institute and the Ministry of Defense doors, but nothing changed. One day, my son told me that the Prime Minister has launched a complaint office to handle the citizens’ concerns and we shall lodge a complaint with it. I didn’t hesitate, I sent the letter to the platform on January 25 and I received a confirmation shortly after, telling me that an official reply was to be provided in 10 days. The co-governance platform coordinators came to the social insurance institute three days later. I was drinking a coffee with my friends when someone told me that a team from the Prime Minister’s office was inspecting the social insurance office. I was deeply moved. The time has come when the Prime Minister himself cares to address various problems of the individuals. Not only I received full pension payment, but also the compensation payouts. I am now 80 and I had never counted 1 million. I would like to wholeheartedly thank you for the great job you are doing.

PM Edi Rama: There are many pensioners whose payments were found to be wrongly calculated and I am really sorry that there is a large number of retired people who still face such a problem. Yet I am very pleased that all pensioners are increasingly reporting their cases via the platform and their pension payments have been recalculated and they have also received compensation pay-outs for underpayments made by insurers errors over the years. This is what we have done. It is certainly not a miracle, yet it is something that adds another dimension to our government, that of a government by the people with the promise to co-govern with the people.

–I have accessed the co-governance platform about restoration of our old house built in 1800. Our case was solved through the platform’s help. I would also like to express appreciation to the reporters who visited our house yesterday. We were provided support to renovate the house and I want to thank the Minister of Culture and the regional Berat directorate. God bless you all!

– Welcome to Berat. I also face a problem regarding legalization of my family home since 2006. My son lodged a complaint with the platform and our problem was solved within a month. I would like to thank you all for this.

PM Edi Rama: Again, I would like to call on everyone that if you are denied the legalization permit, if your property is not registered by the Immovable Property Registration office employees, if you are overbilled, if there are pensioners whose payments are wrongly calculated, and if anyone of you is denied any public service you are entitled to, then don’t waste a single minute but access the platform Albania We Want  and if it happens that you don’t know how to access it then ask your children to do so.

You remember quite well that students took the streets in December to protest for some legitimate demands. We actually knew well the students’ plight, but their demands were not high on our agenda. Yet, on the other hand, their protest represented an opportunity to address their concerns and today the families of each student pay a 50% reduced tuition fee. The families of best performing students with grade point average 9 to 10 and families receiving welfare assistance now pay no tuition fee for their kids in university and their entitled to benefit a scholarship of 100 000 lek each month.

Moreover, we are already working and we are committed to press ahead with projects to renovate and reconstruct the university dormitories. We plan to intervene through projects to improve infrastructure of universities across the country. Earlier today, we visited the Agricultural University of Tirana, to which the government has allocated EUR 1 million to build the first didactic farm, a constant demand made by this university over the past 30 years to provide lecturers and students to carry out training and research program in this didactic farm, as well as to allow the university to sell the fresh produce grown in that farm and generate income. We also provided the best performing students to take up a job in the public administration and this was not included on the students’ demands list. An initial group of 373 students, based on their performance, have been already joined the public administration and a second call has been already launched for students with grade point average 9 to 10 to fill the vacant position in the public administration, putting an end to the era when the best performing students were discouraged thinking that no job position was to be granted to them, no matter how good he or she had been performing in the university, despite their high grade point average, unless they found the right influential individuals or the political party to help them. All these represent important steps, although there is still a long way to go, yet there is only one political force that has the power to lead Albania to the right destination and that is the Socialist Party of Albania. Thanking you all for this extraordinary hospitality, assuring you that no one can change the 2017 vote. I assure that we will return to Berat again and if almost 4 years ago I asked you give us confidence and we will do it for Berat more than it was done in 20 years combined, I pledge that we will do a lot more.

Now I’m telling you to prepare when the day comes as we will come back here during the election campaign, but when the election day comes, with mutual trust and support, we will do a lot more than we did over the past four years.

Thank you very much!