Prime Minister Edi Rama’s New Year’s message:
We are coming to the end of 2020 and like no other year in our lifetime; we are spending and celebrating the year-end holidays at home.
Neither the Christmas Eve midnight mass, nor the midnight firework display in the packed squares of our cities was held this time.
This was toughest year we have experienced as residents of this country and as citizens of this world. For us, the advent of the Invisible Enemy immediately after the catastrophic earthquake a year ago was an almost non-digestible bite.
Loss of lives, serious injuries suffered one after another, couplet with an extremely tremendous psychological distress and pressure over every Albanian family and our big family; grandfathers and grandmothers seeing their lives under threat, children hampered from their daily normal life, young boys and girl denied of the opportunity for their normal education, parents prevented from going to work due to stay at home order, with thousands upon thousands of them losing their jobs for months on…
This year represented most significant challenges and I am proud of for all of you, ordinary people of this country, just like I am extremely proud primarily of the frontline medical workers, because thanks to you and thanks to them we resisted, withstood, fought and we are succeeding in the efforts to emerge even stronger from this war, so unique in the history of our life.
We withstood and held out against the savage blow from the earthquake, while the destroyed school buildings are now being reborn, not only incomparably more beautiful and much safer, but also providing new spaces for contemporary education with one-shift classes only at last after decades, and allowing for expansion of sports and extracurricular activities in the school premises, not only for students, but also for the community. Also, the houses of the families left homeless by the tragedy a year ago are being built back more beautiful and resilient day to day.
Underprivileged families in the suburb and rural areas were the worst-hit ones and there could be no greater pleasure and pride for me than opening the doors of new homes and seeing families moving into their new houses, hundred percent funded by our government, which demonstrated its strong social and solidarity character in this year of great resistance to two consecutive blows. The work goes on every day and all night long, thanks to 25,000 workers and hundreds of Albanian companies, working as a single body, until the last house door is opened for the quake-affected families.
In the meantime, our effort in the fight against the Invisible Enemy now continues day to day to secure the vaccine against it and start the immunisation process early next year based on the strategic plan designed by the relevant health authorities, whereby as everywhere in the world, we will start with the high-risk groups, health care workers, then teachers, police officers as well as the elderly. The vaccine will be offered for free and will not be mandatory.
However, this fight is not expected to end before the end of next year and of course the immunisation process will have tremendous impact on the effort to put an end to it. In the meantime, we will fully support through the basis packages all those being treated at home, while the families on state benefit will receive double monthly payment.
The New Year will be the first in which a zero profit tax rate will be imposed on 110,000 small businesses, of which 46,000 will also be exempted from having to pay VAT. Like nowhere in the region! The healthcare professionals will see their wages increase by 40% and teachers by 15% starting this month. Not only health professionals, but Albanian teachers too most deserve our gratitude and respect for their self-sacrificing work in such a difficult year. We are proud of them!
This year has taken its toll on economy and jobs across the world, just like it has strained the health systems all over the world. But just imagine for a moment if the two extra severe shocks, in addition to the inherited problems and daily troubles, were to hit us 7 years ago or were to find us like 7 years ago! It would have been quite impossible to manage either the impact of the earthquake or heal the scourge of the pandemic. But we are coping with all of them thanks to the new foundations we have built, both in the economy and the healthcare system. And, even in this challenging year, we have moved forward with road, health, school infrastructure and the growth of smallholder businesses, which in November numbered 2965 more than in January before the pandemic outbreak, as well as with the raise of minimum wage, which from January will be 300,000 lek.
Brothers and sisters, I know it very well that we have an uphill and bumpy road to go and we have a lot of work to do. But believe me, thanks to our character and the strength of our unity, we have left the worst behind and the best days lie ahead of us!
Happy New Year friends and may this new one be a better year for you and your families and may this new decade that is about to start be the best decade of our history, for Albania and for the Albanians!
God bless the Albanians wherever they are, God bless Albania!
