“National Consultation on Albania” is a comprehensive initiative, which has been launched for two months now, on issues of strategic importance for the country, economy and society. A growing number of citizens are expressing their opinion on the current challenges regarding the country’s cross-sectoral development, economy, justice system, social protection and democratic coexistence by filling a questionnaire delivered to the addresses of the Albanian citizens and already available on the government online portal.
Prime Minister Edi Rama today kicked off a cycle of conversations with the citizens on the National Consultation initiative with a meeting in the coastal city of Durres, with the government head noting “this is the first time an Albanian administration takes such a major step forward in reaching out people, by house-to-house sending a set of questions regarding a number of important decisions to be made in the course of this year.”
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First of all, my apology for not making it to this meeting on time, because of the congested road traffic and I generally prefer to respect the rules and share the traffic woes with everyone else. I apologize for being late.
Meanwhile, we have come together here at a time when Durres faces city mayor polls, but we decided to launch the cycle of meetings as part of the National Consultation initiative here in the coastal city.
It is a process you are definitely aware of or at least you have come across it, as it has been already launched for some time now with a questionnaire that has been sent house to house and I am sure you have also received one in your own houses.
The questionnaire is also available digitally on the government online platform to provide the opportunity to all of those living abroad who wish to answer and fill it, as we have sent a questionnaire only to every family, considering that it is much easier for the older adults to fill it physically rather than digitally, while others can do it via the web-based platform. In the meantime, given that such an initiative has been launched for the first time and taking into consideration the outcry provoked over the personal data, we made the questionnaire totally anonymous and this is the reason why we didn’t send one for each family member. So nameless envelopes have been distributed to every address and they are sent back namelessly, at no cost. So the opinions expressed by people are completely unidentifiable by anyone. However, what matters most is that everyone expresses their opinion and they are opinions rendered by the Albanian citizens for whom the National Consultation – I believe – is important and goes beyond their political affiliations, regardless of what party they vote for.
It is about a series of issues regarding government decision-making. This doesn’t mean they are issues we cannot resolve, and so we are trying to use a scheme to say: “Look, people think the way we think.” No, this is not the case. They are not issues –at least most of them – that require an overwhelming majority of votes in parliament and we lack such a majority, but they are issues concerning a number of decisions we bear the responsibility to make, we are given the opportunity to make, but we face some kind of a dilemma about them. Every decision-making comes with a dilemma, many times the decision-making can be very clear, but in certain cases the dilemmas can be very strong.
For example, I would consider an issue that is very important for a thousand reasons as it affects a large number of households and individuals, namely the issue of remittances and non-deposited savings of the Albanian emigrants. All the emigrants have had a difficult start, except a small number of lucky ones, and they have been all involved in unreported or illegal employment. They have all generated savings and have succeeded to send savings back home and they have amassed considerable amounts of cash money that they can’t deposit in banks of the countries they live in.
This is in no way about money generated by a criminal activity, because there is no way to formalize the cash proceeds from illegal activities. We are talking about profits in cash generated from work. Of course, there is a legal problem as it is about illicit employment and, because of all the filtration processes taking place when you transfer money to banks in Albania, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to justify thousands of dollars or euros generated from work.
This is a decision that has to be made and an inner urge to make it, but it is in the meantime a kind of decision that also comes with the inner contradictions and insecurity, as it is a decision that leads to fiscal amnesty laws on the citizens’ undeclared savings and emigrants in particular, but such legislation could also be exploited as a mechanism for money laundering activities.
However, this comes with risks.
On the other hand, there is also an objection or somehow a cold approach from the partner institutions who voice concern exactly about these risks. However, on the other hand, the mechanism of fiscal amnesty has been used by many countries. Neighbouring Italy has been using it regularly and the analysis we have conducted shows that such a mechanism is being used extensively. Therefore, we are thinking about deciding about it together with the Albanian citizens, who should express their opinion.
On the other hand, the digital green Covid certificate, which is another issue we have to make a decision about amid the ongoing pandemic conditions with each and every one of you and me wearing a face mask in this indoor hall and at a time when people are still dying because of the Covid-19 complications. The peak of the pandemic is over, yet the pandemic goes on. However, no risks are ruled out moreover at a time when many people refuse to receive vaccines. The vaccinated people are not immune to infection, just like everyone else, although they are better protected and fatalities among vaccinated people are extremely rare. However, a considerable part of people have yet to receive Covid vaccines.
A decision should be made about this issue too, although it is not the kind of the decisions we were forced to make at the start of the pandemic, when we had no other choice. And we want to ask citizens to express their opinion on this issue and their opinion will help us a lot.
The questionnaire also includes topics of social nature, namely about mothers with three or more kids, an issue about which an internal discussion is underway and a decision should be made during this stage; should we make a differentiation? Should we launch financial initiatives for them as raising three or more children is much more difficult?
It also includes questions about illicit or unreported unemployment, or more precisely about workers’ maltreatment and abuse by employers. This has been a problem since day one and we have raised this issue consistently. We have made a lot of efforts and progress to formalize the labour market; we have done a lot to save many people from illegal employment and this has certainly been part of the employment rate change in Albania from 400,000 plus employees in 2013 to over 600,000 now. I will not provide a precise number so that no controversies are caused with our political adversaries, who claim about a supposed increase in unemployment rate. This has been a part of our effort to save a large number of people from unreported employment and involve them in formalized employment.
There are still ongoing problems with the salaries in particular. We all saw it for ourselves, when personal data on wages were leaked, which was definitely not a good thing, but I have said that there is a positive side to every bad thing and the leak of such personal data will have its positive side and we are already seeing this positive side as the salary declarations show that the average monthly salary is actually 91,000 lek. And the average salary has not been increased, as it has been already there, but it is now formalized. Unreported employment and salary non-declaration rate is still high in Albania and it lowers the country’s ranking, but this is an aspect of relative importance, but the gravest damage it causes is that it lowers the social insurance contributions. In other words, it directly affects the pension payment rate of everyone and of those who are still young and are unable to realize that time flies.
The point is that people still lack courage to report, thinking they would lose their job if they do so. One of the variants we have been thinking about and a disputable decision is to be made whether the government should consider providing financial support for a certain period to all the people who report cases of abuse and who therefore lose their jobs. Why are we asking these questions? We are doing so because some of these decisions may exclude a certain part of the society and that’s why we want to draw the citizens’ opinion. I will not go over all the issues included in the questionnaire, as it includes topics on justice, foreign policy, but since I have taken notice of the citizens’ reactions on my website where data on number of people who have completed the questionnaire has been updated on daily basis, I will simply mention two or three aspects.
There are many wondering “why now”, as if the governing process has a beginning and an end, just like a new house that you start building and complete and that’s all. Governing process is a never ending process, no matter how long a certain administration remains in office and no matter how many other administrations succeed one another and the fact that we take such a step at the beginning of our third term in office, doesn’t mean we are belated, but it clearly shows we are really committed to improving the governing process, communication and relations with the public as much as possible, and create as much space and opportunities for inclusiveness and unification. Political divisions have lead to big and wide rifts in our society over the years and it is really a grave problem that the society is divided almost on everything, but this is actually a very deep division causing even sometimes disputes between neighbours, brothers and families with some supporting the Socialist Party and others the Democratic Party, while facing the same everyday life problems, namely the public services, the lack of investments, environmental pollution. These are all common daily problems we need to tackle.
Some even ask “why no referendums are held on these issues?” These are not issues to be put to public referendums, because they are issues concerning the government decision-making. Referendums can be held on issues like amendments to the Constitutions, but these are issues of government decision-making. Some others say: “why the questionnaire doesn’t include real problems?” And by real problems they mean whether they should pay this or that tax. First of all, this is an exercise we are doing for the very first time and the next year’s exercise will certainly be carried out by drawing lessons from this first time, after having learned from all the links and the citizens’ opinion, but it is for sure that no matter whatever the outcome, the questionnaire can’t include clear decisions about which there is no dilemma. If there is room for a tax to be reduced, the government would immediately do so, since there could be no government in the world to raise taxes on its will. Some others ask: “Why doesn’t the questionnaire include questions like how much should the government increase wages?” This is something we can’t include in the questionnaire, because if you were to ask me how much I would want your wages to increase, I would certainly like them to increase 10 times as much. However, can we approve such a pay hike? We certainly can’t. This is because if the wages were to be increased as high as one would wish and not based on the real opportunities, then it would have been easy for everyone. Why Italy, the world’s fifth economy, doesn’t increase monthly wages to 10,000 euros for everyone? Why doesn’t Germany increase salaries to 30,000 euros for everyone? Are they not willing to do so? They would absolutely wish to do it, but this is impossible. In other words, these issues are definitely the focus of every government. This is not a dilemma for anyone, neither for me, nor for any cabinet member, for anyone else whether salaries should be increased or not, and we have increased and will continue to increase them whenever possible. But to create the opportunity to do so we need to increase revenue and to increase revenue we need to work hard, create jobs through investment projects, collect more revenues in tax collections and not by increasing taxes, but by expanding the tax base, so that we can distribute more. If we lack the first we would be unable to deliver on the latter.
In order for this not to become a monologue, the last thing I would like to say is that I understand everything, but I really can’t grasp how one can say: “I don’t want the government to ask me and this is all a game…” This could be everything, but it is for sure that this is the first time a government in Albania is launching such an initiative and it constitutes a huge step towards the people, a step towards reaching out the people by sending a set of questions to every family so that everyone can express his or her opinion on a number of important decisions that the government will make this year and such decisions will also be reflected in the next year’s state budget if they come with certain financial effects. So, it is all about a number of government decisions and we are asking for the citizens’ opinion about them. We are doing so not because we lack the required number of votes, but we don’t want to make a choice of our own only, because we have our doubts. It is pretty simple. We have our doubts and therefore we want to draw up the opinion of as many citizens as possible and we want to have the opinion of a majority of people when we make these decisions. Given that this is about decisions affecting all the social categories, and given that everyone can express the opinion totally anonymously, we believe that all the citizens, and not only the Socialist Party supporters, will express their opinions freely.
These are all topics and issues concerning everyone and every citizen in their daily lives and being as such we want them to always be topics up for national consultation and we want to turn such a practice into an annual government practice so that we establish a closer communication with the citizens and we can bring them closer and unite with each other instead of dividing them along the political party lines. This is because it is impossible, practically impossible to do so when it comes to Parliament, all the more so as the situation has become more complex now, as something that nobody would have ever imagined previously has happened and the race has become more fierce, not in terms of arguments, but in terms of violating ethical norms, in the sense of transcending any kind of boundary, and in the sense of abandoning the terrain where people live and where people cope with their daily life problems. And no debates about their everyday woes take place, but instead they trade accusations.
I am very pleased that in spite of what is going on in that Parliamentary Committee, an opportunity has been at least created for those who want to hear and want to see that the truth is something completely different, but I will stop short about this and I look forward to going tomorrow and testify before that Committee. I would urge each and every one of you to watch the session on TV.
Thank you!
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– I am a dentist working two full-time jobs simultaneously. I have actually received the questionnaire, but I have yet to fill it.
PM Rama: You are not to be blamed for this, as you are working two jobs simultaneously and filling the questionnaire is a third job.
–I am also a mother of one child.
PM Rama: There is no urgency and everyone should take their time. It is not something urgent, but we expect the citizens to start submitting the filled questionnaires by March. Indeed, an incredibly high number of citizens have already provided answers to the 12 questions. Do you want to say anything else?
– No, I would not say anything else, I just promise to fill the questionnaire as soon as possible.
PM Rama: No, we are not here to gain your pledges. The number of citizens filling the questionnaire is much higher than we projected, and we will continue to wait for the rest of questionnaires to be submitted within March. So, you can take all the time.
–First of all, I would like to thank you for starting the cycle of meetings here in the city of Durres. Second and most importantly, thank you for including us…
PM Rama: I am a member of parliament representing Durres.
– Certainly. I wanted to thank you for reaching out to the citizens and making us part of the government decision-making process in the best interest of our communities. I have a question to ask. When I filled in the questionnaire, I doubted about question 10. You asked Albanian citizens whether judges and prosecutors who have yet to undergo the vetting process should be automatically removed from the justice system, because the rulings they have made clearly and blatantly violate the law. I doubt this, because the citizens have been very confident in the vetting process and justice reform. How are we supposed to agree on avoiding the vetting process and remove these judiciary members without undergoing a procedure, and without being subject to an investigation? That is my question.
PM Rama: Thank you! This issue actually affects a very sensitive nerve, as it is quite obvious that a growing number of citizens are becoming disappointed at the justice system. They feel upset and I understand it, because maybe when the reform was launched and the vetting process began, extremely high expectations were actually created and an idea that this would happen overnight. But in the meantime, it is about building the backbone of a democratic system and the backbone of a functioning state, respecting human rights and freedoms, in a country that has never had justice. A justice system was actually in place in the Ottoman empire too, though not a democratic justice system, but this was not the case in the remote parts of the empire. While, in our country there has never been a justice system that has a tradition of its own and that tradition works for the system we want to build. There was a justice system under communist regime too, while the countries we envy and the courts we envy in the European Union member states, in the Western Europe of course, because justice systems in other member states are newer, but they also had a part of their tradition of justice, they had courts to give justice, when we had no state at all. So, courts that did justice to individuals vis-à-vis their daily troubles and of course one should know we are not talking about justice systems in a democratic country. This would take its time. It is impossible to deliver on it just because I want it to be done that way. It is impossible to deliver just because we and everyone else want it that way, but it will take time. The vetting process is proving successful and is addressing an issue that has never been addressed before by removing the most corrupt individuals from the country’s justice system. It is far from being perfect, as mistakes can be made in the process. Mistakes are certainly made in the process, but the justice system is being overhauled and the majority of corrupt judges and prosecutors are being removed and a considerable number of them have yet to undergo the vetting process and many of them know quite well they won’t be able to successfully pass vetting. Whoever has committed crimes, although not caught, knows quite well their crimes. Whoever has abused the office of judge and prosecutor to amass wealth, they know quite well what to do and they don’t expect to pass through the vetting process successfully and therefore they are doing utmost to grab whatever they can until they undergo vetting and be excluded from the justice system. And we have witnessed a number of judges who have issued rulings that have shocked the public opinion. We all have witnessed such court rulings that have severely undermined confidence in new justice, precisely because people now no longer expect such problems to happen again, but that is not the case. However, the question we have written on this questionnaire is simple. It is not about removing them from the justice system without undergoing an investigation and the vetting process. The point is to ban them from serving as judges and prosecutors until the investigation completes, so having them suspended by the new justice bodies. I am talking about corrupt judges and prosecutors, who have constantly violated private and state-owned property rights, judges and prosecutors who violate human rights and inflict new wounds and cause old wounds to open. That’s why we have made such a question and the reason why we are asking for the citizens’ opinion is because this way we would strengthen our position. If an overwhelming majority of citizens think this way, it would be easier for us to convince our partners telling them this is not just our opinion. We have made such a decision in collaboration and by heeding the opinion of the citizens of this country, who have the absolute right to have their say on any decisions. And this is not an excuse for such a decision, but it is about involving everyone. The goal is to use politics to unite, because politics was not born for this, as we see it happen every day in Albania. What is it after all? It is the opportunity given to us as human beings to solve things together that we just cannot solve, it is as simple as that. A protest took place in the “5 Maj” neighbourhood, bringing together a considerable number of local residents initially. However, their number kept decreasing after they were told that it was not about evicting and demolishing their homes and all those possessing property ownership titles will be provided full compensation as owners, while those lacking property documents will be provided rental bonus and new housing or same floor area they lived in once the construction projects complete. Why are we doing all this? We have embarked on such a project not to provide opportunities for private construction companies to build apartment buildings. This is being done because the state will build a new residential complex designed to meet highest living standards and I am sure all the affected residents will regret why they are protesting now once the project is complete and they move into their new homes. Why am I recalling this? However, they gathered, because nobody would heed their plight individually. They formed a group of representatives and a part of them realized what it was all about and signed the due contract. The rest failed to understand and turned their protest into a political one. And I am not speculating whether they were encouraged by this or that. Therefore, the more we unite with each other in our efforts to deliver on a goal, the more opportunities we are provided to achieve that goal. This is the idea.
The National Consultation initiative is not something that came out of the blue, because we have clearly stated that citizens are our only allies since 2017. Whom to ally with? Don’t you see what is happening with the opposition? Have you heard Sali telling DP leader Lulzim Basha what we actually used to tell him or vice versa. In other words, both are telling the truth about each other now and this means we have been telling the truth about the two. It is as simple as that. Why should they be telling the truth about people now given that they have been both lying about each other over the years. Let them go on with their own business. Why should anyone trust them? They would say exactly the same thing against their mayoral candidates if they turn out to be different. So let them resolve their problems on their own, but keep them away from Durres. And I am addressing this message also to the opposition supporters and tell them this is not a vote neither for me, nor for the government, this is a vote for the mayor and the new city council and as such it is a very simple choice to make. The city of Durrës needs a lot of work to be done and work is actually underway on a project to rehabilitate the whole Durres beach to transform the entire area as part of the immense transformation project we plan to deliver on Durres port through state budget funds. Work is also underway to rehabilitate the streets and the city’s residential complexes. We will do a lot of good things in Durres.
–First of all I would like to commend you for this initiative. The first day I came across the questionnaire, what really impressed me was the fact that the first question concerned the family and mothers with several children and I felt really good about it. The question you ask is whether more support should be provided to mothers of three or more children. Could you please clarify whether this is about single mothers or about two-parent families?
PM Rama: Thank you! First of all, I would like to highlight the fact that we have done a lot, but not as much as we would have wished to do, and probably not enough during our terms in office. However, we have done a lot compared to where we started from upon taking office by providing support to children, by providing the baby bonus which we inherited from the previous government, but the cash support amounted to 5000 lek only. Our government increased the baby bonus to 400,000 lek for the first child, 800,000 lek for the second and 1.2 million lek for the third or more children. Mothers receive the baby bonus upon their release from hospital without encountering any bureaucratic procedures. Likewise, we have done as much as we could for the kindergartens and the schools. We have projected a 100% increase of the economic assistance for the single and unemployed mothers under the 2022 state budget. And we are now seeking to move further and we are exploring ways to help mothers with three or more children, regardless whether they are employed or not. We want to make a decision about this plan, but this is not an easy decision to be made. It is a tough decision, as many would rightly say such support should be granted to all mothers. I agree, everyone should enjoy support, but the decision will be based on the opportunities we can afford. Therefore, the idea is to grant support to mothers of three or more children, no matter whether they are single mothers or part of two-parent families.
– Wouldn’t be fairer to focus such government assistance to families, since you already said that you will categorize these families, but let them be the ones to decide if the husband or wife will benefit from this assistance.
PM Edi Rama: As you already realize these are really well thought-out questions. We have asked these questions, because we engage in heated debates when it comes to decisions about such issues and that’s why we decided to better ask for the citizens’ opinion on them. And the longer you serve in office –of course if you really want to improve yourself – the more you realize that there is a lot you should learn about how to move towards making a decision and people are actually the best guarantee when it comes to such decisions. The more you ask when facing a dilemma, the better it is. I will not express my opinion on this issue as it may influence those already filling in the questionnaire, because I am not campaigning to tell people what opinions they should express. Of course, I have already expressed my opinions on every issue, but we will respect every opinion expressed by the citizens.