Today Prime Minister Edi Rama had a talk with journalists Elona Meço, Elja Zotka and Aristir Lumezi in Llogara.

Tourism was the topic with which this talk was opened. Improved infrastructure, the increase of foreign tourists, new investments, but also what could be done better, were some of the opinions which journalists shared with Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Following is the talk of Prime Minister Edi Rama with journalists:

 

Aristir Lumezi, Panorama: Controls, food, quality and star rating Inspectorates should work, which has not been done so far. Because they can say that the hotel has 5 stars, but the conditions are very modest.

Prime Minister Edi Rama: In this regard, we are making a new package. We will set an incentive for those who take a 5-star operation among those in the list of the top 30 international brands who will have no tax for 10 years. So it is an automatic certification. Today there is no 5-star hotel in Albania, expect from the Plaza in Tirana. But we are doing this for all those who are developing or those who want to adapt to this. I believe this will bring many new opportunities.

Elona Meço, TCH: It is still the 4-5-star elite tourism, for that’s where the 30 brands belong.

Prime Minister Edi Rama: The same can be done also for the 4-star hotels, but the thing about them is that they are fewer but generate a great income in the beaches in Golem. As for the sewerage system, it will be mandatory for every hotel that has septic holes to process the waters by themselves, otherwise they won’t be allowed to open.

Elona Meço: This is good.

Prime Minister Edi Rama: It’s an investment, but it’s not an impossible investment and it improves the quality, hygiene and everything. Plus, we will continue investing here in Vuno, Dhërmi, Jale, which will be totally different next year.

Aristir Lumezi: Will Dhërmi have bridges? Will the road across the village be avoided?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: That’s another thing. I’m talking about transforming the lower part of Dhermi which is terrible. The cars do almost get into the sea. It will be completely different next year. The project has started. There will be a long promenade, the cars will be parked in the upper part. Meanwhile, we will start with the new road Llogara-Himare, on a more tourist track, and the villages will be completely renewed in infrastructural terms, buildings and the internal roads, like the one where the cars pass today, will be only a village road and a promenade.

Elona Meço: Apparently there are projects only for the south. What about the north?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: We will start working on the road of Theth. We have already started with that of Velipoja, and I believe it will be completed by next year. Similarly for the road Llogara-Himare, we have the Shengjin-Velipoje on the coastline. It is a spectacular road and it reduces time drastically. A 50-60 metre road for tourist connection with Montenegro remains to be completed. The same for the road of Theth. I believe we will have also a total re-planning of the tourist season, because it is unimaginable not to have activities there. We will make a diversified calendar of activities throughout the season. Tourism, combined with culture, with televisions to have a portfolio. Marathons are one thing, but there are also 2-3 bigger concerts and festivals of traditional fruit culinary. We will also make the Kurvelesh roadway down to Himara, which goes down to Qeparo. In order to have a normal road from Qeparo, Borsh, Himara to the mountain in Kurvelesh. It is spectacular, with canyons, with unbelievable waters. It is about time to do this.

Aristir Lumezi: With the new government.

Prime Minister Edi Rama: Of course.

Aristir Lumezi: We pay taxes to have services form the government. Why 11 rather than 7 or 9 ministries? Did you follow a criterion to establish the number of ministers and to merge the ministries?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: We looked at them very attentively. This long transition period is absurd, but on the other hand it has given us the opportunity to make very detailed studies, with templates. There is no fixed rule, it is not an equation that you can do either well or wrong. I believe it is a product also of the experience of where difficulties have existed from the point of view of coordination and speed, and where bureaucracy becomes more of a problem, where the overlapping occurs. I believe it is optimal.

Aristir Lumezi: Following the talks I’ve had with some people in politics in the last 2-3 days, I have the idea that unity is beyond the logic of decentralization of democracy. The more detailed the services and the ministries, the better for the system to operate. Whereas you have followed this other path, you have joined them.

Prime Minister Rama: Actually, this is where political direction is consolidated. The challenge is to strengthen that part of the mechanisms that are not just the ministry, but the agencies. You saw that presentation Niko did. We have the lowest number of employees in the region, state employees who are paid from the budget. In terms of directors, we have the highest number, and they are of no use.

Elja Zotka, TV Klan: This could not satisfy all those who had the ambition to become ministers, also because the number of ministries was very small and there are many of them who claimed to become ministers. Why was Saimir Tahiri left out? You have assessed him as a successful minister, and also as a good coordinator of Tirana’s district. Was there a reason?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: This is not like the national football team. Government is not the selection of those who will enter the field while some others stay on the bench, because we need very much to have the three components be strong, the party, the group and the government. If the group is weakened, so would part of our capabilities, and we would have a very big problem. Not just for the group but also for the government. Because there is a great need for the government to have a group that is not only strong enough to protect it in parliament, but also to keep it under pressure in terms of the things to do. The rest then, which I mentioned also in the Assembly, is the party. There also we need some very good capacities to continue working on building this coalition and opening and renewing the party.

Elona Meço: I’m very interested about the ministry of integration. Did you merge this ministry because negotiations won’t be launched? Did you do this because the ministry of Foreign Affairs can handle this issue better, or maybe because when the negotiations are launched, we will have a chief negotiator and the ministry is unnecessary?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: No, it is because we can do more with less. In this case we will simply transfer to the MoFA the integration issues in terms of coordination of all departments and the preparation of negotiations, and this is a practice that many other countries have adopted. For instance Hungary, which is already an EU member state, has never had a ministry of integration and either the name integration in the government. Slovakia had them both. Croatia had it in the beginning, and then moved it to the MoFA. Whereas, at the moment the negotiations are opened, a chief negotiator is appointed, a team is being built and the chief negotiator is a government member considering her/his importance, even though s/he is not part of the government formation. In addition, such a big bureaucracy is unnecessary. I’m not saying that it has been unnecessary so far, but now I don’t think it is necessary so it’s just a shift or concentration in the Foreign Ministry. There is one thing we were discussing yesterday, which is now very important to have a very good team at the second level, at the level of the deputy ministers. It is very important to make a very careful selection of deputy ministers and to have teams that really function as political teams, and each sector has a deputy minister with the same capacity as if he were a minister of that sector, and also in terms of the responsibility. There will also be a deputy minister who will deal exclusively with integration and will have full responsibility to follow that process. Meanwhile, ministers will have a much greater leadership and coordination responsibility for their political teams. The challenge now is to make a better choice for the deputy ministers and to have them more suited to the affairs of the sectors. If we have now united ministries, finance and economy, the work for entrepreneurship will be carry out by a team of deputy ministers who will lead the sector from the point of view of daily execution and of the decision-making policy of the minister.

Aristir Lumezi: Apart from the merging and union of some agencies, inspectorates, will we have a smaller administration?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: I believe it will be smaller. Not much smaller because, as I said, we have the smallest number of employees in the region. In Europe, only Georgia has a smaller number of paid employees compared with us. We made a lot of reductions in 2013, but we will again make some cuts because the union of the Ministry of Finance with the Ministry of Economy and the component of Labour in welfare does not mean that they will mechanically join together and be a federation of ministries. It will be a ministry, so it will function as a ministry and in fact the number will be drastically reduced.

Astir Lumezi: For you’ve said that the administrative and territorial reform did not give the effect you expected.

Prime Minister Edi Rama: It did not give the effect for another reason. Because in many municipalities, mayors did not follow the philosophy. The releasing of funds and an increased responsibility to hire people, have been misused a lot by increasing the number of employees and making a lot of temporary contracts for other benefits, for indulgence. Here we will make a restriction from the point of view of municipal funding for these employees.

Elona Meço: Apparently you have merged the ministries led by the SMI. Is this a way to dismiss from work those who were hired by the SMI?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: No, because we have led Finance, Economics and Welfare and Labour and this has nothing to do with it. Or, for example, a ministry from the standpoint of political bunkering was more problematic, the ministry of agriculture is the same. With small internal changes. We haven’t had this tendency anywhere.

Elja Zotka: Since we are at the SMI. You’ve already convened the government but it hasn’t been decreed by the President yet. During the campaign he declared that he would not decree any government, if these elections would not meet the standards of free and fair elections. Actually, the SMI chief has labelled these elections as manipulated, stolen and bargained. Do you fear that Mr Meta might not decree any ministry or the whole government?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: After he was elected, the president said at one point, if I’m not mistaken for I did not watch it myself, but I’ve seen the reports, he said: “I don’t know, I don’t remember anything I’ve said until 6 PM of that date”. So, neither do I remember what he has said until 6 PM of that date. And I’m sure there were be no such problems. Anybody can make mistakes, we’re not robots. Of course, there are different levels of mistakes with different costs, but from the point of view of how this relationship will develop, I don’t see any concerns because, at least as I consider it, I don’t see as an auto destructive potential as the one shown during the campaign.

Elja Zotka: Do you think you can establish a normal institutional relationship between you and Mr Meta after everything that has happened in these 4 years, and despite happened in the campaign?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: I have no doubt that is possible, and to be honest, as of today I have very little doubt that it will not happen.

Elja Zotka: Because even at the inauguration of the new President, the communication between you was zero.   

Prime Minister Edi Rama: It was a day full of emotions for the president, so it’s understandable. Emotions in the sense of switching from one stage to another stage, but also in terms of the still open wound of a frustrating result for his party. So it’s totally normal. I see no problem with this.

Aristir Lumezi: One of the surprising names was the Minister of Justice. It might have been one of the most popular political personalities such as Mr Ngjela who was said he was a candidate for Justice Minister in 2013, but did not work because of the ally it. For the cabinet, you have chosen e female Deputy PM.

Prime Minister Edi Rama: Actually, I gave the lawyer a task in 2013. It didn’t seem suitable to him. But this was not an option. While this time I believe the choice is clear in terms of the minister because, although her hair is not grey, she has a very sound experience with the Justice Reform, as well as from one position to another in the People’s Attorney Institution. During the period she held the post of Deputy Minister, we had 2 or 3 opportunities to contact and discuss, and I’ve had a very positive impression. I’ve had the same form others. I am very confident that she will do the job properly. I don’t discuss it.

Elona Meço: Actually with Justice Reform, the Minister of Justice doesn’t have now much authority within the justice system. Speaking of the Justice System, the Prosecutor General will be elected in this parliamentary session. There is a constitutional definition according to which s/he elected by 3/5. Will you offer it to the opposition? Have you thought about it? There is another option according to which if he is not elected by the parliament, he is elected by the Prosecutor’s Higher Council according to the ranking. Whom would you prefer better?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: I haven’t dealt with this at all, but I can say that we will try our best to agree with the opposition, in the best sense of the word. Even when it comes to names, we should try to support the right people, whom I am sure exist in Albania. So people who have integrity, professionalism and do not necessarily have such a political coloration that makes the other party stay far apart. So, I say we will make an effort in every case to deal with the opposition, then we will see if we succeed.

Elona Meço: Which one is the opposition according to you? The DP or the SMI?

Prime Minister Rama: Today the opposition is two-coloured, but of course the DP is the main party and also the opposition party in terms of a clear margin of choice, from the point of view of the program, from the standpoint of approaches to many things. While the other party is opposition per force let’s say, in this case, of course it is opposition and of course, from the point of view of the effort to communicate, to interact, to make decisions for the good of the country we make efforts with both oppositions. It is unquestionable.

Aristir Lumezi: Mr Rama, is the SMI in this position per force because of itself or because of you?

Prime Minister Rama: It didn’t chose to be in opposition due to mismatches of program or ideas, but it became opposition as a result of its strategic mistakes. Therefore, it is in opposition, but it is much closer to us from the standpoint of the program, of ideas in terms of the program, and however we will be very attentive to be maximally available for both parties.

Elja Zotka: Mr Rama, when you said in the Assembly that you would like very much the agreement you entered with Mr Basha on May 18 doesn’t die, which part of the agreement would you really regret if it weren’t implemented?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: For the part for which I made the deal. For the part concerning the communication of the head of the government with the leader of the opposition, without translation into a second language let’s say, for the part concerning the country’s image in the eyes of others, for the part concerning the protection of the country’s interests. For the part concerning the will to sit down and discuss any decisions that have to do with these interests or any decision that requires the vote of the opposition. So for all that part that can make Albania a more normal place from the point of view of communication between these parties. A few days ago I was talking with some friends about some peoples who are similar to ours, about some countries with similarities. I won’t name names, but they’re much more advanced than us today although very similar to us. They’re governments also are much more advanced. Actually, they have a very hot political life and they really have a pretty internal collision. When it comes to difference, the difference is very clear in relation to the world. They are competing about which one defends their own state in the blindest way. They don’t compete who insults the other more, and they never mention each other when they talk to partners or neighbours, or with others. Never!

Elja Zotka: Mr Rama, do you know that when two people have a fight in Georgia, and they get pretty heated, people say “Why are you acting like an Albanian?” 

Prime Minister Edi Rama: This is not necessarily a bad thing to act as an Albanian. But the problem is that it hurts us when others see us as such and act with others as such. With each-other it is not necessarily a bad thing. Better than the Swiss, for example.

Elona Meço: How have you imagined cooperation with Lulzim Basha? From the agreement you have signed with him, 4 points remain to be closed, namely: the Agreement on amending the Constitution, the Agreement on Electoral Reform, the public procurement agreement, and communication as you pointed out.

Prime Minister Edi Rama: Yes, these are things I’d like to take forward.

Elona Meço: Will you have with Lulzim Basha the same weekly meeting you used to have with Meta?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: I don’t think it is necessary to have a weekly meeting, and we haven’t even discussed about having one. We’ve talked about having a periodical meeting, every two or three months. We’ve also talked about having a new approach to the issues. We’ve wasted a lot of time and energy in political and personal clashes that are unrelated to concrete issues, to concrete solutions. Therefore, in this sense I think it is totally possible, like I said in the Assembly, if we look at it from the standpoint of a strictly political interest, it was very clear also from these elections that you don’t get votes in Albania by insulting and slandering others. And if our opposition will be in the wake of this tradition from the political point of view, they will not pose any kind of threat to us, rather we will be very comfortable from the political point of view because our work to convince people that we are the best choice will be much easier. So it is not in the strategic interest of the opposition, also in the sense of the pragmatic need to grow, to stick to that kind of trench. But there are also political moments when, due to the re-composition of the forces, due to the restoration of authority, the resettlement of leadership, you have to pull the string in relation to those who accuse you as a traitor. In fact, I believe that if Lulzim Basha has done something that is unrelated to betrayal and is unrelated to the damage to the Democratic Party’s assets, it is precisely the agreement.

Elona Meço: Which means that you didn’t respect it.

Prime Minister Edi Rama: Why didn’t I?

Elona Meço: Because of the votes, because you had already bought the votes.

Prime Minister Edi Rama: These are things I do not want to comment on. They are internal political intake of the battle or the process that took place within the DP. What I hope is that the process will be closed and it will not last 4 years in the sense of the story that votes were bought even before we made the deal.

Elja Zotka: Do you still think that Lulzim Basha is a good guy?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: Yes, I’m sure.

Aristir Lumezi: The ODHIR report mentioned the bargaining of the votes, pretty much with the same accusations by the opposition in terms of the agreement. Do both sides have defects?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: The phenomenon is one thing, and the path to the elections is another thing. You know very well what I’ve said. We were very clear about our result because we’ve read opinions very clearly through your polls since the beginning. On the other hand, we did a super organization in this campaign. It was definitely a tough competition, but we’ve really got also votes from DP voters and also from those who had never voted for us, and this is a fact. Just as we did not get all the votes belonging to our spectrum also due to disappointments, etc. etc. But the fact is that our vote has been matched. So our vote has been completely matched with surveys and opinions, and surveys are not related to drugs, they are not related to money, to purchases, to sales.

Aristir Lumezi: You started the campaign telling people “we will do for employment what we have done for justice reform.” And then, when Ilir Meta or when you made an agreement with Lulzim Basha and the SMI was fiercely positioned against the PS, you mentioned the wheel and the pie. Would the SP have had this result, had it continued with the slogan and the strategy of the first campaign?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: We had all this together. Had we had a coalition and had Ilir Meta agreed long before when I insisted on formalizing the coalition, and you know this very well, the result would have been different. It would have been more advantageous to the SMI because of the system, more disadvantageous for us in numerical terms. And we would not have two oppositions, but we would have a coalition that would make impossible what we are doing today. Thus, it would not be possible to imagine all these melting of parasitic structures or structural transformations from a state of agony into an active state.

Aristir Lumezi: In 2013 you said that we will have one police. Didn’t the SMI allow you to merge all the police forces and create the State Police?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: I’ve said it also before. The SMI reacted more strongly because it felt more called to purpose, but I didn’t address to the SMI only. I addressed to the whole system of these parties, including the SP. Our main problem today is that the SP does not fall into the temptation to devour everything and close itself face to people. Therefore, it is important today for us that this new process begins also as a process of a new political project. We must come out from this mandate with a new political force, plus the SP.

Elja Zotka: Plus the PDIU? I mean, in parliament. The PDIU also is in parliament, and at least two of its MPs have shown willingness to be part of the government.   

Prime Minister Edi Rama: There is a clear potential of cooperation, cooperation on topics, on issues. So I am convinced that with them we will have a much more fruitful dialogue in terms of concrete things and because of the fact that they are, however, a party that has a slightly different set of rules than the other two parties and does not have, the let’s say “delusions of grandeur” that the other two have.

Elona Meço: You are doing this great restructuring of the state administration. Is there room for revising the territorial map of the municipalities once again? There is a demand from the opposition for this.

Prime Minister Edi Rama: It might be, but we would be ready to review it in order to reduce the number of municipalities, whereas they want to review it to increase the number of municipalities, so we have no consistency at all here. I think that the number of municipalities is still high. It may be lower in order to have larger economic entities and to have more efficient governance. They believe otherwise. But there is a point where they are right, and this is that the level of services in the administrative units has dropped according to them. I don’t think it was better at the time of the municipalities, but this is another part of the project which we will work with the municipalities so that the administrative units become genuine units that provide services and use much more technology for these services.

One of the things we agreed yesterday is that all ministers will immediately start working with a group of experts and by the end of this year, so during the next year’s budget preparations, they will come with a proposal to have the lowest number of documents that a ministry issues to citizens. There should be no other country in Europe to have fewer documents than we do. I’m not saying we have less than the one who has less, but to maximally reduce the number of documents, licenses, authorizations, etc. This is also related to what we were discussing, that at the time of the reduction some of them will be entrusted to these administrative units as points where people can get digital service. The administrative service should function in the same way. This is where we are in total disagreement with them, because they want more municipalities and it doesn’t make any sense. Meanwhile, we will continue to strengthen the idea of development regions, not regions as border administration but regions in terms of development. We have actually divided four development areas and based on those development areas we will then determine the location of these regional agencies, education, health, environment, and so on.

Elona Meço: During the speech in last assembly, you mentioned the very new political force you are now calling the Socialist Party plus, and it seemed to me that you were prepared to sit too long in power.

Prime Minister Edi Rama: Not I, but the Socialist Party. They are two different things because I believe that I have a duty to think first of all about the progress of the Socialist Party, regardless of my being or not in this task, and God forbid that I connect the longevity of the Socialist Party to government with my longevity in this task.

Elona Meço: Do you think about your successor in the party?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: The SP is not a kingdom and I didn’t inherit it. In due time Zaho will decide whether we is interested in politics or not. The SP cannot be inherited, it can be earned. And despite the task of experience, of reading things in a certain way, today, internally, but also because my relationship with Fatos Nano is of a completely different quality from what it was until some time ago, the truth is that I did not inherit the Socialist Party. So whoever comes afterwards, s/he must earn it, not inherit it.

Elona Meço: Apparently you’ll be harsher to the ministers than in the four previous years. You won’t take upon yourself their misdeeds. You’ve always said “it’s not up to them to bear responsibility, it’s up to me. They don’t have to resign.” This time you said that they must leave if the objectives are not met.

Prime Minister Edi Rama: In the context of a coalition government I believe it was the right philosophy. In the context of this government the right philosophy is “the Prime Minister assigns you the task, but you must show results in order to maintain the seat”. So if they show results, they will stay, if the results are not there, they will definitely leave. And here we come to the question Elja asked before: the parliamentary group in our party and in the SP plus will have enough capacities in the coming years in order to have three, four, five governments. So, it does not mean that the government that started will end the mandate, at least not in terms of the people, but it definitely will in terms of results and of the socialist party.

Thank you so much for being here. In fact, you have given me the idea to make this format even more systematic with your colleagues. But this does not exclude having exclusive interviews with Eljan and Elona.

Thank you very much!