Speech of Prime Minister Edi Rama at the awards ceremony “Golden Bee” for enterprises:
Hello everyone,
I will start this brief address by asking what the difference between an artist and an entrepreneur is. In fact, they are more similar than dissimilar. Both need an unusual power of imagination, a special passion to cultivate and collect the fruits of their imagination, a strong temper that does not bend in front of difficulties, and neither in front of the failure of an effort that goes on. The entrepreneur, the same as the artist, cannot be understood without his dose of madness that distinguishes him from other people.
Either under the past influence without private property, when entrepreneurship was called the leech of people, or under the overwhelming force of the vandal capitalism, our society has been despising the image of entrepreneur for more than two decades.
The state’s attitude towards entrepreneurs has been totally unworthy during this period of our history; with influence peddling on the one hand and, generally, a real shock of fines or debts taken by force, on the other hand.
The media has had a different approach neither, that’s why it couldn’t do anything to change this very primitive relationship of our society and of our state with entrepreneurship. We have never seen the front pages of the papers cover entrepreneurs’ stories of success. Nobody has ever known the Albanian job creators, the large taxpayers of the state, those who in all these years have built a chain of values in the very difficult terrain of the economy and everyday life of our society.
The private sector in Albania was developed behind a dark curtain of prejudices and ignorance that has hidden from the eyes of the public opinion the courageous protagonists of free enterprise. I was impressed that someone here, from those who received the “Golden Bee”, said he was surprised by what he saw today on these two screens, while I have a chance to see surprises a thousands more times than those shown today on these screens.
By force of habit, entrepreneurs are considered guilty, perceived as guilty and treated as guilty in all instances of discussion or public views. For example, I do not know how many Albanian children today would reply “I want to deal with business” if they were asked “What do you want to be when you grow up? “. Maybe, none of them. Not only this, but the vast majority of young people today – as surveys we have made show – prefer to work in the state administration and not in the private sector. Of course, there is more than one reason for this and it would take would a long debate, but one of those reasons is certainly that there is a shadow behind every entrepreneur. A big shadow, not to say that there is an internal contempt that has been accompanying for a long time the image of entrepreneurs in our environment, a disdain inherited from a past where the entrepreneurial word itself did not exist – it was gulag, a disdain that was cultivated during the years of this confused transition. It is a contempt that unfortunately characterizes even the traditional behavior of the state towards entrepreneurship. This behavior has been materialized in over 20 years in your daily life through contacts with representatives of the state, with customs and tax officers, with inspectors, controllers, with every kind of punsters that knock on the door of your business. Not only do they think that it is totally unnecessary to behave kindly in a business environment, but they are inclined to behave as if they had a mission; the mission to take revenge on behalf of the people when they come into contact with a businessman, feeling morally superior and almost ready to hit entrepreneurs on behalf of the people, whose blood they have been sucking for so many centuries. But the governments themselves have not fallen behind these little rascals who are on the frontline of the anti-business behavior. They have inspired this behavior by means of influence peddling that has divided entrepreneurs into a group of 5 or 10 protected by those at the very top and a group of thousands who were at the mercy of all villans in the very bottom.
The degenerative behavior towards the business degraded increasingly into an institution of degeneration, to the point that eventually entrepreneurship was taken hostage by the government who took for granted that the entrepreneur was definitely its hostage, refusing to recognize the freedom of entrepreneurship as a constitutional freedom, inviolable in any form, directly or indirectly, by refusing to recognize the standard of free competition as unchangeable standard of the free market economy, refusing to recognize the most fundamental rights of entrepreneurs to be paid under the contract, or to get back in the time specified by law, the refundable VAT. And, this continous degeneration in the relationship between the state and entrepreneurship led to the accumulation of hidden debt of 720 million dollars in the winter of last year.
Today, only a year later, we are here to give entrepreneurship a clear message of gratitude, respect and willingness to close once and for all the grim chapter of the master-apprentice relationship between the state and entrepreneurship.
This year we did an extraordinary effort to mark a turning point in this relationship, and I believe change has begun. The majority of the master’s shameful debts are being paid off. Practically, by December 31 we will pay off 400 million dollars, while the remaining part will be paid next year, and you must hurry to get the money.
VAT is now refunded automatically and no one needs to pay bribes to receive it and then to share it with those who take bribes.
Fines to entrepreneurship are no longer a significant voice in income taxes, and Genghis Khan’s campaigns in the field of entrepreneurship, whenever money was reiased to implement the plan, belong to the past.
I believe that a revolutionary change has started in taxes and customs, but we are still far from putting the image of entrepreneurs in the pedestal of public admiration, as a figure that should turn into a model of inspiration for young people in the system we have chosen. Also, we are still far from restoring the dignity of the entrepreneurs’image in the behavior that any instance or state representative has towards enterprenuership.
Let me share with you my great hope that enterpreneurship’s increased confidence in the state and in the institutions we are building will naturally increase cooperation between us, against corrupt practices or misconduct of agencies or people of the state towards business and business people. I emphasize this, because I have continually felt that your lack of confidence in the state is a major problem that we must overcome together. It’s lack of confidence, because if you complain about misconduct, or a practice that violates the freedom and your right to competition, your confidence is still fragile even though you can get the support you deserve. If we build this trust, and we are here to do our best to respond in real time to every entrepreneur and I am very happy to say that we have had some cases but, unfortunately, much less than those which are in reality those who knock to your door for unworthy purposes and in all cases, they have been removed from service.
It will be this way every time you complain. When an entrepreneur – and this is the principle that we have established in all agencies that serve the enterprise – so, when an entrepreneur complains to an inspector, the entrepreneur is always right. And on this basis, the inspector does not even deserve to be heard, but he must leave.
I want to thank the Minister of Economy, Trade and Enterprise for the extraordinarily beautiful organization of these awards for the enterprise, which show not only our new political culture with regards to business, but show the Albanian public, in the however short time of these hours, beautiful histories of success in business. In addition, they show the faces of people who hide behind these histories. Being hopeful that we will end another ugly and shameful chapter for the state, for our society of entrepreneurs that hide, stay away from the spotlight, escape to the attention of the public and of the media because they fear the fine that comes along, I would say that it is fine that creates jaleaousy.
But above all, I want to thank you, the entrepreneurs who are here in this hall and I am very sorry for the fact that, although we behave like emancipated people, actually we are not for we continue to refer to enterprenerus as males, while forgetting that there are many honorable female entrepreneurs, some of which received the well deserved award. I want to thank also all those male and female entrepreneurs outside this room, for everything you do for the good of the country and our society. Because, while talking about entrepreneurs in all these years, we have forgotten that by working to earn they do something great for our country and for society at the same time. We bow in front of you with gratitude for every penny of contribution you have paid to the state budget, for every job that feeds and educates Albanian families and children, any investment that increases your income and the state income, as well as the number of jobs.
In the end I want to make very sincere apologies for everything that might not have functioned properly during the year, in practices or in any of you contacts with the state.
Once again I want to clonclude asking you to help us so that we can all together be free, as soon as possible, both the professional delayer of procedures in every institution and from those inspectors who do not embody with their behavior towards you our ambition for the Albania that we want, the European Albania that first and foremost will be the Albania of free enterprise and of people who are not afraid of big ideas, but when they go after their crazy ideas, they are not alone but have by their side a state that supports, encourages and certainly does not become an obstacle.
Happy New Year!
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The “Golden Bee” is an award designed to promote the success of the enterprise during the year. Today, at a gala evening organized by the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Enterprise, under the auspices of the Prime Minister Edi Rama and with the support of several business associations, the “Golden Bees” were awarded to enterprises with the best performance in different sectors during 2014.
Minister of Economy Ahmetaj as the organizer of the event said that this award began as a novelty to mark a new chapter in relations between the Government and entrepreneurship. “We are fully aware that only by cooperating in a proactive way we can make a real change for Albanian citizens, the difference for the Albanian economy. This belief was particularly strengthened in this year that is ending.”
During the evening, awards were given for the entrepreneur of the year in toll manufacturing, in the field of innovation, tourism, female entrepreneurs, the best employer etc.
Prime Minister Rama awarded the “Golden Bee” to the best public female administrator, or as the Prime Minister called her, “the best public servant”, Director General of Taxation, Brisida Shehaj. The Prime Minister considered thia award “a beautiful finding to encourage good examples of administration and examples of kind conduct in relation to the enterprise.”
This event, which began the journey a year ago as the “Entrepreneur of the Year”, aims to return to a tradition of evaluation of achievements in the home business.
