Statement by the Minister of Social Welfare and Youth, Blendi Klosi:

Dear media representatives. It is my pleasure to be in front of you, and give through you some good news for citizens. I am here to clarify some of the decisions that the Albanian government approved yesterday, and that have a direct effect on the lives of citizens of our country.

I’m more than pleased that the Albanian government approved the proposal of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth, to solve one major and year-long problem which had turned into a gangrene for citizens applying for retirement. The government’s decision provides an ultimate solution to the major problem of undocumented years of social insurance contributions for thousands of Albanian citizens.

This decision relates to the recognition of years of service, the documentation for which has not been regular, detailed or specified for many different reasons, or in many other cases not at all because of the citizens, but only due to irregularities of the public administration, their years of social contributions have remained undocumented.

Thousands of complaints have been submitted in these years by Albanian citizens who have not received the pension they were supposed to receive on the basis of their contributions. For this reason, thousands of Albanian citizens have struggled in courts for years to have their right recognized and be given what the Albanian law on pensions has established is theirs. Thousands of them, due to a year-long delay in terms of proceedings, have not benefitted from their retirement for years and have not been recognized this right.

The decision approved yesterday “On some issues concerning the documentation of periods of insurance and seniority for pension purposes, in accordance with Article 91 of the Law “On social insurance in the Republic of Albania””, has brought some fundamental changes in the way how thousands of Albanian citizens will be treated, and who have been denied their right for years due to the public administration.

The decision aims to solve some fundamental problems concerning documentation and the validity of the periods of insurance and length of service of those who have worked in the former enterprises or former agricultural cooperatives, before 01/01/1994, for which we have today some court decisions and thousands of stalled processes to recognize and remove the right of Albanian citizens. This law aims at ending these major irregularities.

According to the Law on Social Insurance, every period of service prior to 1 January 1994 is recognized in view of the calculation of retirement provided that documentation, work booklet, records etc. are submitted, and are in order, intact, and meet the law requirements.

But during the transition period, many of these documents were damaged, often deliberately, often due to incompetence, or because the documents were handled improperly, were burned or have become invalid.

Under these conditions, the social insurance authority could not recognize these periods, and for this reason addressed them to the court as the only way for the recognition of this documentation.

Today’s change comes after a long-time effort of the Institution of Social Insurance that identified in the archives of the Institute all the documents and cleaned them, thus doing a great amnesty for the Albanian citizens, who won’t have to go to the doors of the courts any more.

In 2015 only, not to mention the other years, we had 2.600 similar cases that ended in the first instance courts, and even worse, in the courts of appeals.

For the above reasons, in 2015 only, 3.500 pensions or approximately 9% of the pensions were assigned out of the legal deadlines, something that caused a lot of concern and irritation in many citizens.

Therefore, following this recent decision of the government, we have taken a very important decision for the thousands of citizens who will have no longer to go to courts, because they will have their work documentation recognized by the state, and will be entitled to the full recognition of pension under the new law, according to the contribution of every Albanian citizen in view of the retirement.

The second very good news is for pensioners, who are considered a vulnerable group of the Albanian society. Pensioners in rural areas will also be included in the payment scheme for the compensation of electricity to have the 300 kwh/month consumption category removed.

The decision will support thousand families of pensioners who, identified also after the new territorial reform, weren’t registered in the big municipalities but were registered in small municipalities or towns, and didn’t receive any pension because they were considered as part of the municipalities.

By decision of the Council of Ministers adopted yesterday, some families of pensioners living in rural areas and generally on the outskirts of cities, as well as some residential areas that do not deal with agriculture, were recognized as beneficiaries.

The draft decision includes the following specific categories of pensioners:

The elderly who are retired and live in the countryside, in areas that are still considered rural areas, but which have actually lost this meaning because they have been transformed in inhabited areas and where families have neither the land nor any other option to develop agricultural production;

Families consisting of retirees, but the energy contracts are registered in the name of the chief of the household’s wife;

Cases of family pensions, when the contract is still registered in the name of the deceased chief of the household.

Based on the approximate number of calculations, over 5 thousand people will be added to those who have been compensated, while the financial effect of approximately 45 million ALL will be borne by the Social Insurance Fund, scheduled for 2016.

203 thousand families who have benefited from the compensation of energy, after the removal of the 300 kwh category last year, will be added to this category.

All these are due to a very good and efficient management of the scheme of pension contributors. This is also due to the major reforms to counter illegal work, following which over 230 thousand new contributors have been added to our lists of contributors to the pension scheme. All these are the result of the contribution of the major reforms that we have taken in this area.

Another government decision that we adopted yesterday, for another category that needs the support of the government, is the National Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities. This is a very important political document.

It confirms once again the commitment of the Albanian government to make reality the integration and inclusion in a better society of the persons with disabilities who could be reintegrated into the Albanian society, through treatments and care, and be part of society. We will fulfil the obligation we have towards them.

The government is convinced that the implementation of supportive policies for this group will take an important place on the political agenda of the next five years. The government is convinced that the implementation of integration policies for people with disabilities will transform this group into a real potential for the Albanian society.

The purpose of this plan is to promote the integration of people with disabilities in the Albanian society, to prevent discrimination and to eliminate the hindrances and facilitate accessibility, so that their rights will be recognized in every aspect of life across the country.

 

This is the first time we have a strategic document, drawn up jointly with stakeholders, and in accordance with the real needs of these groups, which they presented in the debate with Albanian governmental institutions.

The areas, the priorities and what this Plan implements will be part of a very active agenda we will have in cooperation between the central and local power, as well as with associations and representatives defending the interests of these groups, and of course, also with all partners of donors who want to support this philosophy in our country.

Our vision for 2020, which is also the end point of this strategy, is to have every child with disabilities included in basic education, and the number of young people with disabilities attending secondary education increased by many times.

Although the measures taken, aiming at a real integration of people with disabilities in the Albanian society, show an increasing attention of the government and responsibility many times higher of state institutions, we are aware that we still have a lot to do, and that the big challenges which we will have to face, are challenges that we undertake on behalf of the promise that we made to this social group in our country.