Speech of Prime Minister Edi Rama at the meeting with employees of public administration:

Thank you for being here after your working hours. I want to say at the outset that whenever the mountain of mud exceeds its usual size, I always think of the people who serve this country. I remember when I was mayor of Tirana, I used to meet at the end of every academic year 40-50 best students of several fields related to the activity of the city hall. I would meet them according to the faculties they studied, and what impressed me the most was the fact that regardless of each other, regardless of the year – and I had this experiences for many years in a row – when I asked them “Would you like a state employment?, the best among them answered “No”.

And when I asked them why, most of them told me that the problem was not the salary, but the reputation of the state. Which means that it was difficult for them to work for the government and to be part of something that was frowned upon.

When I consider this, seeing and hearing all that mud thrown on a daily basis against the people working in the state, I think of those who are unquestionably the vast majority living with their work and not with corruption and bribery, and unquestionably of the youngest who are involved in this work through a competition which, as all of you here can prove, is definitely not easy.

Along with others who are not here, you have passed a process that is expression of a very strong will to break from the past with regard to the access to the administration, which after the fall of communism has been historically seen as a barracks to house the soldiers of political parties, without demanding them to be successful in their work in the administration, but simply to offer a salary in return for which they would have to come out of the barracks every time the party calls for new victories.

The new system has been established to cut off with the past, but at the same time it is an extremely difficult undertaking. If Albania did this 20 years ago, today we would have an administration that was not only durable but also successful in its product pursuant to laws and government decisions. We do not have it yet.

We have an administration that carries on its shoulders a very heavy heritage. Due to this heritage, its morals in carrying out duties are not that strong. For this reason, the bureaucracy we have built, the bureaucratic process we have built by means of a very chaotic legislation, have turned into a chain around the feet of citizens expecting services from our administration. Another consequence is the very low internal motivation of the administration.

In addition to reputation, another reason why the best students of that time didn’t want to have a state employment was the lack of trust in the fact that they could have a career in the administration based on merit, which was actually inconsiderable.

Today’s system creates opportunities to have a career, and all of you here are the first expression of this endeavour to prove that merit and competition are required to be part of the administration, and yet again merit is required to climb the career ladder within the administration.

The system has been built in such a way to give the opportunity to every employee of the administration to be tested in order to prove that they deserve to climb the first step, than the second, or many more steps in the career ladder based on their merit.

There is no question that in a country like ours where when it comes to recognizing the result – even when it is clear that that’s all you deserve – so, in a country where, even when we are beaten in a football match by Spain, we tend to say that the match was sold and the referee was corrupt, it’s unlikely that the result will be widely recognized, if the competition to enter the public administration has not been passed.

I am convinced that there are plenty among you here who have made it in the administration, but they didn’t win the competition the first time. I have met young employees who have tried six or seven times before getting that job, and they won thanks to a great persistence. But there is a fact that speaks more than any other word, and it shows that 25-30% of public administration competitions today don’t have a winner. Had it been a pre-set process, there wouldn’t have been competitions without any winner. Had it been a process where you could win thanks to an acquaintance, to the party, by paying bribes, there wouldn’t have been competitions without any winner.

There are approximately 2 thousand vacancies announced continuously, and only approximately 1 thousand have been able to get a job, because you must take into account that some of these 2 thousand vacancies are for parallel movements.

On the other hand there, some important information show that the majority has understood that these competitions are real because, if in the past the average number of applicants for a vacancy was 4 of which 2 or 3 were intended for the one who found them and told other people: “be part of the competition, so I can win”, or were delegated by the relevant authorities and pretended to compete, or records were forged as if 4 people took part in the competition, today the average number of applicants is 13.

The entire system – you’ve gone through many difficulties to be where you are today – has been launched online, so that it can be transparent and verifiable. Just as exams also are increasingly transparent, although they still need a lot of work to be definitely consolidated and to become almost objective. I’m saying “almost”, because there can’t be any competition process 100% objective, but there can be a competition process where objectivity is guaranteed.

This means that we will have to reach – and I am sure we will, earlier than later – a process entirely based on secrecy, in terms of equality in front of the exam, and in getting the results online, just like it happens with the State Matura exams or with any competition to enter university, although still it will not be possible to completely avoid the interview which is an irreplaceable component when it comes to employees recruitment.

It’s worth mentioning again that there has been a very high number of applications. 52.100 applications have been made. Of course, they are not people but applications, for there are here as well people who have applied more than once, to have then the final result.

This figure couldn’t be imagined until 3 years ago. Just as the internal scheme of the system couldn’t be imagined until 3 years ago either, according to which if an employee gets a score of 90-100, he is automatically given a promotion. If someone else gets a score of 51-89, he keeps the position he has within the administration, and if a third one gets less than 50 scores, then he is offered a 3-month training to prove that he deserves to remain in the public administration. If after 3 months he gets less than 50 scores, he has to leave. I say “he”, for those who are behind are generally men. It’s not by chance that most of you here are women.

Actually, what had us together today is the announcement of wage increase. I believe the moment has come for us to share the first results of the reforms with all those who serve this state directly. In this regard, the wage increase is not just an ordinary wage increase, on an ordinary path of an ongoing process, but it is also a well-deserved remuneration for all the support offered to the reforms by the working people first and foremost. Not just because they work for the government, but because they have a family that has made a contribution to the reforms, starting from the most simple and yet bitter fact that they have understood that energy has to be paid, which generated over 340 new contracts with users, and then the acceptance of the debt, to the fact that in a state-building process whatever was easier at the expenses of the whole and of the next generation, becomes even more difficult for a determined period of time.

For this reason we have decided to transfer from the state budget to the budget of households, 100 million dollars in order to increase wages and pensions. In order to give you an idea what 100 million dollars mean in this context, I’ll tell you that throughout the 8 years of the previous government, 124 million dollars were transferred from the state budget to the budget of households to increase salaries and pensions. We transfer 100 million dollars in a year. Of course, somebody can say, this is the first time that salaries have been increased in 4 years.

It depends on how you look at it.

This is the first time that a nominal increase of salaries and pensions has been made, but this is not the first time that more money has been left in your pockets by taking it from the state budget. We started our term by cutting taxes.

I am amazed when I see to whom they tell the story that taxes have increased in Albania. You are witnesses. If those among you who have been employed recently didn’t have on them the flat sword edge of 10% tax, the others who had it know very well that by removing the flat tax and having it replaced with the fair tax according to which those who earn less pay less taxes, they have taken home more money, although the salary has remained the same.

Do you know how much?

140 million dollars for employees paid with the state budget, i.e. public administration and the remaining part of the state administration. And not state employees, from waiters to the whole wage structure in the private sector under 1 million, 300 million dollars. Which make 440, plus 100 make 540 million dollars.

Compare 124 million in 8 years with 540 million in 4 years. This is money that the state could have kept and use for other works. But we made a very clear choice, and it was to not allow the purchasing power of the people who make a living with an honest job be the last on the path of reforms and sustainable development.

Of course, with those 540 million dollars we could have built many more roads, many more schools, kindergartens, but had we left people with the loop of the flat tax around their neck, we would have zeroed the capacity of their purchasing power, therefore, would have depleted them. While the opposite has happened.

I’m giving you an example. Today we have the lowest state salary for all of the supporting services, which is 220 thousand ALL (old currency). With this package, it will be increased to 375 thousand ALL (old). Is it enough? It is not. But it is much more for those who have been working hard to create the hygienic and logistic conditions for the work in the administration since we can’t remember when, for just 220 thousand ALL (old)?

With the same principle, starting the increase from below, we have a totally new wage pyramid in the administration. If a third-category specialist, if I’m not wrong in terms of words, receives currently a 355 thousand ALL salary, it will be increased to 379 thousand ALL (old). Therefore, we have a progressive increase up to a 589 thousand ALL gross salary.

Of course, still it is not a lot. Still, it is not enough. But there is no question that it is much more than it was. Starting from March 1 next year, all of you will have a better salary. The average is 7%, but for the lower wage it is 36%, and it goes progressively up to my wage-level. But neither me, nor the minister of Finance or the MPs will receive any additional penny. We who earn more, will gain nothing because this is how this increase is intended to be. You who earn less, will earn more, and this is a principle.

I believe in what we are doing, even though I am convinced that for Albania and an EU member country to have the administration they deserve, the road is very long. This is only the first stone of the foundation, but in order to build a solid home for our state, we will need a few more years. A few more years where the internal motivation will determine the pace of how many these years are going to be. And the increase of wages, the careful supervision to have the internal system of merit guaranteed, the stimulation of those who perform better and can demand to climb many more stairs within the system by getting tested and getting more scores, all this is related to the internal motivation.

To all those who might think that when we talk, when I talk about achievements and remember what we have done, people should stand up and applaud us, I’ll tell just this. The opposite is true. The more achievements we see in such a short span of time, compared to the entire time that passed in a constant destruction, the more we understand, I understand, that what remains to be done and which is absolutely doable, is much more.

If you ask me to tell you a sector where progress has been made, I can tell you that there is no sector where progress hasn’t been made. But if you ask me in which sector the progress made is enough, I’ll tell you in no sector. Because if we consider where we started from, we can sleep soundly. But if we compare with where we need to go, we cannot sleep for even a second.

If we consider the situation we found when we took office, when the stability of the public finances was threatened to the point that we risked not to have the money to pay salaries and pensions for November-December 2013, we who today can allocate 100 million dollars more for salaries and pensions without increasing the debt, then we can sleep soundly. But if we consider what we are aiming at and what the administration needs, where the state and society need to be, not because we want that but because that is the need, we cannot sleep for a second. What we have done applies only to what I said, to understand how many things could have been done in more than 20 years, and how many things we can do because we won’t stop reforms for any second, if we look at the truth that reforms have a cost, they are painful, they require patience and a lot of time, and they cannot even pay back as you deserve it when it comes to elections, then we are on the right track.

I want to thank with respect all those of you who did not win the competition for the first time; all those of you who lost and tried the competition not once, but six or seven times. And you know why? Because they are the most meaningful expression of a truth which almost nobody among them who have a voice or a pen to express themselves publicly today will accept, and that’s that Albania is not filled with desperate people, with people who have no faith in anything. On the contrary! There is in Albania a silent majority that keeps fighting, because it believes, and it wins because it fights.

And all of you to whom I referred today are part of that majority. I have nothing against those who won the first time – just to be clear – well done! But the fact that there are some others who won later, shows that those who won the first time must understand that they have done a great job. It was not easy, so well done!

Being fully convinced that you are that part of society that deserves much more, of course, but also convinced that we have your understanding when we say that this is quite an increase in the current conditions, I wish you all the best, I wish you to keep going with the same determination, for which we made our contribution by strengthening it when you were desperately trying to win the competition, and banged your heads against a door that was tougher than you heads.

Thank you all!