Prime Minister Edi Rama took to social media to communicate with the citizens via Facebook today.
The government head answered to the public interest regarding various issues, many of them included in the recent National Counseling Questionnaire for Albania.
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I think we are now live, somehow ahead of the scheduled time. We were supposed to start live communication at 5:30 pm, but it was apparently the peak of impatience, so it is not a big deal for those who were notified for a later online streaming as we will be sitting here and will be able to communicate with everyone thanks to the technology allowing us to do so.
Meanwhile, I was checking today’s data on what nobody would have wished to know about, but we have to.
As many as 1236 fresh COVID-19 cases, or twice as much as the previous week, were confirmed today.
The effect of family and public gatherings for the year-end holidays, the lack of restriction measures as well as the presence of the fastest-spreading Omicron variant compared to any previous COVID-19 variant have led to further spread of the infection.
As many as 107 patients are being treated at the Infectious Diseases Hospital as of today. Unfortunately, over 95 of the hospitalized cases and fatalities are people who haven’t been vaccinated yet. It is worth reiterating our appeal to all of those who wish to heed our appeal, as there are too many others who don’t wish to do so and then suffer the consequences under the claws of the infection, and even could pass away, and only a small number of the hospitalized people are vaccinated and they recover quickly, except for the cases when they suffer from other underlying health conditions.
However, I hope that the New Year will be better and successful for each and every one of us, all Albanians wherever they live, for our country and our nation.
The good news, among several good news I recall now and I am going to repeat, is that employees with a monthly salary up to 40,000 lek will no longer have to pay personal income taxes starting in January. The personal income tax rate on the salaries up to 50,000 will be cut by 50% and the salaries over 1.5 million up to 2.5 million will see the personal income tax rate decrease significantly, creating much breath and relief for a large number of public and private sector workers.
Meanwhile, since we are talking about the monthly salaries, it is worth highlighting that the minimum wage has been increased to 32,000 lek. I would also like to comment on the salary data leak, focusing on the aspect directly concerning the system’s administration. I am not going to comment on the database, the IT system, as the issue is being intensively investigated by the prosecutors. I hope that significant results will be announced soon to shed light on what has happened and to punish the perpetrators. I am talking about the salaries system, and the data leak has somehow helped us to have a clear picture on a large number of people, on what is happening and why, some of the measures we want to take are measures in the right direction.
First of all, the General Taxation Directorate has sent an official letter to all of the individuals who turn out to be suspected of irregularities regarding their salary and which could imply fiscal evasion, asking them to self-regulate until Jan 20, when the employees’ salaries are declared and they have been clearly told that the same official letter will be sent to all workers at companies or enterprises, where the tax administration officials will focus after the data leak revealed huge discrepancies in the salary declarations.
One has to bear in mind that incorrect declaration constitutes an administrative offence punishable by a fine, but if an investigation into an alleged tax evasion case is launched, then the perpetrators have certainly committed a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment.
Therefore, this is an appeal to everyone who have already receive or will be receiving this official Tax Directorate letter in the coming days, to seriously reflect as we want to definitely create a more positive and favourable climate for business, but in no way creating a climate, with the workers’ salaries and their pension prospect being affected in the name of this positive and favourable for business. It would affect their pension prospects and the whole pension scheme in Albania, because if just a part of the real salary is declared and the rest is paid in cash, as it is randomly the case with a number of private activities, this is clearly a robbery of the pension scheme.
On the other hand, another topic on which this term in office largely focuses on, is the topic of paying exact salaries as they are declared, when it comes to the lower salaries and the minimum salary in particular, as we clearly know that there are cases of abuses with the minimum wage rule, and we will certainly continuously act by imposing even stiffer sanctions on those who abuse with the workers’ salaries.
On the other hand, I would like to note that before I start answering to some of the questions we have picked, as we are seeking to establish a new communication level with everyone listening more to one another and with everyone primarily listening to your opinions, to the Albanian citizens’ opinions and a process is already underway to serve this goal and everyone will gradually start receiving the first National Counseling letter that the government has launched to attract your opinion regarding a wide range of various issues regarding the country’s economy, the labour market, the family, justice, the fight against crime and Albania’s progress towards accession into the European Union.
It is a simple and totally anonymous form in the sense that the form will be completely freely filled in by the family head or any family member over 18 and will be sent back to us so that we can draw a general public opinion on these topics.
It is not an electoral process and it is not a process launched for any controversial goal in terms of various data, figures and percentages, neither in terms of the identity of the individual filling the form to answer a set of questions, the answer to which mostly an answer that can be provided directly, but it is our goal and strong feeling to make sure that the answers to these questions are rather an expression of the broad public opinion so that people are more involved in a sort of a referendum, but without any obligation of whatsoever, but just a contribution everyone provides voluntarily.
Question via Facebook: “Why are you forcing people to get Covid vaccines?”
PM Edi Rama: Vaccination is not mandatory, but there is a growing concern as we are witnessing what is happening in other countries too, and there is an indispensability to raise awareness of everyone on the fact that vaccination is salvation, it is a significant relief and an indisputable scientific guarantee. On the other hand, there is also another principled issue of moral integrity nature, if you will, which has to do with the fact that all those who heeds to the science and abides by a normal path to vaccination to defend themselves and the society, now feel threatened when sharing public space and premises with unvaccinated individuals.
The vaccine doesn’t protect you from the possible infection although the infection rate among the vaccinated people is very low. However, the vaccines help people develop stronger immunity and reduce adverse outcomes, hospitalizations and fatalities. Most importantly, a vaccinated individual may develop no symptoms of the disease even though he may contract the virus, yet he or she can infect other people. For all these reasons, the vaccinated people claim and demand that unvaccinated individuals should not frequent the same public spaces and this is the reason why nobody can enter public areas without showing a green passport or the virtual green vaccination certificate in almost every European country. Not only that, but I just found out that such a rule is now obligatory to sportsmen too, who are not allowed to enter the sports pitch or court if not vaccinated. I don’t know whether you have come across the news reports about the world number 1 ranked male tennis player, Novak Djokovic, who travelled to Australia without having received the vaccine first and he has been denied entry to Australia, where he is supposed to take part in the Australian Open tournament. This is really a commercial loss for the Australian Open, yet it is a decision made on the basis of this principle.
However, through the National Counselling process we will draw a general public opinion on the mandatory vaccination process. Should Albania introduce the green vaccination certificate or passport for everyone to be allowed to indoor public spaces or large gatherings?
Question via FB: “Do you have any idea, opinion on the energy crisis in Kosovo?”
PM Edi Rama: The energy crisis is now a fact for everyone. Of course, various countries are coping with it in different ways. The fact that the energy crisis is not affecting households and businesses in Albania doesn’t mean that Albania has not been actually affected by the energy crisis. It is quite the opposite. This actually means that Albania is successfully coping with the energy crisis, without letting its effects have an impact on the household and business consumers, as the government, as we have already pledged, has become a shield to protect them. However, this is a fight taking place on a daily basis and comes with a cost, and of course we can’t prevent the energy crisis from happening by using door locks or changing the key. We have to fight and cope with it.
Kosovo is going through a critical energy crisis, also due to a largely problematic inherited system of electricity generation and distribution. We have provided our assistance to Kosovo. I am very glad we were able to help Kosovo again, after we were forced to cut supply for a few days as we couldn’t afford doing it, but we recovered and were able to renew electricity supplies on the New Year holidays. We will explore any opportunity and make sure we keep helping Kosovo in the future.
-Question via FB: “Which is Albania’s future?”
PM Edi Rama: “I think that the future of Albania is the same as the future of those countless families, in relative terms, in our country that nothing, but their personal belongings only when they embarked on a voyage to cross the sea, but who succeeded thanks to their work, strong will, patience and sacrifice and have build admirable economic level, although they are not and won’t be for a relatively long period among the wealthiest individuals in the countries they currently work and reside, because the wealthy people there have amassed their family wealth over the centuries, and haven’t built their wealth overnight, so to say. This is Albania’s future. We won’t be among the wealthiest in the continent for a relatively long period, but we will be definitely integrated, like the Albanian families normally live today in the countries they desperately arrived many years ago with their personal belongings only. We should not forget where we come from so that we can understand how far we can get and how long it would take us to arrive there.
-Question via FB: What about the opposition?
PM Edi Rama: It is not our problem. We have to examine and find solutions to so many problems and serious issues and therefore it would be really wise not to waste our time by engaging in such a ridiculous and embarrassing situation the opposition is being through today after being entrapped in a showdown and infighting between “a grata” and “a non-grata corpse” indeed.
-Question via FB regarding pensions.
PM Edi Rama: I have constantly reiterated the pension’s issue. It is not a matter of wish; it is not a matter of willingness to do maximum efforts for pensioners. It is a matter of economic and financial objectivity. If we want to increase pensions, as it has consistently happened with the pension’s indexation or the year-end bonuses, but a significant increase in pensions, it is something we will consider within this mandate.
-Question via FV over the online services.
PM Edi Rama: An important question at this moment, as we prepare to shut down the public service windows this year. We will close the service windows to finally put an end to the long queues, stress, and delays and so on, providing citizens with the opportunity that 95%, except the services that require physical presence to give fingerprints for those who apply to obtain a passport, ID card, are obtained online via the government portal e-Albania.
Someone is asking whether “this will happen to everyone eventually and no citizen will be allowed to enter the premises of the Cadastre offices?” The idea is to close the service windows for everyone and the idea is that, as long as applications to obtain a title deed or one of the Cadastre services, where there is a range of services, can be done online, the answer is also provided online. Not automatically, but with a fixed waiting time, which is a waiting time without having to waste any hours going back and forth from the respective offices. Definitely this is the goal, for everyone, without exception, equally.
We are ready to shut the service counters immediately, yet we have defined a deadline to raise public awareness, inform the public and promote online service delivery in order to prepare people for that.
A preparatory period should be allowed for all the citizens who have yet to download the e-Albanian platform on their smartphones and computers.
It would be much better and easier for them to apply and obtain the public services online rather than heading to the post office or other service offices and waiting in long queues for several hours to file an application and wait for several months for an official response to be provided.
–Question via FB: “When do you plan to appear on Open or Opinion political talk shows, since we are fed up with reality shows like Big Brother VIP?”
PM Edi Rama: I don’t watch this show. It is a matter of choice between the two TV talk shows and it is a tough choice to be made during this live stream. It is like the difficult choice you make when voting who would stay and who should leave, more or less like the Big Brother VIP show. Same formula is applied.
-Question over Open Balkan initiative: Why Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina refuse the invitation to join the initiative?
PM Edi Rama: I have repeatedly explained this. However, the Open Balkan initiative is also included on the questionnaire everyone will receive in their homes or will be able to access the form online via “Albania we want” platform to express their opinion.
I repeat, the opinions we will collect are part of our readiness and desire to learn what Albanians think despite their political convictions and affiliations. I believe that the more we and all Albanians spend time and deal with politics, we will be the same the citizens the time we deal with the daily hassle of politics and see the opportunity to spend as much of this time as possible dealing with the real problems we have, the better things will go. This long ongoing story of division between the left and the right supporters, of course, when we make choices, at the moment we vote, but we cannot keep sticking to these divisions among the leftists and rightists, because this is a huge waste of time.
-Question via FB: Shall Emaar Group make other investments in Albania?
PM Edi Rama: This question, if I am not wrong, has actually to do with the speculations also made by someone else, alleging that “the opposition leader is involved in the multimillion dollar-offer to construct the new seaport in Durres.
First of all, Emaar Group is one of the world’s largest corporations and it doesn’t need to come to Albania for any other reason, but to implement a major project and do so under the best possible comfort and convenience, providing all the legal and methodological basis of a work for a titanic investment like that, as it is the case all around the world. A lot has been said about supposed major investments for so a long time now and here we are; these are the major investments. Such a large investment, not in hydropower plants or in an oil well, but in an industry like tourism, means, not only a separate investment, but an exponential escalation of this sort of investments; not so great, perhaps, but which are bound together, form a basis for making an epochal economic and social leap. In this regard, let’s start with this first and depending on the climate and progress, I am very confident that a number of other project ideas, we have been already discussing with these partners, we would be able to move ahead and embark on an advanced procedure.
-A question over the prices.
PM Edi Rama: There are a number of factors contributing to the price increase. I would like to point out clearly. First of all, recent official data show that the end of the year consumption is higher than last year and any other previous year. We have recorded the highest consumption level in terms of purchase power. Why am I noting this fact? It is not the government that determines consumption prices. We no longer live under the communist regime, with the government deciding over the prices. We live in another system, when the prices are determined by the market. The government can intervene and act when it comes to the energy prices, namely when it comes to the so-called regulated prices. Meanwhile, the daily consumption prices are regulated by the market and not by the government. The market pursues other logics regarding the consumption prices. And this means that the market works as the prices constantly change.
-Question over FB: “What will happen with the Cadastre offices as they are destroying us?”
PM Edi Rama: You no longer need to report at the State Cadastre offices. Please don’t do so. Instead, the State Cadastre services are available online through your smartphones and computers. All it takes is just filing an application and your application will be monitored not by an individual, as it is the case when you submit a file to a person behind the service window, but a number of persons through a mechanism which makes sure that a response is provided regarding your application.
-Question via FB: I would like to ask about employment in the education system. Is it possible for an applicant to take up a job in the education system faster after having completed the five-year university degree program and the one-year internship program? Should we keep waiting for the teacher’s licence to be issued by the online portal?
PM Edi Rama: Of course you would have to wait for the license to be issued by the portal. This is a must. We have thankfully lived to see the day when a portal is available and the license is issued through a merit-based system and a competition among all of those who are seeking to take up a job in the education system and work as teachers. Employment in the education system is a merit-based process and no one has contested the process and everyone would have to follow these steps and procedures.
-Facebook comment: “Mr. Prime Minister, you need to seriously deal with the problems concerning the citizens, as we are not granted the right by the state offices.”
PM Edi Rama: Of course I seriously deal with the problems concerning the citizens, but also everyone should take it seriously what we and I are trying to convey. This means that if you encounter a problem with a state office, you can’t solve it by issuing Facebook comments under fake names, but instead by accessing the Albania we want online platform, which has addressed more than 50,000 problems over the past four years. I would beg you to access “Albania we want platform” and you would waste no time and a reply will be provided within ten days. If you are entitled to the service you apply for, you will be definitely granted that service. If not, you would very kindly be advised and directed where to report to and how to resolve the issue in a different way. If this is a judicial matter, you would address the court.
-Question via FB: When will the border crossing be fluid between Albania and Kosovo as the interior ministers announced in the last joint meeting of both governments?
PM Edi Rama: Our goal, the objective, the ambition is that this becomes a reality this summer. This is the commitment from the governments of both countries, and this is what we have discussed with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, this is what both departments of internal affairs are working on. I hope they meet this objective.