Statement by Minister of Social Welfare and Youth, Erion Veliaj following the meeting of the Council of Ministers:

Thank you for being here today!

This was my last meeting as a member of the Council of Ministers. It was a privilege to serve my Government, my Prime Minister and my country. Next week, on Thursday, I will submit my resignation.

But, today, I have more important news. Today, after a two-year negotiation which started my first week in office as Minister of Social Welfare and Youth, we concluded a pension agreement with Canada. This is a very important agreement which required strong negotiations that lasted two years, with meetings in Albania and in Canada, for pension benefits for 20 thousand Albanians, 20 thousand citizens of the Republic of Albania who live and work in Canada.

Therefore, I am glad that in this last meeting of mine as a member of the Council of Ministers we have the opportunity to give good news to 20 thousand Albanians living in Canada, and to prove what we promised in our electoral program of 2013, our program of “Renaissance”, to be the first government to implement concrete agreements with direct impact on Albanian immigrants.

Let me remind you that in the last eight years of the former government, zero agreements on emigrants’ pensions have been entered with foreign countries where Albanian emigrants work and live. Opposite to these zero agreements in eight years, we have entered eight agreements in one year. In addition to Turkey, we have negotiated, completed and ratified in Parliament deals with some of these countries, such as Belgium, Luxembourg, Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania, Macedonia, today in Canada, while with Germany negotiations are over and I am glad that the next Minister will have the opportunity to sign with the German authorities the agreement on pension transfer. Meanwhile, we are finalizing negotiations with Austria. I am glad that by the end of this year, after Germany, Austria will be the next country with which we will conclude the pension agreement.

I am also glad for starting negotiations with Italy. It was a very important and very difficult chapter, but I am glad because we have started the first round, and I am confident that we will have a concrete agreement with Italy after another two rounds.

I want to clarify some points of today’s agreement. The 20 thousand Albanians living in Canada will not only benefit from this agreement, but they will also benefit from agreements that Canada has with other countries. This means that if an Albanian immigrant has lived in Italy and in Greece and later moved to Canada, this citizen will be also recognized the years of work in Italy and Greece, and transfer them to Canada for retirement although these two countries do not have any agreement with Albania.

I am glad that, as far as pensions and international agreements on pension years are concerned, we achieved a record because, not only we have fully kept our electoral promises, but we have probably outmatched them.

The agreement with Greece remains a challenge for the next Minister. Greece has not been unwilling to open a negotiation so far. Perhaps because of the difficult economic conditions that the country is facing and, of course, due to the fact that this means a major financial exchange for the benefits that those citizens will have from a pension in that country.

However, it is probably one of the most important issues that, after the good course of events with Italy, we start negotiations with Greece in a proper moment for our neighboring country to which we wish every good and to recover economically.

However, it is probably one of the most important issues that flow well after the events with Italy, Greece to be – at the time that the neighboring country, which every good wish, to recover economically – in a proper moment to open negotiations.

I want to thank you for your cooperation. As I have stated, I will spend this week preparing our house, the house of my team of Social Welfare and Youth for the Minister who will succeed me. Therefore, after we have completed and finalized the last things in this house, next Wednesday I will submit my resignation to Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers.

Thank you!

 

Minister Veliaj, the opposition has accused you, as Minister of Social Welfare, for being responsible for the fact that Albanians are massively leaving the country. What is your comment on this?

I want to remind you that according to INSTAT, departures in recent years have averaged 67 thousand people per year, while today this number has lowered to 43 thousand people per year. What I want to remind you is that as long as we have a salary difference, as long as we have an economic difference, it is of course always more attractive to live in developed countries. This is why we are making arrangements with Canada, because we know that in Canada people’ s life and work quality is better than in Albania. Since we aspire to build a better future in Albania, I believe that the coming elections are important in order to increase people’s desire to live in our cities. I do not want to politicize, because there will be many occasions to talk during the campaign, but it turns out that most people are departing from the municipalities managed by those who yell more. So I would like this to be a moment for a little reflection, because poverty was not born in a day. And these municipalities, mainly in the north, mismanaged by those who scream more, have even greater losses. So, before you point a finger, I believe that a little reflection and an apology is needed, for eight years of mismanagement and for municipalities that do not do even their minimum for their citizens, who as a consequence leave massively from municipalities ruled by the DP. But as I said, this is not a time for politics. This is a moment for reflection and for work.

Thank you very much!