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Berisha: With the Open Balkans, Rama encouraged the massive departure of farmers from their farms and Albania

Politiko 2025-04-17 20:22:46

Berisha: With the Open Balkans, Rama encouraged the massive departure of farmers

Opposition leader Sali Berisha stressed that, despite the huge spending on other projects, citizens and farmers have been neglected, citing the poverty that has engulfed pensioners and agriculture, as well as the unfair competition that has come with the Open Balkans. Berisha compared the salaries and pensions of Albanians to those of neighboring countries such as Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia, describing this as a deep social and economic injustice.

Berisha : Friends, it is difficult to find any other country with working people, working people, like in this region, like in yours. But also with very great potential, with magnificent potential.
What happened 12 years ago?
The Albanian village was abandoned. Subsidies were cut off. The borders with the Open Balkans were opened for the products of Banas and Shumadi, the farmers of those areas have 8 times the subsidies of the Albanian farmer. In this way, the competition was broken, the competition was broken, the farmers of Berat and Albania went bankrupt in a series.
Edi Rama, with the Open Balkans, encouraged the massive departure of farmers from their farms and from Albania.
Dear friends, the men and women of Berat and Albania who poured their lives into construction, in education, in health, in every field, knew these 12 years a poverty of the most unacceptable. Their pensions remained what they were, while the prices of the goods they were supposed to buy with their pensions doubled and more than doubled.
A pensioner from Berat, who in 2013 received 143 thousand lek, the average pension, today receives 173 thousand lek at most. A pensioner in Montenegro, who in 2013 received 138 thousand lek, today receives 450 thousand lek. The same amount is received by a pensioner in Macedonia, the same amount is received by a pensioner in Serbia. And those pensioners do not have Berat, they do not have the diamond of the cultural crown of humanity.
Therefore, we come to you, citizens of Berat, of all political persuasions, we come with a solemn pledge, that we will do nothing but return your money, the money that the government takes from you.
But why did the pension of the Montenegrins triple? How did it triple in 12 years? Simply. The government of Montenegro returned the tax money it took from its citizens.
Yes. The most basic law for a government is that when it allocates the budget, this percentage will be returned to those who provide the budget.
What did they do?
You know the pensions themselves, I'm not counting them here where they are. But I'll tell you one thing. Out of 760 thousand pensioners, 57% of them are on an incomplete pension. So, they have a pension of less than 170 euros. So, they have a pension, as you said very nicely, that is not enough for medicine, that is not enough for a bite to eat.
Was there an extraordinary injustice here?
Thousands and thousands of families could no longer afford to feed their children, and were forced to tell them: follow your destiny, son or daughter.
Meanwhile, the governments of the surrounding countries, no. They increased pensions, they increased low salaries. In 2013, our minimum salary was 180 euros. Romania had 160 euros. It had a total of 830 lei. Romania today has a minimum wage of 3300 lei. Yes, of course, because any government with the slightest sense of compassion and respect for its citizens returns the money to its citizens.