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Ditari i Opozitës

Berisha in Gjirokastër: 21 percent of Albanian families cannot provide three meals a day to their children

Politiko 2025-04-24 21:03:36

Berisha in Gjirokastër: 21 percent of Albanian families cannot provide

Berisha: Gjirokastrians and Gjirokastrians, good evening and my warmest greetings to you in this square, to all the citizens of this city, to all the residents of the Gjirokastër district wherever you are tonight, in Albania, emigration and diaspora.
Boundless gratitude for this fantastic reception, the best message that you convey to Albanians today.
But I bring you tonight the greetings of the citizens of a tour that started in Vora, continued in Fier, Himara, Borsh, Saranda and that stopped here in Gjirokastër, the true tour of hope, optimism and victory.
Dear Mr. Tritan Shehu, political leader of the Gjirokastër district, dear heads of the DP branches of this district, dear and honored candidates for DP deputies, dignified representatives of the Gjirokastër district, a special pride for this district and Albania.
My friends, tonight I am before you to present our project of a magnificent Gjirokastra, a magnificent Albania.
Whoever knows the alphabet of this region, of this city, of this district, finds greatness, a magnificent heritage of this land, finds antiquity, finds the genius of Albanian letters such as Ismail Kadare, finds great men, invincible warriors.
Finds Antigone, one of the greatest cultural legacies.
But finds the great, tolerant spirit of the inhabitants of this region, in which Albanians, Greeks, Aromanians live fraternally, live in complete understanding with each other.
So we have a magnificent heritage, we also have a magnificent spirit among the citizens of Gjirokastra.
But still we cannot say that we have today's magnificent Gjirokastra.
We cannot say that we still have the magnificent future of Gjirokastra.
We cannot say this because today in Gjirokastra and throughout Albania, according to independent UNICEF sources, 21 percent of Albanian families cannot provide three meals a day to their children, they do not have any.
Friends, I will apologize for telling you a moment from my humble life. In 1988, a plenum was held and, to the shame of that regime, they decided to give the farmer a kid and a lamb. They would take the kid, they would leave the lamb.
At that meeting, I took the floor, and Sali Berisha at that meeting, made the apotheosis of the cow.
I gave a speech about the cow where I asked for it to be returned and I argued everything with the protein minimum that was a basis of the vital minimum. Its lack kept people hungry, aged them prematurely and shortened their lives.
Years later, a French delegation came to Albania, a friend of mine with a group of deputies.
He asked me, Sali, how are you doing?
We have problems, we are poor.
No, Sali, you are fine. Because they had gone to Preza, they had seen the children's eyes. They were fed. They were not hungry.
Today UNICEF says that 21 percent of Albanian families cannot provide three meals a day to their children.
Today 760 thousand pensioners have ridiculous pensions.
Today 57 percent of 760 thousand pensioners receive a pension below 160 euros.
Today the village has a pension of 120 euros.
Today economic aid is ridiculous.
That's it, friends.
But if the price increases were followed, all pensioners today would not be able to have a pension below 390 euros to live as they lived in 2013.
While the government excluded them, it left them in what is classified as extreme poverty.
Extreme poverty is tyranny, misery. It is tyranny, it is oppression, it is dullness, it is humiliation, it is devaluation.
Can this be the great Gjirokastra? Never.
Can this be the great Albania? Never.
My friends, I am not comparing today with the Stalinist dictatorship, but in the 70s, a great, immortal poet wrote a poem, Sahara, and he compared Albania to the Sahara.
Among other things, he says that the Sahara does not see dreams because they were oppressed.
But where are we with the dream today? Our dream today is the youth. But the youth are fleeing.
Today we are a country without a dream. What dream can we have when 600 thousand young people have fled in the last 10 years?
What dream can we have when the schools of Gjirokastra and all of Albania have reduced the number of students to the maximum?
When in Labovo, in Maleshovo, in other areas, classes with two students, classes without students?
What is happening to Albania and Gjirokastra?
Aren't we shrinking in a terrible way.
There is no nation in history that in 10 years has lost, as European statistics say, 1 million and 99 thousand Albanians in the EU space alone.
So, is there an inner calling from the soul of this nation?
Is there a calling from the depths of this land, to save Albania, to give Albania the greatness it deserves.