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Ditari i Opozitës

Berisha meeting at Kombinat: Salaries and pensions did not increase, while prices have more than doubled

Politiko 2025-04-19 20:10:11

The leader of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, held a meeting today with the citizens of the Kombinat area in Tirana. Berisha said during his speech that the Greater Albania program is the best project ever drafted and presented to the Albanians.

Commenting on the years of the previous DP government, Berisha said that at that time salaries in Albania were higher than in Bulgaria and Romania. He also added that pensions were higher than in these countries, but also in countries in the region.

PART OF BERISHA'S SPEECH:

Dear leaders of the DP. Dear Mr. Paloka, DP MP and candidate for DP MP. Mrs. Mimoza and Mr. Akil, our three excellent representatives for the citizens of the Kombinat and Tirana. Our dear friend Artur Roshi, loyal ally in all battles. I express my pleasure to be here today together with our representatives to present our program to you. To present our project for the next four years to you. I come here with the deepest conviction that we have managed to draft the best project we have ever presented to the Albanians. We have managed to draft such a project first because we have the best international expertise, two leading center-right foundations in the world, the Adenauer Foundation of Germany and the Heritage Foundation of the USA have reviewed and evaluated our program. They have made their suggestions.

But on the other hand, this program indisputably has the experience, it inherits the experience with which we, as you are witnesses, made a major change in the state's attitude towards citizens. And this change was expressed first of all in the giving, in the return of tax money to Albanian citizens. This is a fundamental principle for those who govern. Friends, the state is like a family. The one who leads the family has an obligation to distribute the family's income fairly among its members and to transparently show what it will do with the others. The same is true of the government, it has a duty to return what it collects from citizens, taxes, to the citizens first and to allocate the rest for services to them, for healthcare, for education, for roads, for schools, for public works.

What happened in Albania? A development that surpasses all imagination took place in Albania. If from 2005 to 2013, based on this principle, we return the money to the citizens, there is no teacher in Albania who can say that in that period my salary did not double. There is no doctor, no nurse who can prove that in those years, his salary did not double. There is no low pension that says that his pension did not double. There is no medium pension that says that his pension did not increase by 60 percent. There is no high pension that says that his pension did not increase by 40 percent. Why did this happen? Simply, the government collected money from you, which was yours, the first act, returned it to you. In this way, we achieved what had probably never existed before. We managed to be the best-paid citizens in the region. Salaries in Albania were higher than even in Bulgaria and Romania. Pensions in Albania were higher than in these countries, but also in the countries of the region.
This was Albania in 2013.

I do not stop at all to be proud, nor to praise, but to tell every Albanian that there is a principle for every government, and this principle is to return to Albanians the money that is taken from them. Where are we today? In 2025. 12 years ago, every pensioner in Albania received a larger pension than a pensioner in Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia and so on. The minimum wage in Albania was higher than in each of these countries, including Bulgaria and Romania. Today, if a pensioner in Albania receives an average pension of 170 euros, a pensioner in Montenegro receives 450 euros. He received 138 euros. But why? Because the government is obliged to return money to citizens every year. The minimum wage in Romania was 167 euros. It was 180 lei. Today the minimum wage in Romania is around 800 euros. Why? Because the government returned money to citizens. What happened to us? The government did not return money to citizens.

Not only that, that this is half the trouble. The other, more serious half of the trouble is that prices here have increased from year to year. That bread here today costs more than double what it cost in 2013. It cost 400-500 lek, it costs 900-1000 lek. That meat today costs 1600-1800 lek, it used to cost 700 lek. That tomatoes cost 100 lek, they cost 400 lek. So, to buy today as much as you bought in 2013, you need twice as much. And salaries did not increase, pensions did not increase. To cope with this increase, today every pensioner would have to have a pension of 390 euros. If the government says we will index them. If the government were honest to index them, your pension would be 390 euros. Therefore, the government of Montenegro, which indexed them, has a pension of 450 euros.