Pensions with Italy, here's what immigrants benefit from

The pension recognition agreement with Italy will enter into force on June 1. The news was announced the day before by Prime Minister Edi Rama. But what does the agreement, which was signed on February 6, 2024, foresee?

This agreement gives Albanian emigrants the opportunity to be treated with a pension in Italy and Albania at the same time. There are about 500 thousand Albanian citizens and about 4 thousand Italian citizens, who will be beneficiaries of pensions in Italy and Albania, which will ensure the unification of contribution periods, making it possible for no working year to be lost.

But what are the concrete benefits of immigrants?

They benefit from old-age pensions; disability; family pensions; unemployment pensions; and coverage for illnesses and maternity.

Albania is known as a country with very high emigration in many countries around the world. How many agreements on pension recognition has our country signed so far?

12 such agreements have been finalized, with the most important being those with European Union countries, where the vast majority of Albanian emigrants reside. Meanwhile, four other agreements are nearing finalization, mainly with Balkan countries.

But there are cases like Greece, where the largest number of Albanian emigrants are located, with which we do not yet have an agreement on pensions. With this country, there is still no light at the end of the tunnel.

Negotiations are underway with Serbia and Poland, and negotiations on pension agreements are also expected to begin with Denmark; Spain; Slovenia and Moldova. This is despite the fact that these countries have a much smaller share in terms of the number of Albanian immigrants.

But where are Albanian immigrants distributed?

According to official data, the total number of Albanian immigrants exceeds 1.6 million. The majority of them live in Italy, followed by Greece and the United States of America./ A2CNN