TIRANA, Sept. 19 – The third term government led by Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama took office Saturday, following a swearing in ceremony at President Ilir Meta’s office.
The government had presented its program to parliament earlier in the week, which was approved at dawn on Friday, after a 20-hour marathon session of parliament.
The ruling Socialist Party enjoys a comfortable majority of 74 votes out of 140, coming out of the April 25 elections. The other three votes came from the Social-Democratic Party.
The new government program focuses largely on reconstruction and economic recovery following the 2019 earthquake and 2020 pandemic.
Prime Minister Rama has promised to erase all traces of the earthquake and vaccinate all Albanians aged 16 and over by next spring.
He said the government would provide financial support to revitalize “the most productive sectors of the economy”, in energy, agriculture, tourism, citing a series of construction sites on highways, airports and hydropower plants.
The government aims to grow the economy by an average of 4.5 percent a year, as well as reduce public debt to 60 percent by the end of the term, according to its program. Also, the average monthly salary is projected to increase by 25 percent by the end of the four-year period.
The salaries of teachers, doctors and nurses are intended to increase by 40 percent, of public administration employees by 30 percent and the average salary in the state administration from $720 a month to $850 a month by the end of the mandate.
Prime Minister Rama said that his government will lobby strongly for the rapid recognition of Kosovo by other countries and to help it become a country with full rights in the UN.
He stressed that EU integration remains the primary objective of the government, a path where it must move faster, until this process has a date when Albania can be a member of the European Union.
The new parliamentary session also marked the opposition’s return to parliament after more than two years of absence. Most opposition MPs resigned their seats in protest in February 2019, leading to an unusual period of one-party rule.
Main opposition Democratic Party leader, Lulzim Basha and his shadow cabinet provided a lengthy opposition view to parliament on the new government program, highlighting what they see as government failures in the past eight years.
Basha said the elections were stolen again as part of an “electoral massacre” that destroyed Albanian democracy. He added the Rama government had a black record filled with “lies and propaganda.”
Basha cited reports from several international institutions, noting that Albania has the highest poverty in the Balkans, the lowest income level in Europe, a high number of youth emigration, the highest corruption in the Balkans and is a country where money laundering has reached new heights.
He stressed that public debt has gone out of control, going from 60 percent to 80 percent, as the country consumes the most expensive oil in Europe and pays to build the most expensive roads “swallowed up by oligarchs and clients of power.”
The new cabinet has continuity from the previous one with most ministers holding on to their previous positions. The full list of the new ministers, notable for its highest number of women in Albania’s history, is below.
Edi Rama, Prime Minister;
Arben Ahmetaj, Deputy Prime Minister;
Bledi Çuçi, Minister of Interior;
Olta Xhaçka, Minister of Foreign Affairs;
Ogerta Manastirliu, Minister of Health;
Delina Ibrahimi, Minister of Finance (newcomer);
Niko Peleshi, Minister of Defense;
Evis Kushi, Minister of Education;
Ulsi Manja, Minister of Justice (newcomer);
Belinda Balluku, Minister of Infrastructure;
Frida Krifca, Minister of Agriculture (newcomer);
Mirela Kumbaro, Minister of Environment and Tourism (newcomer/previous minister);
Elva Margariti, Minister of Culture;
Elisa Spiropali, Minister for Parliament;
Edona Bilalli, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship (newcomer);
Bora Muzhaqi, Minister of State for Youth and Children (newly created position);
Milva Economi, Minister of State for Standards (newly created position).
