The leader of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, attacked Prime Minister Edi Rama today, calling him a thief who steals citizens' money.
Berisha made the comments during a meeting with citizens in Saranda, where he said that only in Albania have pensions not been increased, as has been done in all countries in the region.
Berisha also said that today everyone in the government is eating pears all day with Prime Minister Edi Rama and is stealing from citizens every day, writes A2 CNN.
Excerpt from Berisha's speech:
Dear citizens of Saranda, Konispol, and the entire region. Brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, my warmest greetings to you.
Dear, Mr. Bujar Leskaj, political leader of the Vlora district. Dear Ms. Ina Zhupa, political leader of the Saranda district.
Dear chairmen and chairmen of the branches of the DP and ASHM, the honorable Mr. Vangjel Dule, chairman of the PBDNJ and a valuable ally in our alliance.
A heartfelt greeting to our candidates who are the true pride of ASHM, the pride of the citizens of the Saranda district, the Vlora region and all of Albania.
Talking about Saranda, about the magnificent Saranda, about the magnificent Albania is more grounded than anywhere else, because in every view you see of this area there is eternal grandeur. Saranda has an extraordinary cultural, natural heritage. Saranda is the region of the most beautiful jewels of the culture of humanity. It has the most amazing natural cultural park, which perhaps no other place in the world has.
Saranda has the greatness of its people. Here in this region, Albanians, Greeks, Romanians, people of different origins have lived in peace, harmony for centuries. In this context, Saranda and the south is a major university of freedoms and human rights, of mutual respect.
So, this is the Saranda that the Sarandians inherit, that Albania inherits.
Yes, what is our Saranda today?
Saranda, today is the city of elderly men and women, who, after having melted their lives, their energies, in this city and in this region, experience the tyranny of misery. They experience a survival with a pension, the most ridiculous, the most undeserved.
Friends, let us not forget one thing. We who lived through the Stalinist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, we summarized it with a general term, dictatorship. But, in fact, it was a dictatorship of class struggle, but it was just as much a dictatorship with the tyranny of misery and poverty that it imposed on the Albanians with its hyper-collectivization.
Today, there is no hypercollectivization. But, today, the pensioner, the construction worker, the farm worker, today, the doctor, the teacher, the engineer, the professional, lives with a pension that makes daily food more and more difficult. Which forces him to say to his grandchildren: go, that's all I have. There's no more for you here! Take the roads of the world!
Who, let this lady, this gentleman, leave him without medication. I'm not taking my medication this week, because I can't afford it.
Who manages to afford medicine with an average pension of 172 thousand lek?
Who can satisfy themselves, or their people, with a ridiculous pension like this? Let's not forget that 57% of these men and women do not receive 172 thousand lekë, no. 57% of pensioners have much smaller, partial and partial pensions.
So what happened here with this place?
How is it possible that poverty, extreme poverty, has returned without mercy? Yes, yes! Because, from 2013 to today, the prices of food and basic necessities have more than doubled. A liter of milk is twice as expensive, a kilogram of meat is the same, bread is the same, and so on.
Economists have proven that if the pension were to follow the increase in prices, to be a little higher, it would today be 390 thousand lek.
So, a pensioner who received a pension of 143 thousand lek in 2013, to live today as they did that year, would need a pension of 390 thousand lek.
Why didn't this happen?
What did Albania have that didn't happen? Was there a war? No, there wasn't. What did this country have?
This country only had one thing. These citizens were robbed, robbed, like no other citizen in Europe.
So, why does the citizen of Montenegro, who received a pension of 138 thousand lek in 2013, receive 450 thousand today?
Why does a citizen of North Macedonia, who received a pension of 130 thousand lek in 2013, receive 380 thousand lek today?
So why does a Serbian citizen, who received a pension of 135 thousand lek in 2013, receive 405 thousand lek today?
Why these? They didn't have prime ministers like this one who would tell them: Albanians are lazy. What kind of lazy people are pensioners? God forbid you use such a word about them.
But, you're a thief, you steal from them and don't give them the money they deserve.
Can Saranda be great, then, the Saranda of men and women who count their food, who don't take their medicine?
Can Saranda be grand? There's all this theater, hundreds and thousands of years ago. Today there's no theater.
Can Saranda be great, when its children have been declining in the quality of education year after year, from 2013 until today, and two years ago we had the biggest decline in the world in the education quality test, because they have group classes, because they have two shifts, because some teachers have become militants, etc., etc.
Can Saranda be great when it has a hospital but no medical services? Can Albania be great when it lets the sick die from lack of medicine in the clutches of disease? And where the country's prime minister says: yes, crimes against humanity are being committed in the Oncology Hospital.
But if you say crimes against humanity have been committed, and they have been committed, I tell you by definition, it is a crime against humanity, if you leave the sick person without medication, which is vital to prolonging their life or saving their life.
But if you, you know, you know that crimes have been committed, what measures did you take? None! Yes, why? Because you are the author of the crimes.
You only asked, like a primitive man who knows no answers, to dismiss the doctor. But, if the doctor has put his hand on the funds for the patient's medicine, he should receive the most severe punishments as a criminal for serious crimes against humanity. But the doctor has not put his hand where his minister has put his hand. Those who say, you are eating pears behind my back, are eating pears all day long with it and are robbing the citizen all day long with it. (A2 Televizion)
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