"There is no reform without pain", Rama: The 2014 pension scheme will not be repealed, it will undergo radical changes

"Choosing between short-term pain and long-term pain because there is no reform without pain," said Prime Minister Rama.

The government has chosen the former! The 2014 pension scheme will not be repealed, but it will undergo radical changes. In parallel with the reform, the state will continue to provide two pensions to the elderly each year.

"Pension reform is a marathon, not a sprint. All the sprints have led us to the situation of 2014," Rama said.

At the international conference on pension system reform, Prime Minister Edi Rama did not spare himself the ironies regarding the opposition's promises for the elderly.

"Those who have nothing in their hands promise everything desirable and imaginable. Promising everything desirable and imaginable means waging war on facts, turning your back on experts, expertise, and staring into an abyss," Rama said.

While highlighting the three main causes that threaten the current pension scheme to the point of impossibility, the World Bank's Director for the Western Balkans, Xiaoqing Yu, also showed how the mistakes of the past should be corrected in the future.

"Emigration, high informality and under-declaration of wages are harming pensions. Private pensions must definitely have a complementary role, be additional. Changes in the pension scheme will only succeed if the public understands the need for pension reform. Informing the public is the most important public for success, you have our support for the reform of the pension system", said Xiaoqing Yu, World Bank Director for BP.

If these mistakes are not corrected, the elderly in the country will never be able to age with dignity. The money they receive is not enough, and this was also acknowledged by the Minister of Economy, Culture and Innovation, Blendi Gonxhja.

"The effort so far to address the insufficiency of income for pensioners with bonuses and other transfers, where last year we granted the highest bonus ever given and this year we also provided the new spring bonus, needs a long-term solution and in the long term it is not even sustainable," said Blendi Gonxhja, Minister of MEKI.

With the help of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Albania has drafted a draft document to change the pension scheme that is expected to be released for public consultation soon.  (A2 Televizion)