“Comment is free, but facts are sacred.” — C. P. Scott, 1921.
For the fourth time outside the Prime Minister’s Office, pensioners demand decent pensions
Erblin Vukaj · Originally published: 12 November 2024
The protest and positions on pensions
Lëvizja Bashkë continued its protests outside the Prime Minister’s Office for the fourth time on Tuesday, demanding more decent pensions. The protest repeated calls to establish a subsistence minimum and adopt a special legal status for miners.
Pensioners’ anger concerns the 4.1% indexation of pensions and the government’s lack of support for revising pension amounts. Most considered the indexation “a mockery.”
For nearly a month, the government has held public meetings to talk with pensioners, but it has refused dialogue with the movement’s Pensionistët Bashkë group.
In its statements, the government has justified its position by pointing to the difficulty of increasing pensions without first reforming the social contribution system.
But Lëvizja Bashkë’s Pensionistët Bashkë group thinks otherwise. At today’s protest, its members said the government has money, but in most cases it is misused or stolen through corrupt schemes similar to those employed in concessions or fictitious tenders.
Prime Minister Rama has publicly placed responsibility on business owners, who he says evade contributions by falsely declaring wages. He has announced a campaign of penalties in response.
Indexation and pensioners’ incomes
Albania currently has around 791 thousand pensioners, 92% of whom receive pensions through the social insurance scheme. The remainder are covered by special schemes, such as those for former military personnel, miners and oil workers.
In urban areas, the government’s 4.1% indexation has added around 752 lek to pensions, while in rural areas the increase is 453 lek. Yet average pensions of 15,000–19,000 lek remain below the subsistence minimum of 20,000 lek per month.
In a Citizens.al online survey, 87.5% of pensioners said they struggled financially to make it through the month, and most spent the majority of their income on medicines, leaving them dependent on financial support from their children.