Brunilda Haxhiu, deputy secretary-general of the Freedom Party, said today that the government’s economic policies have failed, stressing that Albanian citizens are facing food prices at European levels even though wages in the country remain much lower.
In her full statement, Haxhiu said that food prices in Albania are above the European Union average, while wages rank among the lowest in Europe, describing this as the balance sheet of the government’s failure.
Të lidhura
None found
According to her, data published by Eurostat and cited by INSTAT reflect an alarming situation. For the first time, she stressed, food prices in Albania have exceeded the European Union average, while Albanians’ income per capita remains only about 43% of the EU average and individual consumption about 48% of it. In other words, she said that Albanians pay more for food than Europeans, but earn less than half of what they do.
Haxhiu also referred to the latest Tradingpedia report, according to which Tirana is the second most expensive capital in Europe. She added that a family in Albania spends 89% of its income, calling this the greatest economic paradox of recent years and the clearest proof of the failure of the government’s economic policies.
She said that Albania has been flooded with imported goods, while domestic agriculture and livestock farming, according to her, have been neglected. Haxhiu said that a large number of farmers have been left out of agricultural support schemes and that the fuel subsidy for agriculture has now also been removed. According to her, production costs have risen, while the market is controlled by imported products, which are often sold at higher prices than in the countries they come from.
She went on to accuse the government of failing to pursue policies supporting domestic producers and Albanian consumers, and instead, according to her, creating an import-dependent economy in which a few oligarchs benefit while Albanian families lose out.
Haxhiu said that Albanians are paying more and more for the basic basket at a time when wages remain among the lowest in Europe. According to her, pensioners and vulnerable groups are finding it increasingly difficult every day to secure basic foodstuffs with the pensions and assistance they receive. She also added that young people are leaving the country because they see no prospects, bringing depopulation, brain drain and the ageing of Albanian society, while domestic businesses, according to her, suffer from a lack of workforce.
According to Haxhiu, it is clear that the Socialist Party has no interest in developing the Albanian economy, at a time when a country with extraordinary agricultural potential is importing more and more food and citizens are paying European prices for it with Albanian wages.
She said that the domestic economy has been harmed by the lack of policies for local production, high taxes on business, energy costs, lack of competition and an economy that, according to her, has been captured by the interests of a minority. Albanians, she said, know very well how much it costs to live in Albania, and they see this every day on their supermarket bill, where, according to her, the failure of this government is reflected.
Finally, Haxhiu also touched on the large civic protest that, according to her, has swept through the streets of Albania and the diaspora, showing the determination of patriots not to leave this prosperous country in the hands of a handful of people close to the government, but to pass it on to their children with a lower cost of living, better services and a stronger economy.
She stressed that the time has come for policies that support domestic production, Albanian farmers, higher wages and citizens’ purchasing power, adding that Albania cannot continue to be the country where food costs as much as in Europe while wages remain at half the level of the Balkans.
