Rama calls on students to engage in dialogue: Scholarships rise to 25,000 lekë, zero-interest loans and jobs paying half the minimum wage

Prime Minister Edi Rama invited students to sit down for dialogue and announced a series of support measures. These include raising scholarships to 25,000 new lekë for students from families facing financial hardship and extending this support to those pursuing master’s degrees.

He also announced measures to ease housing costs, loans at zero or 3% interest, and employment opportunities for students at half the minimum wage.

Rama’s speech:

I want to address students in particular.

I have followed you closely over the past few weeks. I have been in occasional contact with some of you, as well as with lecturers and parents who have written to me or whom I have spoken with to learn more.

I will begin by saying that the atmosphere of fear created by a violent minority on university campuses and on your phones, in an effort to push the majority into protesting or not attending classes, is unacceptable. Equally unacceptable is the boycott of classes by some politicized lecturers, who are trying to use students as cannon fodder; this is not the first time they have acted this way.

On the latter issue, we will amend the relevant law after consulting the forum of rectors. The right to criticize, protest and hold a lawful strike is one thing; arbitrariness and coercion against those who want to attend classes are another.

Beyond that, I want to share some simple facts directly with you and with all Albanians.

I am fully aware that many of your families are struggling, with the rising cost of living adding to their difficulties. The package of relief measures I have just presented is a clear sign of that awareness.

I also understand your situation. I do not intend to compare you with previous generations, but there is one issue on which I want to be clear:

I do not accept the language of force, coercion or violence. Nor will I compromise with anyone on the values of European civilization, the Albanian tradition of taking turns to listen, or the principles of democratic coexistence.

When I was a young lecturer at the Academy of Arts, I joined other students and lecturers in rebelling against a brutal regime. We sought freedom and open dialogue, not coercion or violence against different opinions. That courageous, peaceful movement spread throughout the university. Students brought the communist President to the negotiating table, and political pluralism began with that process.

Later, as opposition leader, I sent letters calling for dialogue to my predecessor as well, who treated talking to an opponent as though it were humiliating.

As prime minister, after the mass protest of 2018, I also worked with students through dialogue to develop the Pact for the University. Then, too, it took several weeks for talks to begin. Meanwhile, those same misguided lecturers—from a blind neo-communist to several blinded democrats—along with young people following them as devotees of false idols, were saying what they say today: “There will be no dialogue; meet our demands!”

But freedom cannot work through ultimatums. Otherwise, instead of democratic coexistence, we would have survival in the jungle. We cannot accept the logic of “Do as we say, or we will smash and burn everything; we will not go to class, but we do not want to be marked absent.”

I invite you to meet with me wherever and whenever you wish, to discuss what more you think we should do and what I can do better for you, the university and Albania.

Please do not believe the unfair claims repeated by some of those who threw stones while others applauded them on corrupt TV screens: that I supposedly ignored you during four months of peaceful protest and that, for this reason, violence was the only solution. In reality, I listened to them more than anyone else. They were outside my window every night while I worked in my office, but their message remained the same from the first day: “There will be no dialogue; resign!”

I remember their speeches by heart, but amid that cacophony of anger and nationalist folklore, I could not discern a vision, an idea or a challenging criticism. God forbid that the prophets of the Albanian nation should have turned in their graves because of them.

For students who do not know about the benefits provided by the Pact for the University, and for those who might be swayed by skilled agitators on Instagram and TikTok into joking around without doing the math or examining figures and facts, here are some numbers:

– Today, 60% of students, or 6 in 10, receive at least one form of direct state support thanks to the Pact.

– Scholarships for outstanding academic performance are awarded to 4,118 students.

– Another 4,648 students receive scholarships because they come from families in need.

– 434 outstanding students receive a monthly scholarship equal to the minimum wage.

– University tuition fees have been fully waived for 10,152 students.

– For another 27,050 students, the government covers 50% of tuition fees.

These figures show that the government funds three-quarters of public universities. At the University of Medicine in Tirana, where a group of students have stopped attending classes for two weeks and blocked “Durrës Road,” disrupting people’s work and movement, tuition fees account for less than 20% of the cost per student. Through the Pact for the University, the government covers more than 80% of the cost of medical studies, excluding students who receive a full tuition waiver or a 50% reduction.

It should be remembered that this money comes from business contributions, including those of businesses on “Durrës Road” that have been forced to close because of the stones, as well as from other businesses affected by the disruption of the movement of goods and services. It also comes from residents and businesses in Tirana and throughout Albania, whose peace and work and income have been affected by weeks of violence and anarchy.

In Tirana, student payments for dormitories cover less than a third of the annual cost. This does not include the investments already made or those planned to expand capacity and improve quality. Incidentally, another 100 million euros for dormitories was negotiated and approved some time ago.

The Pact for the University is not an Instagram or TikTok post, nor a forgotten campaign promise from parties that offer the impossible while knowing they will never deliver. It is the agreement reached between us, universities and students in 2018, whose benefits you still receive today.

If you want us to review the Pact and leave a contribution for the students who come after you, you are welcome to do so. We can do this through dialogue, with understanding and patience. I am always ready to meet at the place and time you choose.

The good news for you, as a result of economic growth, is that scholarships for all students from families facing financial hardship will increase by 15,000 new lekë. They will rise to 25,000 lekë, effectively half the minimum wage. This benefit will also be extended to master’s students.

The new housing bill, which is now before Parliament, provides for measures to ease costs for students and young couples. These include rent co-financed by the government and loans at zero or 3% interest, subject to the criteria and conditions set out in the law.

There will also be a new feature in work placements: businesses will be required, under a specific formula, to employ students at half the minimum wage.

That is all for students for today.

In the coming days, we will create a digital space for dialogue. It will allow people who are afraid—even in 2027—to communicate with me. It is difficult to understand the fear of expressing one’s views freely while claiming that Albania can be taken over. The page will serve especially those who fear online abusers and will help me and my colleagues hear and gather as many views from students as possible.

Friends,

Albania is far too small to become an arena for primitive conflicts. Further economic growth and the creation of opportunities to distribute more income require stability, security, calm and work. We need work, effort and perseverance, without pause.

The continuation of the protest by the flamingos, with all kinds of crows and ravens thirsting for conflict, power, social and religious division, destabilization and revenge for Albania’s international success, harmed tourism. As a result, income that we could have generated during the summer season and redistributed was lost.

The noisy events of recent weeks cannot bring down the government, but they have harmed the economy and Albania. For two weeks, the country has been showing scenes that do not attract tourists but drive them away; that do not encourage investment but hold it back; and that do not bring money in but drive it out of the country.

Why is this happening, and whose interests could justify such a blind conflict?

I do not want to speak today about those who are at the forefront, involved in or behind this complicated situation. But one thing is clear:

This confrontation brings nothing good to Albania. On the contrary, it harms everyone who lives in this country and wants to build a future through honest work, raise their children here and live in a shared home that can be better for everyone.

I am here for these people. This government and this governing majority will remain in office until the final day of their term.

The others will find me standing against them: ready for dialogue whenever and wherever they wish, but also ready to enforce the law and the rules of democratic coexistence whenever they violate the law and the country’s democratic order.

The state may sometimes be slow, but it never forgets!

I am not a blogger or an influencer, and my job is not to win likes. My responsibility is to lead Albania toward its historic goal: a seat at the European Union table. That is why I will not stop, and no one will stop us. Who are we? We are the majority of Albanians!