TIRANA, July 9 /ATA/ The Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, participated on Saturday in the “Challenges and Perspectives of Local Government” training organized for first time- elected mayors by the Foundation “Qemal Stafa” and “Friedrich Ebert-Stiftung.”
He told the local elected that being the mayor of a municipality is as challenging as it is rewarding, as it serves the city.
“It is definitely the most stressful job in the country, but also the most rewarding job in the country. If there is any ranking of the most enthusiastic and impactful jobs, it’s definitely that of a mayor. I really hope you will enjoy this experience and it really is an extremely rewarding job. It is the only job when you make a decision in the morning and see the result in the evening,” Veliaj said.
The Mayor also said that taking the helm of a city does not mean that everyone likes it, as there are decisions that are not in everyone’s interest.
“Oftentimes in politics we want to be liked by everyone. In fact, in politics your work needs to sit well with 50 +1%. Prior to me was another mayor at the helm of Tirana Municipality. He wanted to be liked by everyone. And whenever he wanted to build a road and someone had built there without a permit, he said “I don’t want to raze it to the ground” and didn’t move ahead with the investment. In the end, in an effort to please everyone, he ended up with no works carried out during his term of office. Even though he thought he was popular, when people went to the polls, they thought otherwise,” said Veliaj.
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