TIRANA, Oct 20 /ATA/ Following violent protests in Tirana, PM Edi Rama met with Education Minister Mirela Kumbaro and school heads to discuss measures, including lowering the age of criminal responsibility and restricting social media for children under 16.
“I don’t believe that the sole solution for minors is what EU countries dealing with this issue are currently doing—altering their approach to criminal responsibility and lowering the legal age,” Rama said. “It is an option we are actively studying to see if we should reduce the age for criminal liability, as several other nations have done. But that remains a tool of state force. What we truly need is state perseverance to connect with youth who have strayed off track and to support the families raising them.”
“In addition to these steps, we are examining international models,” Rama stated. “The time has come to address whether—and I firmly believe we must—and how we will restrict social media for children under 16. Furthermore, we must confront the digital aggressors who use these platforms to threaten, harass, insult, and shatter the peace of mind of families and target human dignity.”
The Prime Minister added that the government is drafting a regulatory package designed not only to penalize wrongdoers, but also to hold them financially liable for repairing damaged public and private property.
Rama stated that individuals who damage public property must pay for the harm caused, while emphasizing that liability should also extend to the families of minors involved in such acts.
“We are working intensively to prepare a package of measures—a package of measures that are not merely criminal in nature, but administrative, because whoever destroys must pay,” Rama said. “Whoever damages someone else’s property, whoever damages public property, whoever rips up sidewalk paving stones laid with this city’s taxpayers’ money, and whoever forces the city municipality and the government to redirect funds meant for schools, nurseries, and kindergartens toward repairs, must be pursued by the shadow of the state, which will follow them and demand full compensation down to the last penny.”
Prime Minister Edi Rama argued that parents must be held liable for property damage caused by their children, highlighting court orders that assign legal oversight to families.
Criticizing the judiciary’s perceived leniency, Rama noted that while judges appear “intimidated by political pressure and social fear,” courts have nonetheless upheld every single police detention as lawful. He pointed out that many detained individuals were minors placed under court-ordered parental supervision—a statutory mechanism under Albania’s Criminal Code that reinforces parental legal accountability.
PM Edi Rama announced that while vulnerable families will receive support, parents will ultimately be held financially liable for property damage caused by their children, ending absolute youth impunity.
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