Rama noted that the survey highlighted the lack of accountability for poor performance, calling it a critical issue alongside low salaries.

The head of the government praised the Albanian public administration, citing as an example its performance during the negotiation process with the European Union.

“Albania’s EU journey was championed not by a few, but by 1,000 dedicated state employees in Brussels. They excelled in the most grueling phase of accession: the full institutional audit of the country’s entire state apparatus”, he said.

The prime minister said that, “The performance of that administration was one of the reasons why France, Denmark and the Netherlands have given Albania more points in their respect index,” he emphasized.

Rama emphasized that while parts of the public administration are built on merit, appointments are sometimes driven by non-professional criteria. /e.i/a.f/r.e/p.s./

Applications for the scheme were opened yesterday, at 08:00, while the number of first applications, according to the minister, shows the high interest in programs that facilitate the purchase of a home.

Of the first 267 applications, 111 are from the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, 54 from the Ministry of Defense, 40 from the Ministry of Education and Sports, 36 from the Ministry of Interior and 26 from the Ministry of Justice.

“267 citizens have expressed interest in the first 24 hours for the 0% interest loan for public administration employees. Applications opened yesterday, at 08:00, and the high interest shows the need for programs that make it easier to buy a home,” said Ibrahimaj.

The minister announced that since 2023, around 1,130 public administration employees have benefited from the 0% interest loans.

“We will continue to expand opportunities for affordable housing and support families and young people to own their own home,” Ibrahimaj said. /e.xh/a.f/p.s./

The Legal Overlap System improves legislative quality by helping experts spot redundant or conflicting laws.

Meanwhile, according to e-Albania, the European Integration platform uses AI to fast-track the translation and alignment of domestic laws with EU standards, while human experts retain final decision-making power.

The eIAD tax system uses data to spot risk and mistakes. This helps tax staff work with greater speed and precision.

For everyday citizens, the e-Albania platform offers Diella, a virtual assistant that answers questions and simplifies access to public documents.

As noted by e-Albania, all these digital tools share one goal: using technology to make government work faster, clearer and closer to the people. /e.i/j.p/p.s./

In this context, Director General of the Tax Office Ilir Binaj paid a working visit to Prishtina to meet his counterpart Mentor Hyseni, together with the institution’s management staff.

During the meeting, they reviewed strategic priorities to improve tax administration and compliance. Key topics included revenue collection, taxpayer relations, debt management and enforcement practices.

On his part, Hyseni positively assessed the cooperation between the two administrations, emphasizing that the exchange of experiences and professional expertise is essential for addressing common challenges and strengthening institutional capacities.

While Binaj emphasized the need for closer inter-institutional collaboration, focusing on the exchange of best practices and joint action on shared objectives.

Both institutions reaffirmed their commitment to collaborating on joint programs, sharing professional insights and advancing reforms. Together, they aim to boost institutional performance, enhance tax compliance and deliver better services to taxpayers.

/j.p/p.s./

This draft law modernizes state administration by standardizing planning and reporting through a unified monitoring system. By publicly releasing institutional performance reports, the government is making public sector results transparent and highly visible to citizens.

This draft law reforms non-ministerial bodies into subordinate institutions and autonomous agencies, ensuring better oversight and ministerial accountability. It specifically targets administrative bloat by limiting the creation of small agencies, allowing ministries to absorb these functions for greater efficiency.

The draft law decentralizes decision-making by empowering general directorates to handle routine processes, reserving only specific legal cases for the minister or secretary general. This streamlines operations, frees secretaries’ general to focus on strategic priorities, and reinforces administrative accountability.

A core aim of the reform is to establish strict criteria for placing institutions under the Prime Minister, preventing the center of government from becoming overloaded. This allows the Prime Minister to focus on intersectional coordination and top priorities. Additionally, the draft law ensures that any new structures are strictly necessary, time-bound, and goal-oriented.

By setting clear rules for hiring, career progression, and dismissal, this reform directly improves public services like hospitals and schools. Citizens will experience a tangible difference through the increased professionalism, integrity, and performance of the staff they rely on every day.

Endorsed by the European Commission and OECD/SIGMA, these proposed changes aim to build a modern, accountable administration focused not on internal procedures, but on delivering tangible results that improve citizens’ lives.

/j.p/p.s./

During presentation of the program for security and public order, Berisha expressed his belief that there are many law enforcement officers who are eager to make the law, to be allowed to make the law”.

“I say, those who under the shadow of crime frighten today cities and citizens, will receive the punishment they deserve. Zero tolerance towards organized crime. But, this battle will start with government crime. It will start with ministers, collaborators of criminals, shields of criminals”, said Berisha, while warning of a battle with zero tolerance.

Berisha assured that, “There will be fight with zero tolerance against crime and corruption”.

“These two factors make the lives of Albanians insecure and sow insecurity in every citizen.

These two factors progressively impoverish Albanians, force them to leave Albania and those who remain, remain in complete insecurity. These two factors are organically linked to each other”, he said.

Berisha assured that all those who are incriminated will be fired from the State Police.

“The files of telephone conversations that prove the terrible connections of crime with politics will be made public. All those who have had connections with crime and the corrupted people will be brought to justice. This is a fight for the existence of Albania; it is not a fight for anyone’s chair,” he added. /m.m/j.p/p.s./

In answer to comments by a citizen on the poor level of the administration, PM Rama answered that, “To join the EU, one of the topics is monitoring the functioning of the administration. If the administration was not in the proper level, then we would not be the country with the calendar approved jointly with the European Commission to close negotiations by 2027 and become a member of the EU. If you look at the reports made by EU experts on functioning of the administration, you will see that Albania is in first place in the region in the classification table”, Rama said.

The head of government also reminded the citizen that there is no need to go to institutions to find solutions to problems, as long as the e-Albania platform exists, where there are offered 95% of services online.

/a.f//r.e/p.s./

Pirdeni said that over 55% of colleagues in administrative institutions are women, not as a result of quotas or any preferential scheme but, because they have proved that they belong to the public service mission.

“Every discussion and conversation on such an important day as today about the role of women in society often tends to lead to a rhetoric that elevates the role, without question deserved, of women, and somewhat overshadow the key role of men, for the benefit of European Albania”, said Pirdeni.

“Hence, a special thanks goes today to all those men who support women in their daily lives at work, in business, at home, to those who empower and promote them. But above all, to those who are proud of the women with whom they share their personal or professional lives and have the courage to say this, not only on March 8, but every day”, said the minister.

And to conclude, Pirdeni added, “I have no doubt that in every day of Albania’s European journey, in these last kilometers that remain to us, we will rely on all of you. You are the backbone of this society, a pillar that stands upright despite the difficulties.”/r.e/p.s./

According to the taxation administration, the country has seen a significant rise in tax revenue collections in November and in the 11-month period of 2024.

State budget revenue collections amounted to 32 billion lek in November, with 1.4 billion lek more than planned or 3 billion lek more collected compared to the same period last year.

Tax revenue since January totaled around 370 billion lek, 4.8 billion lek more than planned or 46.7 billion lek more collected than during the same period of 2023.

The increase is credited to improved compliance and economic growth and reflects relentless efforts of the tax administration to improve tax collections and fiscal consolidation.

/r.e/u.sh/

Prime Minister Edi Rama said today that these are the winning projects of the first international competition, where the state, through the Albanian Investment Corporation (AIC), benefits in the role of the owner.

Rama said that there are four projects which will be launched in an open competition for the construction of an administrative complex, for the systematization of a significant number of public institutions, the new State Cadastre complex, as well as two multifunctional buildings.

According to the prime minister, this saves millions of euros per year that go to rented offices and also creates a new platform for the development of public property, according to the best European models, as well as the transformation of public service infrastructure in accordance with Albania 2030 Vision.

For the first group for lot 1, COLDEFY (France) and Snohetta studios were chosen for the administrative structure, while for lot 2 the ANDREA CAPUTO (Italy) and SO-IL (USA) studios were chosen.

For the second group, the same BAUKUH studio (Italy) and Snohetta studio (Norway) were chosen for lot one and two.

The participating studios in the competition for the design of public administration buildings are Andrea Caputo (Italy) and So-il (USA), Coldefy (France), Embt Architects (Spain), Snohetta (Norway), Zaha Hadid Architects (Great Britain), Archi-Tectonics (USA), Architecture Studio (France), Baukuh (Italy), Cook Research (Great Britain), Mad Office (USA). /m.m/a.f/p.s./