In a statement on social media, the opposition MP said what should have been a joint national recovery effort “became an opportunity for abuse” by the Socialist government.

She said that despite international donors mobilising with grants and soft loans, and despite government pledges for swift reconstruction, the results remain “shocking”: inflated costs above 1.3 billion euros and many families still waiting for permanent housing.

Tabaku accused the government of violating basic public-finance rules by launching tenders without securing budget funds, concealing real costs and allowing them “to rise artificially day after day.”

She cited the example of a school built with EU funds costing about 600,000 euros, compared with 2.2 euros million for a similar school financed from the state budget, according to Tirana’s municipality.

“Years pass, costs rise, and thousands remain without homes, while reconstruction continues to be used as an electoral refrain of failure,” she added.

Tabaku also criticised the government’s preference for expensive eurobonds over more transparent and economical EU funds, which she said limit opportunities for misuse and do not carry long-term interest burdens for taxpayers.

“The 2019 earthquake became an opportunity to enrich a small group in power, while the majority of citizens are left to pay the bill,” she said.

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The opposition MP criticized the government decision on a 4.1% pension indexation rate as a “failed attempt to conceal the fall in purchasing power and the economic woes facing over 700 000 pensioners in Albania.”

Tabaku explains that an Albanian pensioner receives averagely 131 euros a moth, much less than their peers in the neighbouring countries in the region and in the European Union, where pension payment is almost twice as high.

According to her, retired people in Albania receive pensions that cannot meet their basic needs and “this is a great injustice that is being done to a generation that has given everything to this country.”

According to her, the pension and wages hike should not be merely a government propaganda manoeuvre. She said that the government’s current fiscal policies favour just a minority of privileged people, impoverishing the majority of the population.

The opposition MP said that “the failed pension scheme is directly linked with the country’s economic collapse.”

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