In February, Albania and Italy singed the social insurance agreement, which will regulate pension benefits in both countries.

The agreement was signed by the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Igli Hasani and the Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani during a ceremony in Rome.

The long-awaited deal on recognizing each other’s social insurance contributions was signed after around 15 years of negotiations and it will benefit more than 500,000 Albanian residents in Italy and around 20, 000 Italians who have worked in Albania.

While Albania has similar agreements in place with many other countries, the deal with Italy holds particular significance given Italy’s status as the second-largest host of Albanian migrants after Greece.

Albania has signed bilateral agreements for the recognition of social insurance with several countries such as: Hungary, Canada, Türkiye, Belgium, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, Croacia and Kosovo. Italy adds to this list once the agreement enters into force.

In the meantime, agreements are currently in the process of negotiations with the Netherlands, Romania, Greece and France.

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In a message, Prime Minister Edi Rama hailed the agreement on retirement benefits as a beautiful day for the Albanian families living and working in Italy.

“Today is a beautiful day for Albanian families in Italy. Their honest work, their consecutive years of tireless work to build a household economy by giving their toil and sweat, their contribution to economy and social insurance in the dear neighboring country, will pay off as of today with their pension that everyone will receive according to what they deserve.

Today marks a day of triumph for politics as a treasured tool to deliver and make the ordinary people’s lives better, safer and more decent. For me it is one of those lucky days when the feeling of being helpful for the people of this country becomes obvious and depletes to zero the whole heavy burden of the smear and mudslinging in the political and media arena.

This is one of the days when I openly state that I really don’t mind all the scolding, accusations, slander, endless speculations that sometimes become so much that you would want to say: “to hell with it all!” But then the effort goes on and on, patiently and with perseverance to see days like this, when the endeavor and refusal to give up in the face of troubles, obstacles, delays, which sometimes turn into procrastination against your will, pay off and is rewarded with the smile of the families that have been waiting for what that they truly deserve.

Today, more than 500,000 Albanians can look delighted for the end of a long 30-year plus odyssey. They have been long waiting for this day to come since we started talks with the then Italian government on the pension rights for the Albanian migrants around ten years ago. At first it seemed quite impossible due to the significant financial cost of such a deal. But we succeeded in this too. In the last ten years, we have also launched and successfully concluded the negotiations on the pension rights agreements with 16 more countries, from Germany to Canada, while all the previous governments combined had concluded only one agreement with Türkiye, which was also negotiated by a Socialist administration around 20 years ago.

Today is the day to thank all those who listened to us and supported us from the friendly Italian side. There are many more than that, but I would like to particularly thank five people:

Italian Senator Tommaso Nannicini, who was personally committed to keeping alive the extremely difficult process of prolonged negotiations throughout endless labyrinths of the Italian bureaucracy;

The former Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, dear friend Luigi di Maio, who gave the process a significant boost during his term in office;

The Italian ambassador in Tirana, Fabrizio Bucci, without whom this process wouldn’t probably have survived the dormancy of endless delays;

Our Albanian Ambassador in Rome, Anila Bitri, who committed herself to working closely with the Italian authorities as a spokesperson for the legitimate rights of all Albanians, who have worked and paid social insurance contributions in Italy.

And last, not least in terms of importance, the Prime Minister of Italy and the precious fellow companion in the efforts to further strengthen Albanian-Italian relations, Giorgia Meloni, without whom today’s signing of the final document of this vital agreement for the Albanians of Italy, simply would not have happened.

Today I am very proud of the overall outcome of the effort made by the Socialist government in support of Albanian immigrants, who thanks to this effort enjoy the recognition right to their work and hardship in 16 countries, where they will be rewarded as pensioners based on social insurance contributions they have paid through their hard work.

This effort won’t certainly end here, because many more agreements are to be concluded until the last Albanian worker abroad enjoys the right to recognition of their work, wherever they have paid social insurance contributions in another country.

But today is the day to end this message by extending a greeting to all Albanians working in Italy:

Congratulations on your well-deserved pension rights!

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The government also said via a post on the social media that a similar agreement on recognition of the social insurance contributions and pension rights with Italy will be ratified soon.

“The agreement will be entitled the citizens of both countries the right to receive full benefits from their social contributions,” PM Rama said.

The agreement provides for social insurance benefits and is based on the principle of equal treatment of employees, self-employed people and employers.

Albania has already signed deals on mutual recognition of social insurance contributions and pension rights with Hungary, Canada, Türkiye, Belgium, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Czech Republic, Federal Republic of Germany, Austria and Kosovo. Croatia will soon add up to the list once the agreement on mutual pension rights recognition enters into force.

In the meantime, negotiations are underway to sign agreements on recognition of social insurance contributions with the Netherlands, Romania, Greece, France and Italy.

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The government head appreciated “the Swiss government, lawmakers and the technical teams that worked hard to deliver on this long-awaited accord for the Albanian citizens working and contributing in the friendly Switzerland.”

The Premier also said that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pledged that the parliament will soon ratify the agreement on recognition of pension rights.

Today’s agreement allows Albanian citizens to receive pension payment when living abroad, while the governments of both countries pledge to cooperate closer to prevent potential fraudulent social contribution claims.

The agreement also eases movement of both Swiss and Albanian citizens and protects them from the double social insurance contributions.

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The government head said that “once the technical process completes, all the required procedures will ensue for the ratification of the deal.”

“Around 3000 Albanian nationals working in Croatia are entitled to benefit from this accord, which will be ratified by the parliaments of both countries once the technical process completes,” PM Rama said.

The Albanian delegation was headed by the Deputy Finance and Economy Minister Olta Manjani, whereas the Croatian delegation was lead by Melita Čičak, Director of Croatia’s Pension System.

The two parties agreed to continue cooperating towards finalization of a full agreement on coordination of the social insurance schemes of both countries in compliance with the European legislation standards on the field of social insurances.

The government of Albania remains committed to protecting its citizens’ rights so that their work and social insurance contributions are recognized and guaranteed by law.

Albania has already signed agreements on mutual recognition of pension rights with Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany, North Macedonia, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Austria, Turkey and Belgium.

Negotiations on recognition rights are already underway with countries like Greece and Italy, two countries hosting the largest number of Albanian nationals living and working abroad, and the process has been advanced with states like Canada and Switzerland.

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The government head expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Mario Draghi, and Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio, who have been personally involved in resolving such a vital issue to so many Albanians residing in Italy.

“As part of the continued communication with the Italian government and political parties on the pension rights agreement, the Italian Parliament has included in Italy’s 2022 budget bill an amendment to launch the process on de facto recognition of pension benefits for Albanian nationals with work contributions to the friendly country,” PM Rama said.

The government head stated that contacts will continue until the budget bill is ultimately approved.

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