During today’s presentation of GRECO’s report on the fight against corruption, Prime Minister Edi Rama appreciated that, “This is a strong motivation to be very ambitious and go much further”.

In this regard, the prime minister emphasized that, “We are making concerted efforts for further progress, preparing another wave of good governance, rule of law and anti-corruption reforms”.

According to Rama, this will happen with a great involvement of all institutions and the interaction of the three independent powers: the executive, the legislative and the judiciary.

Rama also said that present-day Albania is at the forefront of the process of integrating the Western Balkan countries into the EU because it has the capacity to conclude the negotiation process within 2027 and has two reasons to feel fully motivated to become a member of the EU within this decade.

“Very soon we will continue with the opening of other chapters, contrary to what has been said in recent days in the political and media swamp,” Rama added. /p.s./

At the meeting of the Parliamentary group of the Socialist Party, the prime minister emphasized that, “The establishment of this commission was very unfairly imagined as an attempt by the SP to control justice”.

“I say, the commission is not only and directly related to the government, but also to independent institutions. And to understand the initiative one should consult the documents formulated during and at the end of the diagnostic process of Albania after the opening of negotiations, a process that in the language of the EU is called screening and which enables reading the state into detail”, said Rama.

Also, according to him, part of the process has been issues of money laundering, financial and capital market, labor market and inspectorates, social security, postal and delivery sectors as well as industrial property rights.

“Next, there are the topics of competitiveness, with the digitization of public services, customs, taxes and a number of aspects with education, science, scientific research, the health care system, monetary policy”, added Rama.

The prime minister emphasized that the process, “Has also been satisfactory in terms of the stage of development and preparation where we have brought the country”. /r.e/p.s./

During the inspection at one of the open points in “Skënderbej” Square in central Tirana, Minister of Health and Social Protection Ogerta Manastirliu announced the addition of 9 mobile medical assistance units on the ground with ambulances in Tirana, Durrës, Elbasan, Berat, Gjirokastër and Shkodër.

“We have decided to have a unit in the center of the cities, starting from Elbasan, Berati, Gjirokastra and Shkodra, as well as in Tirana; we will have 4 ambulance units, together with the relevant staff, right here in “Skënderbej” square, in the New Boulevard area, in the “21 Dhjetori” area and also in the Lake Park. The ambulance units will stay in these squares that we have determined from 11 am to 6 pm to guarantee maximum care for citizens, holiday-makers, but also tourists who come and visit our cities”, said Manastirliu.

As she appealed to the citizens to show increased caution from the heat wave, Minister Manastirliu also spoke about the plan of measures and the readiness of medical structures during the tourist season.

“This is part of our plan of measures for the tourist season, while we have opened 30 summer medical centers near the beaches, the coast and also in our mountain areas. We have 18 ambulance stations along the entire coastline, so that we can provide a service as quickly as possible for citizens who have urgent or emergency problems. We are also adding 9 units, ambulance stations, which must coordinate together with the Army Medical Unit, in order to ensure the fastest possible medical service”, underlined Manastirliu./r.e/p.s./

Tomini said in a TV interview that a downward trend in the number of new coronavirus cases has been noticed in the past days.

“It is this five-week cycles that keep repeating. If people properly abide by the restrictions the fresh cases will decrease further. We hope that a considerable number of vaccines will be administered by mid-April,” Tomini said.

“We have recorded a steady fall in the number of fresh cases for several days now and this is result of the measures in force that have yielded their effects. The vaccination will help to reduce virus transmission,” she said.

Tomini also commented on the most recent debate over the AstraZeneca vaccine, noting there is a group of people hesitating to receive the vaccine, though the company hasn’t confirmed that it causes blood clot.

“More than 33.000 vaccines, including second doses, have been administered to date in Albania. It is normal that people hesitate, especially amid the speculations over the vaccine’s safety, but the international agencies haven’t confirmed any possible connection between the vaccine and the blood clot,” she said.

/j.p/r.e/u.sh/