MPs vote in favour of pay increases for public servants

Parliament in Albania has voted in favour of the bill which increases salaries for more than 130 thousand public service employees, including high ranking officials such as the president, PM, ministers and MPs.

The decision will become effective as of April 1.  The president will be the highest paid job in the country with 425 thousand ALL a month. The PM and the speaker of parliament follow the president with 399, 125 ALL a month. Meanwhile, ministers will be paid 318,750 ALL a month.

In his speech, the PM said MPs deserve this pay increase for the work and the mission that they have.  Meanwhile, opposition leader, Sali Berisha considered this hypocrisy. According to him, the government should have started the salary reform with the introduction of the living wage, which, according to him, would fight poverty and inequalities in the country.

The government has recently announced a plan which aims at increasing average salaries in the country to 900 euros a month. As part of this plan, the government has decided to introduce pay increases for 130 thousand public service employees and this increase will also apply to high ranking officials.

However, this decision has turned into a public debate. Many believe that the government, instead of increasing salaries for high ranking officials, should have increased pensions and salaries for low paid jobs.