The Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, attended the presentation of the OECD/SIGMA monitoring report, where he emphasized the importance of the positive evaluations Albania received from a credible international source regarding professionalism.
Rama highlighted that this is a significant step for the country and that it is encouraging to see positive assessments from a reliable and independent source.
During his speech, the Prime Minister stated that substantial progress has been made in the field of public procurement and the fight against corruption.
He noted that the public procurement system has successfully curbed many cases of corruption, serving as a clear example of the progress made in this area.
Rama stressed that in order to combat corruption, governance systems must be modernized in a way that prevents corruption from functioning.
He emphasized that it is the governance system—not individuals—that plays a key role in preventing corruption.
As an example, he cited Germany, stating that Germans are not inherently incorruptible, nor do they have honesty ingrained in their DNA, but their state system makes corruption extremely difficult.
According to him, Albanians living in Germany, for instance, cannot drive without wearing a seatbelt, not because of personal discipline, but because the system makes it impossible to do otherwise.
He recalled cases in Albania where employees of the German embassy would lend their cars without ensuring seatbelts were fastened, emphasizing that it is the system, not the individual, that determines such behavior.
The Prime Minister also spoke about the challenges that must be addressed to tackle corruption issues and modernize public administration.
Rama stated that following this report, steps will be reviewed to further improve the system and address any remaining issues. He underlined that establishing a public administration worthy of the European family is a major challenge and not an easy task to accomplish.
He praised the justice reform process as a crucial step toward freeing the judiciary from political influence and emphasized that deep reform is necessary to manage administrative processes, decision-making, and procurement.
Finally, the Prime Minister stressed that much work remains to be done and welcomed any support and funding aimed at improving public administration and addressing corruption-related challenges.
Rama concluded by stating that continuous improvements are essential and that every issue arising during the modernization of the administration must be properly addressed.
