Activist Vilson Blloshmi posed a question to the Socialist Party’s candidate Milva Ekonomi stating that in the past year emigration has not only been refrained to unemployed youth but also high-income families and asked over the reasons why this might be happening.

Minister of Agriculture Milva Ekonomi said that emigration has been an issue since the 90s, and emphasized that there are also many who return to their homeland. According to the Socialist candidate, there is a drop in emigration numbers.

“Wherever Albanians have gone, they’ve been able to fit in the area. In the Italian region Emilia Romagna, we have many Albanians who have founded important enterprises and now wish to return to Albania. Emigration now has another approach, and we are in a phase when they come back with more knowledge and invest in Albania. Many from the younger generation return with expertise on agriculture and invest in the country”, she said.

Lorenca Bejko, an activist and Ph.D. student in Europe, asked the candidate of the Democratic Party, Jorida Tabaku about the party’s program on brain drain.

According to Tabaku, the government’s approach as presented by Ekonomi is “a parallel reality that has nothing to do with the true reality experienced by the Albanian people”.

“They still continue to do propaganda here”, Tabaku said. “25% of youth don’t go to work, this is the highest rate in the Western Balkans”.

Tabaku said that DP’s program wants to attract youth in administrative posts “in order to ax the current arrogance witnesses”. She said that the party aims to achieve a “brain gain” to attract intellectuals from abroad, and on the other hand provide 10.000 paid scholarships in order to connect students in Albania with the job market.