Sali Berisha was in Berat this Tuesday, at the closing rally of the campaign for the May 11 parliamentary elections.

The Democratic Party leader stated that with a victory on May 11, the education system would become the most modern one, providing real employment opportunities for young people.

He declared that every university, public or private, would sign agreements with companies to offer integrated internships as part of their programs, and would receive support for all internship opportunities provided to students and graduates.

Full speech by Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha in Berat:

Dear citizens of Berat, Kuçova, Skrapar, Dimal, and the entire district—wherever you are in Berat, Albania, or the diaspora,

My warmest greetings and deepest gratitude for your support, for the energy, enthusiasm, and optimism you have brought to this campaign.

For the hope you have spread every minute, every hour, and every day across Berat.

For your optimism and your strong belief in the decisive victory of May 11—your victory, the victory of every Albanian citizen, of Albania, and the Albanian nation.

Dear Mr. Fatmir Mediu, chairman of the Republican Party and long-time ally of the DP.

Dear Mr. Filip Grifin, distinguished friend of the DP, representative of the chief strategist behind the greatest electoral victory in world history, Chris LaCivita, the victory of President Donald Trump.

Dear Mr. Eno Bozdo, political leader of the DP and ASHM for Berat.

Dear DP branch chairmen,

Honorable candidates for MP in the Berat district—dignified representatives of the citizens, true pride for the DP, for Berat, and for Albania.

My friends, Sunday is tomorrow.

Victory has never been closer or more certain. This is the long-awaited, well-deserved

victory—for every opposition supporter, for every Albanian with patriotic blood in their veins.

On May 11, the people of Berat and all of Albania are called to make their historic decision—perhaps the most important decision of their lives—to break away from a great evil that has unfairly impoverished them for 12 consecutive years.

An evil that left our classrooms without students, our homes without children, our cradles empty, and our elderly in deep and frightening loneliness.

No Albanian ever imagined such a reality during the years of freedom. Yet today, this is Albania’s reality.

The alarm is ringing for every Albanian—to save this country, to stop this downfall with our awareness, responsibility, and patriotism.

Friends, even just in recent weeks, the news has been bleak.

We are told Albania now has the lowest birthrate in the world, due to emigration.

We are told that for years we have had more deaths than births.

Yesterday, I was in Mat—a large, resource-rich region—that had only 13 births in an entire year.

This is happening everywhere. An emptying out. A vanishing.

That’s why May 11 is not just a day for parties—it’s a day for every citizen who accepts their responsibility to themselves, their family, to Berat, and to Albania.
It’s about civic and national responsibility.

I firmly believe that Albanians are eagerly awaiting this day—to rise to the occasion, to show wisdom and love for their families, for Berat, and for the nation.
To fulfill their duty to both those who are gone and those who are yet to come.

My friends, Tomasi spoke here from this platform as the voice of Albanian youth—620,000 of whom, based on European statistics, have left Albania for European countries in the past 10 years.

So we are faced with a harsh choice: will we, as a nation, still have youth—or be left completely without them?

This is the true “to be or not to be” moment.
Never before in its entire existence has our nation faced such a question.

But I believe that all of us—all Albanians—will answer with strong faith in Albania and its future.

I want to assure Tomasi that the highest aim of the DP program and the Albanian opposition is to bring this nation back to its youth.

To return the Albanian nation to its youthful vitality.

Looking at the current reality, this might seem like saying we’ll walk across the sea.
But no—it’s not impossible.

You see the public squares fill up. You feel the energy and the explosion of enthusiasm.

This is the unshakable hope of Albanians—that the nation will regain its youth, that it will reclaim its future.

That’s why, here in Berat, I solemnly declare on behalf of the Alliance for a Glorious Albania that the Albanian education system will become the most modern—one that provides employment.

Schools and universities will operate in full partnership with public and private enterprises.
This means that every university, public or private, will sign agreements with companies to offer integrated internships in their programs, and will receive support for all the internships they provide for students and graduates.