Prime Minister Edi Rama, during a meeting with women and girls on the occasion of International Women’s Day, said:
Thank you so much! As I look at all of you here, I was thinking about what would happen to the men and your sons if you didn’t return home for a week—or a month. Just imagine for a moment.

A well-known Albanian woman, Elena Gjika, who is also known as Dora d’Istria, once said: “Every society is measured by the place it gives to women.” And if we measure Albania by the place it has reserved for women, then I believe that all the progress we’ve made in expanding opportunities for women is, in fact, a meaningful reflection of the progress Albania has made. And for this reason, we, the socialists and Albanian socialists, have every right to be prouder than anyone else.

When women are weak, men become weak—but very aggressive. And I believe that by expanding space for women, empowering women, and giving women more representation at all levels, we are, in fact, fighting together to make men more aware, more reasonable, and wiser in the truest sense.

Today is March 8th, and yesterday was the 7th.
In most cases, women—mothers—are not fans. Men are the fans, and they can be scandalous. Women are not fans; they are mothers, sisters, and daughters, born with an innate care for what comes next. Have you ever seen women go to gamble? Have you ever seen women throw dice in bingo? Have you ever seen women or girls go online to play games of chance? Why is it that women don’t trust fate in cards or dice? Because women shape their own fate.

Now, there is no better place to briefly explain how important it is for us to join the European Union and to do so now, as this opportunity has presented itself.

Joining the European Union doesn’t depend solely on us, as you have seen and followed. We did our homework long ago, but others would block us for various reasons. Today, things have aligned, and as much as we want to join, they also want us in. But this opportunity won’t last forever. Now is the time to seize it. By entering the European Union, all of you—mothers of this country—will secure something for your sons and daughters that only membership in the European Union can guarantee. Individual freedoms in this country will no longer be threatened by anyone, and no longer will there be any swamp creatures who can rise again to undermine the individual freedoms of our sons and daughters.

We are the locomotives now in the entire region, and we are the closest to all of them in terms of joining the European Union. One of the things we did was hand over the sword of punishment, which the government had always held, to justice.

Today, the fight against historical impunity doesn’t come from orders from above. It happens because we handed the sword of punishment to justice.

Secondly, why should we join the European Union now? It’s because the standards of coexistence at all levels are guaranteed. No one can tamper with them. On the other hand, remember that you are the ones who keep the home together, not the men. Men contribute, of course, but you are the ones who maintain the balance. You manage the accounts. When we join the EU, we will be a beneficiary country. The EU is a large family with two categories: the contributors—those who are wealthier, more powerful, who give from their own pockets to the EU—and the beneficiaries—those who are smaller, less developed, and in greater need, like us, who receive from these contributions.

So, when we join the EU, in addition to revenues, taxes, and those few aids, we will have another budget—the budget of a beneficiary country. And you will have this as soon as we become EU members, which is why we need it now.

The last thing I want to share is a quote from a very great woman who said: “If you want to talk, talk with men; if you want to get the job done, go with women.” She was a great woman who put all the men in their place, to be honest—Margaret Thatcher. She didn’t appoint any women to her government, but the truth is, when you are here and you look at all of you, when you don’t have a man to unite you, you begin to drift apart. But what matters, beyond the joke, is that I have great confidence in you, and I expect a lot from you. On May 11th, we will achieve our 10th consecutive victory, but not just any victory—because that is unquestionable. We will achieve our 10th victory with a perfect score of 10. Be proud of what we have accomplished, and trust in what we still need to do.

Be proud of how much we have achieved. We had a Gross National Product of less than 10 billion euros, and today it stands at 25 billion euros—two and a half times more.

We had income per capita of less than 4,000 euros, and today it is over 10,000 euros.

It’s still not enough, but it’s a lot more than before, and we will do even more.

Today, we have an average salary in the public sector that no one could have imagined for 2024—over 900 euros. We will make it even higher.

By 2030, we want the average salary in Albania to be well over 1,000 euros, and we will achieve this in both the public and private sectors.

So, just as you care for the cleanliness of the home, we will continuously clean our own house; we will constantly make our country a place where everyone has what they deserve, and anyone who tries to “take advantage” of others behind their backs will be shown the door and sent to where they truly belong. This is our path, and we have no other way!

Happy March 8th, and let us all work together to ensure that women become stronger and men become wiser.

Thank you!