All newly graduated young people and professionals seeking new employment opportunities in public institutions can now more easily find information and apply for jobs, thanks to the unified portal https://www.puna.gov.al/SektoriPublik, which consolidates in a single platform job announcements in the civil service, other public institutions at both central and local levels, as well as companies with over 50% state ownership.
The portal was presented today by the Minister of Economy and Innovation, Delina Ibrahimaj, and the Minister of State for Public Administration and Anti-Corruption, Adea Pirdeni, at a meeting with young people, attended also by Prime Minister Rama.
“We are opening a new window for all those who have the ambition to contribute to the public sector. It is a unified window that provides a 360-degree view of all employment opportunities in this sector,” said the Prime Minister, describing it as an important step toward greater transparency and stronger interaction between individuals and the state.
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Prime Minister Edi Rama:
Thank you, Adea. Thank you, Delina.
I am pleased that today we are opening a new window for all those who have the ambition to contribute to the public sector. It is a unified window where, as the ministers presented, a 360-degree view is provided of all employment opportunities in the public sector, not only in the civil service but across all public sector roles. At the same time, it enables anyone aiming to contribute to the public sector, in real time, not only to see currently available positions, but also to follow dynamically how a given process is progressing in which they themselves are interested.
This is an important step because it creates greater transparency and more interaction between the individual seeking an opportunity and the state that needs and therefore offers these opportunities to recruit the best candidates. At the same time, for the first time, it brings together our entire public system into one framework where all opportunities are fully visible.
I am very pleased to say that, contrary to what I myself had imagined, and I have said this more than once, though I don’t believe it is ever enough to repeat it, contrary even to my own expectations before we embarked on the negotiation process, the public administration has disproved many of the prejudices that have weighed on it over the years. While public perception of the administration has been heavily burdened by prejudice, prejudice that did not arise out of nowhere, but was triggered by behaviors, actions, and acts that were sometimes publicly exposed in all their ugliness nevertheless, the administration, that overwhelming majority of people who do not make the news, who go to work every day to serve the state in a given role, has faced an extraordinary challenge, a test, an examination, representing Albania with the highest dignity throughout the negotiation process so far.
And, in truth, my colleagues who work closely with me know very well that I have expressed many times, even before the official opening of negotiations, that yes, we will manage to open negotiations—but then what? How will we cope? Who knows how difficult it will be? And God helps us, what impression will we create in Brussels when we sit at the table with the administration we have?
What has happened, to the great surprise of many, including myself, is exactly the opposite. Hundreds upon hundreds of public employees engaged in this complex process, which touches all sectors, have represented the Albanian state with great dignity and have earned the respect, appreciation, and trust of the other side. And the other side is one that has been trained for decades to put countries through extremely rigorous scrutiny in their path toward EU membership, demanding accountability down to the smallest detail in every sector.
When that side expresses such appreciation, then we truly have reason to feel encouraged and confident that we can build in Albania a dignified public administration aligned with European standards. It is precisely thanks to this administration that much else is also reflected positively. It is thanks to this administration that the negotiation process is advancing successfully, at a unique pace, not only due to our merit but also the geopolitical context, and it is thanks to this administration that the country is developing and growing in every aspect, despite the challenges that remain and the issues that need to be addressed daily.
Today we are in a position where we have opened all chapters, where we are discussing and confronting issues with the European Commission by our side, which is very important, and facing member states on the interim benchmarks, a key moment in negotiations, for which the Commission has given Albania an exceptionally positive assessment.
The current phase, between us and the member states, is a key test, but there is absolutely zero reason to speak of blockage or obstruction. We are fully on schedule. April is the month of intensive discussions, following the collection of all member state questions at the end of March, after which decisions will follow.
At the same time, the economy, which the Minister mentioned, is growing steadily, also because we now have a much better-positioned administration to support this growth. Government decisions alone are not enough; they must be implemented. Economic growth alone is not enough unless it translates into income for citizens and the state.
A strong administration is needed, one with both capability and integrity, to sustain growth in revenues, whether from customs or taxes. We need an administration fundamentally different from what we had a few years ago, one that ensures a positive business climate, where companies operate without constant pressure from bribes or corruption, as was the case not long ago.
And we need an administration aligned with the government’s goals so that economic growth translates into higher wages, higher pensions, and more rights.
When I speak of rights, I do not mean only the rights that first come to mind. I also mean, for example, the right to higher pay based on years of service. We did not have this before, not because we didn’t recognize it as a right, but because we lacked the means.
Today, teachers, doctors, nurses, police officers, and armed forces personnel receive seniority bonuses or additional pay. It is not right for someone with one year of experience to be paid the same as someone with fifteen. We always knew this, but we could not implement it before, because the economy did not allow it, revenues did not allow it, and the administration did not support it sufficiently. Today we can, because the economy responds and the administration supports us. To say that Albania today has more corruption than ever is nonsense. Yes, there is more talk about corruption, for both objective and subjective reasons, but also because, for the first time, corruption is being actively fought, starting politically by a governing force that led a reform freeing the hands of justice.
You cannot have rising corruption alongside rising pensions, with projections embedded in four-year budget plans, where increases double each January, tripling by 2028, quadrupling by 2029, and fivefold by 2030. These things do not go together. You cannot have rising corruption alongside increased participation in public tenders. You cannot have rising corruption and at the same time the opening of over two thousand new businesses in just two months.
These facts do not mean there is no corruption, but they show a transforming process, whose real reflection lies not in narratives but in the objective assessment of the European Commission. Many reports are published worldwide, but there is only one that is not based on perception or incomplete surveys, but on rigorous, continuous monitoring, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, of a country’s progress in every sector: the European Commission’s report.
I mention all this to return once again to the administration. We take this very seriously because we are convinced of a simple fact: there is no secure progress and no irreversible transformation where the administration itself is not secure, where positions are easily reversible. I am genuinely encouraged by the work being done.
This is, first and foremost, the merit of those leading the process. Adea has played a special role as Minister of State for Public Administration. Significant daily work is being done to give coherence to the link between governance, work, and employment.
Thanks also go to Deputy Minister Olta, to the Director of AKPA, Klevisi, and to all the teams working behind the scenes.
They are not usually visible, but daily reality shows that we have every reason to be confident: through this negotiation process and the years ahead, we will build a dignified administration that will increasingly earn the respect of Albanian citizens, who are often skeptical, and not without reason, given how distorted information can become in today’s environment. Thank you very much.
