“Transparency Board legitimizes price abuse” / DP: The government is favoring a clientelist market

Fuel prices in the country have risen again, reaching 235 lek per liter, significantly increasing the cost of living for Albanian families.

In response, the Democratic Party has criticized the government for high taxes and proposed an urgent solution.

The Deputy Chair of the Democratic Party parliamentary group, Ledina Alolli, stated that price increases whenever there is a global crisis are not coincidental, but “a result of a distorted and clientelist market.”

According to her, the Rama government has made this model a standard way of functioning, leaving institutions to act as “silent spectators” in the face of rising poverty.

She emphasized that the high price of fuel in Albania, compared to neighboring countries like Kosovo and North Macedonia, is a direct result of high taxes and the absence of easing policies.

Alolli also criticized the Transparency Board, calling it a mechanism that “legitimizes abuse and avoids government accountability.” As a solution, the Democratic Party has urged the government to urgently implement its proposal for a “variable excise tax.”

Under this proposal, all additional VAT accumulated from rising fuel prices would be automatically used to lower the excise on fuel. According to the opposition, implementing this measure would ensure that consumer prices do not exceed 180 lek per liter, easing the financial burden on citizens.

Full statement:

“A reality where poverty rises at the same pace as prices, while the institutions that should protect citizens have become silent spectators.

Whenever there is a global crisis, prices here skyrocket. This is not a coincidence, but the result of a distorted and clientelist market.

It is a repeating model that the Rama government has turned into a standard way of functioning.

Fuel prices are rising rapidly, increasing the cost of living for every Albanian family. Today, one liter of fuel has exceeded 235 lek. Meanwhile, in neighboring countries like Kosovo and North Macedonia, fuel is much cheaper.

This is the result of high taxes and the lack of easing policies by the state toward its citizens.

This issue cannot be solved by the Transparency Board. The board legitimizes abuse and avoids the responsibility that a government should have toward its citizens.

The government must urgently implement the Democratic Party’s proposal for a variable excise tax.

In other words, all VAT accumulated from the increase in fuel prices should automatically go toward lowering the fuel excise.”

“KORÇA BOOM”