"Taxes on oil must be halved urgently"/ Berisha: Integration in the country is a matter of

2026-04-04 12:23:00, Aktualitet CNA

"Taxes on oil must be halved urgently"/ Berisha: Integration in the

The leader of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, is holding a conversation with citizens on social networks. Berisha began his speech with the increase in oil prices in Albania, which according to him are among the highest in the world.

He stated that the measures announced by the government to deal with the current crisis caused by the war in the Middle East are "ridiculous", while emphasizing that it is urgent to halve the tax on oil.

"The past week was characterized by a new blow to your family budgets, to your pockets. The price of oil reached 224 lekë, one of the highest prices in the world. There is no doubt that the movement of the price of oil is dictated by the energy crisis created due to the war in the Middle East and the attack on the Gulf countries by Iran.

But no other country in the world has such a price increase. Albanians should know that the Albanian government has imposed the highest tax in the world on oil. No other country taxes oil so heavily at 60 percent of its price. Albania is a record in Europe and the world in oil taxation, which forces companies to charge stratospheric prices.

But secondly, I want to emphasize that if we do it in proportion to salaries or daily income, Albania results, Albanians result, that they have to pay for the oil they buy 6-8 times more than citizens of other countries in relation to their income. So, oil is a real punishment and this is an inhuman, absurd tax, which Albanian citizens pay every penny. Edi Rama taxes oil 1.1 euros per liter, more than any other country in the world, 60 percent of the price.

The measures it has announced are ridiculous. They have no and cannot have any impact. The real measures are those announced by Australia and are being announced by other countries. Halving of oil taxes. In other words, if Albania receives 1.1 euros per liter of oil, the government should reduce these taxes to a common amount of 0.55 euros per liter of oil. And with this, it does nothing more than equalize the tax with most EU member states.

At first glance, the oil tax weighs heavily on the pockets of those who have cars, and of course it weighs heavily on their pockets more, but the truth is that those who have less are burdened more. And those who have less are those who do not have cars because oil directly affects all types of transportation. Oil directly affects the price of bread, the price of food, agricultural products, so it has various impacts and creates more pain for those who do not have cars. Therefore, halving taxes is urgent ," Berisha said.

Among other things, the leading democrat said that 9 countries have blocked the approval of the IBAR report on Albania, and according to him, integration is in limbo.

"Secondly, April 1st is the day of Albania's membership in NATO, the greatest historical achievement in the field of security after the declaration of the country's independence. But on this day we also received bitter news, which the government hid. On this day in Brussels, in the debate that was to be held on IBAR with Albania, there were no longer three or four countries that opposed the approval of the assessment of standards and the rule of law in Albania, but they became 9 countries that opposed the voting on this report with many arguments and many issues.

"Edi Rama and his propaganda hid it here, on the contrary, he brings out his spokesmen to deceive Albanians. But I tell you again that without the unanimous vote of this report, Albania does not close any chapter, which means that the integration process is currently a dead end ," he said. /CNA