Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha held a conversation with pensioners in Durrës this afternoon. During his speech, the DP leader said that the departure of Albanians is worrying, adding that if this massive depopulation is not stopped, in 20 years no one will remain in these lands.
For Berisha, the mass emigration from Albania is a huge national drama.
Sali Berisha: First, I would like to express my boundless gratitude for all the energy, dedication, and contribution that you have given in these decades to Durrës, to Albania, to the DP. But today, I have come to you to talk to you about the future project of the DP to discuss and present it to you. Each of us today has a great concern when we realize that in 9 years, about 40% of the population left Albania, and this is very real.
No other nation has lost so much in 9 years. Neither those who have gone through civil wars, nor those who have experienced general wars, as we have experienced in these 9 years. Meanwhile, the truth is, official statistics, Albanian and European, show that from 2007 to 2013 the number of Albanians in Albania increased from year to year. And let me tell you, it's not that they didn't leave, they didn't move. But in recent years, 180 thousand Albanians returned to Albania from emigration.
Take a German ambassador once, and he tells me: we have no problem with your asylum seekers, because in total about 400 or so, but how can we tell them apart, he said, are Albanians from Albania, or from Kosovo. In 2012-2013 there were a total of 430 or so Albanians who had sought asylum in Germany. I stopped at these figures because, when you compare this mass departure today, this mass purge, this constitutes a very big national drama, which if we do not stop, absolutely in a time frame no later than 20, maximum 30, in these lands it will be unthinkable who will be here. Because these are unprecedented rates of depopulation, emptying.
This is precisely what has led very prominent analysts, very prominent publicists to describe Edi Rama as the Albanian Pashiqi, or the best prime minister after Pashiqi. I do not want to dwell on these descriptions because people today expect solutions from us. It is the most normal thing to ask the question: what is your solution, sir? Because we touch this reality every day. This reality has many sad sides, but this reality needs a solution. And I have come here to present the solution that we have, guaranteeing you that we will give a very strong, very fast response to this reality. And I assure you that all the means exist for this response.