The Inspection Reform, aiming at creating a system based on cooperation, transparency, self-declaration, and not on penalties

Following the dialogue between the government and the private sector, Prime Minister Edi Rama held a meeting with business representatives, at the Business House, where the main steps to be taken in the Inspection Reform were presented, to build a system based on cooperation, transparency, self-declaration, not in penalties, but in the ease of doing business and guaranteeing free competition.

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Prime Minister Edi Rama: Greetings! Thank you! Evil has been created to do great harm, but to also be quickly forgotten, while the good is created to never be enough, and naturally man is created to forget evil, while always requiring more good.

I made this introduction to remember how far we have come and what situation we have had with the relations between the private sector and the state, and at the same time to take advantage of this opportunity to repeat what is at the core of a process of statehood. The creation of structures and mechanisms that make the relationship between the state and the citizen a relationship based on the only alternative, which means the state cannot do without the citizen and the citizen cannot do without the state, and between them to be no other alternative, like that of corruption.

Corruption is an alternative that is pursued when the structures and mechanisms that must fulfill the duties of the state towards the citizen, cannot fulfill them equally for everyone, and create spaces where the right is not equal for everyone, and for this reason, this war is a state-building war that, step by step, the space of interaction between the citizen and the state will expand and the space of corruption interventions will narrow. Today we still need to push forward with patience also with great determination for this space of these relations to be expanded completely and the paths of corruption penetration to be narrowed to the point that it is no longer a disturbing phenomenon.

For this reason, we have undertaken the last initiative that you saw in the Parliament of Albania, or more precisely with the parliamentary group, and now we must push it further in the Parliament of Albania, to address the continuity of all sectors that make up the system of the organism of coexistence in Albania between the state and the citizen, all the weak points that require new addressing. The negotiation process helps us a lot, the entire set of identified problems helps us a lot, the knowledge gained in these years, experience, but also the knowledge and experience of the European Union helps us a lot.

To come to the inspections, they are a weak point and despite all the improvements that have been made, the Chief Inspector also mentioned them, you yourself know how many improvements have been made and how much less you feel the pressure of the state representatives who are called inspectors in relation to corruption, but on the other hand we know very well that this pressure continues to be a pressure that cannot be justified, because today we are at a stage where we can make another leap and the leap is a reform of the inspectorates, a separation of inspectorates from ministries, to emerge as a new and autonomous force. Not independent, but autonomous in its activity, under the umbrella of the Chief Inspector General of the State.

This means that we will open a whole new phase in this direction by changing the approach, but also the content, in the entire framework of the state, of the figure of the inspector and ameliorating the figure of the inspector to a new status. This will not be a body that will both impose fines and then consider the complaint. Complaints will be reviewed with the participation of appeal commissions, of business advocates, in a transparent and collegial manner, to create a barricade that cannot be overcome as easily as it is overcome today, where appeal commissions generally uphold the decisions previously taken by inspectors.

Beyond that, we will establish a new principle, no fine on the first visit. The "no fine on the first visit" principle will make it impossible for some inspectors to suddenly appear at the door and impose a fine or not, on the basis of a silent but concrete agreement between the inspectors and the business, who want corruption to be fought only by the government, while, you are the victims in terms of the relationship with the inspectors, but you are also aggressors in the case when you yourself are involved in processes that are illegal.

Therefore, it must be the state that always takes the first step and the first step in this case to go much further in the process of becoming a state and much closer to the creation of a member state of the European Union here in Albania. In the first visit there will be only registration of the problem and counseling and the second will be within a fixed deadline. So between the first visit without a fine and the second, there can be no surprise appearance, only the deadline to be met.

I believe that this will be a moment where the revolution that we started a long time ago will enter a completely new phase and where businesses will feel much more relieved from their stress. The other one that I believe is of importance in its own right is that the business will be classified. This is very important. That expression says "everyone is like a goat's feet", in fact they are not all like a goat's feet because everyone has their own position, has their own approach to work, to the law, to the state and also has their own level of success. So, the classification of businesses will mean that businesses which will consistently be correct in relation to the state, will not be controlled. So they will be in a band A of the register of businesses where virtually no one can go and check them. They will be a prohibited area for inspections. Why? Due to the fact that they have shown in a process of time that they have adhered to the contract with the state correctly. It will greatly facilitate the number of inspections; it will greatly reduce the number of inspections.

We have a number of inspections that are disastrous and do not actually show strength, but show the opposite, show weakness. It doesn't actually evince the fulfillment of the mission, but it shows a gap and we will make sure there are few inspections, there will be a lot of counseling, but the blows will be catastrophic for the business that do not get on track. So the number of fines will be drastically reduced, but where the fine will be imposed, there will be a blow one step away from the death of that business, in the sense of great consequences in its finances.

I think we're in a very positive phase with the economy and it's not an opinion based on wishful thinking, it's an opinion based on facts. Our economy has never been better than today and there have never been more opportunities and more results in the area of entrepreneurship than today. I believe that all your studies show this, but this is also shown by the large increase in income in the state budget, as a result of good administration, but also as a result of the growth of the economy.

In these conditions we should help each other more. How can we further help each other? The state making your work as easy as possible, guaranteeing your space as best as possible from interference of various natures, ensuring as best as possible the path of competition, and you being correct with the law and with the state because with your contributions, the state does the things that business cannot do. It provides the public health service, it provides the public education service, it provides many, many other things, capital expenditure and so on.

Thank you very much for everything you do. I apologize for all those times when the state fails to be dignified at the door of your enterprise and appears through persons who behave incorrectly, but be sure that among the many things that unite us, one thing that unites me with you is the disgust for the cartoons that appear at the doors and demand you to give them what is called "coffee", pocket money corruption.

Together we will definitely do more and free this sector from such pressure, I am convinced of this. The General Inspectorate building, I confirm that I have seen it, I like it and I support the idea. This is what I have to say. Thank you.

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