Albania-Luxembourg agreement

Albania and Luxembourg signed an agreement for social protection, based on a version that was agreed between parties by the end of January. 

This agreement was signed at the Ministry of Luxembourg for Social Insurance, by Minister Erion Veliaj and his counterpart, Roman Schneider. It will enter in effect this summer, after a ratification by the respective parliaments.

“This is an important act, because it is about a convent in the social insurance sector. This is the basis of our relations. The same goes for the points that were decided about social insurances that cover employees of enterprises in Luxembourg and Albania. This means that now we want to include it as a draft-law and present it to the Chamber of Representatives and it will be transmitted to the State Council. This will be discussed by commissions, but this is not a procedure that takes very long, because we are talking about a bilateral agreement as many others that we have with various countries. I believe that it will pas quickly, by mid July 2015. Everything ends with a voting by the Chamber of MPs" Schneider says.

“I think that the Parliament will ratify this agreement by the end of this year, but certainly, this is in a wider context. The new pension reform starts on January 1st. What we are trying to do with this agreement is to tell the Albanian people that it doesn’t matter where they work, in Albania or in any other EU country. For as long that their work is legal, their years of work will be recognized. This is an appeal to all citizens. On January 1st starts a new law, a new system, a new formula which will calculate the years of experience with the salaries. This means that by declaring every day, every week, month and year of work, and every kind of salary, they will have more chances for a higher pension”, Veliaj declared.

The agreement with Luxembourg comes second after an agreement that was signed with Belgium past December. It recognizes the social contributes paid through years, according to some professions but excluding some categories, such as diplomats or other transportation services.

More than collecting the monetary value of contributors, the agreements accepts the social insurance systems of the respective countries with the purpose to recognize their years of work before retirement, based on the rules of the country of residence. The authorities of the other part will transfer their accumulated accounts to the pension funds.

“This means that countries with a high number of Albanian people will have more difficult negotiations. Luxembourg really has only 2000 Albanians, but we can create a precedent through this. With Belgium and Luxembourg we have created a solid precedent on which we working to expand in other countries. After this agreement will be signed with a group of other EU countries, I believe that the negotiations with Italy and Greece will be easier”, Veliaj underlined.

/News-Al