Former Socialist Party MP, the late Bashkim Fino, was one of the first and most critical voices in the Assembly regarding the collapse of the salary pyramid in Albania.
The main issue he raised, starting during the budget debates in 2018 and onwards, had to do with the anomaly created by the salary increase in the new justice system.
The main concern raised by Fino was the subversion of the state hierarchy. He considered it unacceptable that the heads of courts, prosecutors or members of vetting institutions should have salaries significantly higher than the President of the Republic, who is the number one of the protocol and state hierarchy.
During debates in committees, Fino had public clashes with leaders of justice institutions, reminding them that they were paid over "4 million old lek" per month and still demanded bonuses or allowances.
To resolve this chaos, he officially requested from the government the establishment of an inter-ministerial group to create a new and uniform categorization of salaries, so that no official in the Republic of Albania would be paid more than the President.
The amendment proposed by Fino provided for the obligation of the Assembly to approve a new law on the salary pyramid.
"They cannot have a salary several times higher than the President, the Prime Minister or the Speaker of the Parliament, because we MPs are not talking about a conflict of interest," said Bashkim Fino.
To better understand the deformation of this concept, Fino took as an example the ceremonial celebrations for the November holidays.
"The November holidays are coming. The protocol must change. According to the salary level, the president of the Supreme Court should be listed first, then the other courts, there should be some empty ranks, then the President and the others come," said Fino.
"Within 6 months, an inter-ministerial group should be established to establish a new categorization of salaries," demanded the budget rapporteur in the Laws Committee in 2018.
Fortunately, this proposal came after 9 years. This is enough to understand how the majority identifies problems that need solutions.
Two days ago, Rama was seen on the podium of the plenary sessions describing the salary pyramid with the same gestures with which Bashkim Fino once described an "upside-down pyramid."
