Albania and Belgium signed the Social Agreement, through which both
countries recognize the work experience of 35.000 Albanian migrants.
“This is the first time that we sign an agreement of this kind with an European Union member country. It will serve as an example for other agreements. With the help of the Ambassador, we will continue in Louxemburg and other countries. Certainly that most of the Albanian emigrants live in Italy and Greece, where pressure for these agreements is higher. But since this has bigger financial implications, we are happy that we have started at least with an European Union member country, and I believe that this is a good news for the 35.000 Albanians who live in Belgium”, declared Erion Veliaj, Minister of Social Matters.
TCH: Recently, I have discovered that only two months of social contributions have been paid, regardless of the registers that I have since 2000. This is not the first case and it doesn’t affect only journalists, but also people from other professions. Does the Albanian state recognize this work experience and what other data will pass to the Belgian authorities?
The Social Insurance Institution is undergoing a digitalization process. This process is not over yet, but it has started a few months ago. I think that only when it will be over, we will make verifications maybe through the case in question, and verify if everything that is on paper is also on the database. However, the bill that verifies the payment can be kept by every person, and every stamp there is valid. This means that whoever that wants to make rearrangements with the new digitalized system, is free to do it”, declared Erion Veliaj.
While Albania is digitalizing the data for the social insurances, the Belgian authorities continued with the creation of a draft-law on this agreement, which should be approved by the government and then it will pass the Belgian federal Parliament and the Albanian Parliament.
It will enter in effect at least one year from now. A Belgian official told Top Channel that besides the routine agenda, this will also depend on the elections of May in Belgium.
Top Channel
