Socialist MP Pirro Vengu has reacted to the government’s decision to award bonuses to State Police officers who have been on the front lines of student protests for several days.
Vengu linked salary increases and bonuses to the need to prioritize professions that contribute to the functioning of the state and the future of society.
According to him, teachers, military personnel, police officers, doctors, nurses and firefighters should be at the top of the public sector pay scale, given the responsibilities they bear and their role in serving the public.
Meanwhile, speaking at a meeting with senior State Police officials earlier today, Prime Minister Edi Rama announced a €2,500 bonus for every officer deployed to manage the protests and pledged significant police salary increases starting January 1.
Vengu’s full statement:
“A nation is independent to the extent that it has the strength to determine its own destiny and protect what it builds. This strength requires institutions that remain standing and people who have the knowledge, ability and courage to fulfil their duties.
That is why order must be restored. Order in the streets, but also order in our values and responsibilities: what we value, whom we trust and whom we choose to reward. When values and responsibilities are placed in their rightful order, democratic dialogue can begin and bring about change.
This is also the essence of the salary increases and bonuses for the State Police.
Teachers, military personnel and police officers, doctors and nurses, and firefighters should be at the top of the public sector pay scale. Because of the responsibilities they carry and the example a society chooses to set for its children.
Those entrusted with caring for future generations and safeguarding the foundations of a better future for everyone should come first: in recognition, as role models and in financial reward.”
The post Police Bonuses, Vengu: Teachers, Military Personnel, Doctors and Firefighters Should Also Be at the Top of the Pay Scale appeared first on Euronews Albania.