A protest called for this Monday afternoon in front of the prime minister's office over the increase in the price of oil failed miserably, with almost no one participating. The situation seemed so tragicomic that there were more media vehicles than protesters in front of Edi Rama's office.
At the place where the protest was announced to be held, in front of the Prime Minister's Office, only a few citizens were seen, mainly activists of the "Albania Becomes" Movement, as well as media broadcast vehicles and police officers, who were on duty to follow developments.
Albania is one of the countries with the highest oil prices in the world, but this has apparently not bothered its citizens enough to raise their voices. While governments in the region and the European Union have aggressively cut taxes to ease the burden on their citizens, the Albanian government announced a lump-sum measure, according to which the excise tax is reduced by 8 lekë when the price of oil exceeds the quota of 220 lekë per liter.
The non-existent reaction of Europe's poorest citizens, who pay among the highest fuel prices on the continent, suits the government and its policy of further increasing the burden of fuel taxes.
Civil society had called for a protest today in front of the Prime Minister's Office, at 5:00 PM, through announcements distributed on social networks.
The organizers appealed to citizens to participate en masse, with the aim of opposing high prices and demanding their reduction.
Editorial
