Berisha pledges free of charge IDs to Roma community

TIRANA, April 8 – Prime Minister Sali Berisha pledged Wednesday to give the new identity cards free of charge to the Roma community, which he considered to be the poorest in the country.
The pledge was made Wednesday, the day of the Roma community, at a workshop organized by the UNDP. Berisha also pledged other assistance to the Roma community pledging to give an end to their poor living in the next decade.
But the premier also asked them to go and apply for the new IDs, “so that you vote freely.”
The new IDs are first and foremost seen as necessary for the June 28 parliamentary elections.
There are officially some 730,000 persons who do not have a passport thus being unable to vote. Only one fourth of them have already got the new IDs.
Some days ago the government also declared that invalids would also be given the IDs free of charge. A reduced price was offered for other categories of people.
Deputy Prime Minister Genc Pollo was nominated as the head of the government’s task force to follow the process of the new IDs.
The group will manage the facilitation of applications for people living in remote areas, promote the process to the population and also closely follow their daily progress around the country.
The government has promised to send buses and vans to remote areas to transport the population to main towns in order to apply.
The application offices would remain open during the weekend as well.
The opposition, on its side, insists that the IDs should be given free of charge to the people without a passport but also to the whole population. They have also asked the offices remain open during the weekend.
The opposition calls the new ID the government’s “vote tax” criticizing the executive for setting such a payment to a poor population, a move that could be exploited for manipulation of the June 28 polls.