Berisha starts fulfilling electoral pledges

TIRANA, July 8 – Prime Minister Sali Berisha of the governing Democratic Party led the winning coalition in the last election. He held his first cabinet meeting Wednesday starting by fulfilling some of his election pledges.
A miners’ retirement age was lowered from 65 to 60 years old. All businesses should get reimbursed on the value-added tax amount within a month or they were entitled to not pay the rest of the taxes this year until that was done.
Berisha also appealed to all companies involved in public objects to resume working overnight in order to finish the projects soon.
He also asked his ministers to start preparing the annual budget project, telling them they should cut 10 percent of their expenditure.
Speaking with the tone of a winning leader, Berisha did not mention any more moves on creating the new government.
It is very likely that election results will not be known until the middle or end of this month. August is then a holiday.
Thus the parliament will likely start preparation work for mandating the new lawmakers in early September with an immediate vote for the new government to follow.