Albanians have been taking to the streets for almost four months. They want to live in their country with dignity, in normality, like every other people on this continent. That's all. Nothing out of the ordinary, or extraordinary. This simple demand has today become the most fundamental demand in Albania, from all social groups.

The pillars of the Republic have fallen. The economic model favors an oligarchic minority and is kept afloat by drug money laundered in construction and tourism. National security has fallen into the hands of crime, compromising our security, and that of our partners. Corruption has risen to record levels, and according to Transparency International, our country fell 11 places in just 1 year. The homeland is being sold piece by piece, while Albanians are being expelled and replaced. Crime is not challenging power, but it is already power. Never in these 36 years have we been endangered to these proportions. In a few years we will no longer recognize our country. Therefore, as many times throughout our history, in moments of greatest danger, we must rise to the height that Albania requires.

Albania belongs to Albanians. Freedom, homeland, dignity and property are non-negotiable. This is what holds us all together, even when we disagree on nothing else.

Of course, the heroic protest on the Boulevard is not anyone's property, not even ours, although we support it completely and unconditionally. We have the absolute conviction that the success of the protest is the success of Albania. It did not start from a party office and will not end with an order from above.

The protest started from the calculations that every Albanian family has to make to manage to close the month with great difficulty, from the lack of minimal health services, from the education that has been deliberately destroyed, from the queues in Rinas of young Albanians who are forced to seek their fortune elsewhere, from the criminalization of the economy and society, from the total collapse of the state and the fusion of the state with the party and with crime, from the high prices of food and apartments and the lowest purchasing power in Europe, from the lack of meritocracy in a system that rewards the powerful, the friend of the prime minister, the strong of the street, and not the capable, the capable, the young person who will contribute to their country.

All these reasons unite us. Of course, among those who stand in the square every evening, there are many people who do not trust either the parties or us. The trust between us, between all groups in Albanian society, has been damaged and will take years to restore. But its restoration starts from the only thing that unites us even when we do not want to admit it, and that is Albania.

In this state of national emergency, we should not punish Albania for the distrust we have towards each other. Albania does not have time to wait until we resolve any differences we have.

This power does not hold on to being stronger than us. It holds on to our fatigue, to the suspicion we have of each other, to the division it causes among us. It truly wins only when it convinces each of us that change is impossible. Fear is the only tax this power successfully collects. Our task is to break this conviction. Albania is not condemned to be a land of poverty, depopulation, injustice and fear.

We, as far as we are concerned, are rebuilding our strength.
politics from the bottom up, from the member to the center, accepting our mistakes. We are building measurable responsibilities, people with names for every task, much greater discipline. For this regime to fall, everyone must be in their best shape, with the best weapons they have. We are doing our part to be at the height that Albanians demand.

Time has proven us right. All the opposition's denunciations today are fact-based. Our demands in years today are the 5 official demands and those of the protesters. We have also denounced for years the laws that are being requested to be repealed today by the centrists. We have taken them to the Constitutional Court and have fought several battles against them and the sponsors of these laws. Our goal is common.

This autocratic power does not fall from speeches and it does not fall from a single protest. It falls when two forces meet: pressure from outside and pressure from within. Today, for the first time in many years, both are happening. Outside, the political cover that has protected this government has fallen. The wiretaps that are being published, the harsh rhetoric of our partners, as well as international reports are a clear sign of this. Inside, the people have killed fear, and when a people takes this step, the power loses its main source of energy. The only real danger is not their strength. It is our fatigue and division. They do not need to defeat us. They only need to wait until we defeat each other. Today we are at the best moment to overthrow this regime, which has been struck to death, all together. It is essential that we all take to the streets in massive numbers and with a clear demand directed at the only individual responsible for this situation.

For this reason, Albania needs today a Contract of Dignity, a real, sincere covenant between the honest people of this country, a moral agreement that we begin to make first with each other and only then with the state. A pledge that Albania will no longer be the property of power, the spoils of oligarchs, a land without a God and a place from which young people and families flee.

This is the emergency and the duty of every patriot today. Everything else comes after it. Our common demand is clear and limited: the removal of this power and a technical, impartial government, with a short and measurable mandate, that returns institutions to the law, frees the administration from fear, frees the media and organizes truly free and fair elections. The Democratic Party does not seek to lead the technical government. We only seek clear and fair rules of the game to compete later like everyone else.

After Rama's fall, the work of the common front ends and the work of democracy begins, no matter how fragile it may be. Then we will have plenty of time to discuss our differences, which are real. We will come before the Albanians with different programs, with different ideas, with fierce competition, and let them choose. This is the meaning of freedom. Differences should be resolved by vote and not by the violence of power.

After that comes the real work, that of rebuilding the Republic on a few upright pillars, regardless of who governs. The Republic of Dignity is a Republic where the rules do not allow anyone who governs to do whatever they want. Where work is rewarded more than ties to power. Where merit opens doors, not ties to power. Where property is protected by the state, not robbed by it. Where the family is the foundation of society and not the last account of the budget. Where entrepreneurship is freed from clientelism and competes on quality, not proximity. Where the state is not the lord over the citizen, but the guarantor of honest rules. Where the economy is built on production, work, innovation and competition, not on money that comes from the shadows and disappears just as quickly. And above all, where no young person is forced to choose between dignity and leaving.

This means a parent who sends their child to the public hospital without calling anyone. A mortgage office where your file goes through queues and not by acquaintance. A young person who chooses to buy a house here and not a plane ticket. An entrepreneur who wins the tender because he has the best offer, not the strongest friend. It is not utopia. It is the normality of every European country.

We have an outstretched hand for anyone, no matter how skeptical they may be of us. We are ready to sit down with anyone who loves this country, to talk about any form of cooperation, to give up any kind of advantage that belongs to us or that we think belongs to us, with one condition: that at the end of this battle there will be no party winners, but a renewed country that wins.

In the end, either we save Albania together, or we lose it forever. There is no third way and there is no special salvation for anyone.

We believe in the Republic of Dignity. Let's build it together.

*Vice President of the Democratic Party