“We were forced to finance 4 million euros at the last minute for the Kanye West concert, otherwise it would have been canceled,” said Edi Rama, Albania’s prime minister, in a lengthy video posted on social media to defend the government’s economic decisions and “save Albania’s image” after ticket sales failed.
West, also known as “Ye,” is set to perform in Tirana on July 11, but sales haven’t been as good as expected. A quick look at the official ticket website shows that, just days before the event, thousands of seats are still available. One factor that may have played a role is the price of tickets. To attend the concert, you’ll need between 292 and 339 euros, a very high amount for many Albanians, considering that the average monthly salary in the country is around 400 euros.
But what angered a part of the Albanian public was above all the use of public funds to save the musical activity through Article 101 of the Constitution, which allows the government to issue provisions with the force of law in cases of need and emergency. This decision, many Albanians considered inappropriate.
Dissatisfaction had arisen since April, when the prime minister had announced with great fanfare the controversial American rapper's concert, explaining that Albania would only guarantee "welcome, security and logistics."
“The event,” Rama said then, “is organized entirely by a private group composed of Albanian, German and Turkish partners, who will take on the financial burden of the operation.” Then he backed down: with a legislative act approved on July 6 and published in the Official Gazette the next day, the government allocated 400 million lek, approximately 4 million euros, from the state reserve fund to partially finance the concert.
“Pensioners live on 110 euros a month, hospitals lack equipment and doctors, but the government found money at the last minute for a concert. Are we kidding?” wrote an Albanian woman with 41,000 followers on social media. Like her, many citizens argue that the money could have been allocated for essential services that continue to be lacking in the land of the Eagles.
“If the government really cares about Albania’s reputation abroad and what tourists who come here think, I have some other ideas on where they should invest,” Euronews Albania journalist Alice Taylor raged in a video. “The problem is the waste: there is no real separate waste collection. There is waste on the beaches, in the countryside and in the cities. Then there are the stray animals. We also have a problem with the infrastructure. The other day, on the road to Pogradec, a rock fell from an inadequately protected cliff and killed a person who was driving. These are the problems that need to be addressed.”
The structure built to host Ye is also being criticized. The Eagle Stadium, a large temporary stadium between Tirana and Durrës, was built for the rapper, with an announced capacity of around 60,000 people. The structure was built specifically for one night only and was intended to be dismantled immediately after the concert. Then there is the choice of the artist.
Kanye West has been at the center of numerous controversies in recent years for his anti-Semitic statements and extremist positions. In some countries, some activities related to his presence have been canceled or contested, as was the case in Reggio Emilia, Italy. However, Rama believes that West's event will benefit Albania's tourism, economy and international image, generating about 100 million euros in economic benefits for the country.
The incident comes at a time of high political tension and protests against the Rama government. The prime minister, who is attending the summit in Ankara, responded to the attacks using harsh tones, speaking of "sorra" and accusing some of his opponents of manipulating the public debate. ©Taken from Il Fatto Quotidiano, adapted into Albanian by LAPSI.al
