Tirana mayor Erion Veliaj is using the same excuses as Prime Minister Edi Rama, when accused of using public funds to finance concerts at the same time that he swear up and down that the municipality cannot afford to build schools and cultural objects.
In May 2016, when Rama was attacked by the public for wasting public funds, following the new national stadium public-private partnership, he responded:
Many people react badly to a new museum or the construction of a new stadium. They say “we can barely afford food, you build stadiums, museums, city centers.”
This reaction is understandable, coming from poor and desperate people, yet perverse coming from rich people, from the opposition party.
There is no evidence, in the whole of human history, that proves that cultural dearth will result in more food.
To put food first, before the soul, before the mind, is a great political perversity. These things all go hand in hand.
Yesteday, Veliaj used the same argument to defend himself against accusations that the June 3 and June 4 concerts were financed indirectly by public funds, via suspect tenders awarded to companies affiliated with the municipality:
If the issue was merely “we don’t have any food,” then municipalities would be replaced by big bakeries. Cities and people do not live only on bread, but also on art, on culture, books, music, nature, sports.
A well-run municipality feeds them all of those. It is not enough for people to be full on bread, they also need cultural, mental enrichment. That way, it is easier for them to find work.
A refined person will find work easier than someone whose only concern is bread.
