The new Albanian cabinet plans to drastically slash the number of employees in the public administration to make it more efficient.

Prime Minister Edi Rama recently revealed the names of new ministers in the slimmed down new cabinet after his Socialist Party won a second mandate in the June 25 election. Rama also announced radical changes in the public administration in his second mandate and massive job cuts. He announced that lot of state bodies will be merged to make the public administration smaller and cheaper.

The cuts will apparently be more drastic in the newly created ministry of finance, economy and labour, formed from the merger of the finance and economy ministries and the shift of the labour component from the previous social welfare and youth ministry, Tirana Times reported on August 30.

Hundreds of public administration employees will apparently lose their jobs in the drastic cuts. 

Huge cuts are also expected from the merger of the current tax and customs directorates into a single organisation, and the reduction of inspectorates and regional agencies from the current 12 to only four.

In total, 37 agencies and directories will not exist anymore following the formation of  the “Rama 2” government, Albanian Daily News reported on August 27. 

All directorates in the agriculture ministry will cease to exist. Another 11 directorates will be merged in the ministry of health, which in future will have just four agencies for regional healthcare. Jobs will also be slashed in the ministries of education and environment.

Reforms in the administration was one of Rama’s promises during the Socialists' pre-election campaign, which also includes judiciary reforms needed for Albania to progress towards EU accession. 

The Socialists won 74 seats in the 140-seat parliament, enough to rule alone for the next four years, defeating the opposition Democratic party, which will have 43 seats. In the new cabinet, Rama reduced the number of ministers to 14 from 20, of which one is a deputy prime minister and two will be ministers without portfolio.