Albanian Premier Edi Rama said today the tax on fuels will not be lifted, despite repeated requests from citizens that have been protesting against the high prices. In a meeting with farmers today, Rama said the lack of rain will make the country face shortage of power in the coming months which will force the government to buy energy with high prices.

“It’s easy to propose to lift the taxes on oil, but everything should be taken into account”, said Rama. “We have made our choice. Who will be affected by the oil taxes? The ones that have cars will. Those that have cars have more money than the ones that have not cars. We will subsidize the (bus) ticket price”, said Rama.