The 100th anniversary of the Order of Skanderbeg gathered in a hall high-ranking social and institutional personalities, but without political representation, in a ceremony that aimed to bring attention back to the role of decorations in building collective memory.
President Begaj emphasized that the medals are an act of responsibility and appreciation for merit, while Prime Minister Edi Rama underlined that the reform of decorations has restored the dignity of this system.
The 100th anniversary of the Order of Skanderbeg brought together in one hall the highest social and institutional, but not political, personalities. The event organized within the framework of the 100th anniversary of the creation of this decoration was greeted by President Bajram Begaj, who underlined that such medals serve to create a collective memory of the personalities who have served in the daily Albanian state-building.
"Orders and medals are a state rite, an act of responsibility and a way that Albania shows which people it shows to be an example. Let us keep this order as a common testament, an example that Albania is built by people with deeds and that public honor is a state recognition, it is an assessment of merit, not a reward," said Begaj.
The law on decorations underwent a change a few years ago, which Edi Rama, as a speaker at the event, was careful to highlight as an act that revived the values of state medals that had once lost their real power: "If once those decorated were those who helped the nation rise, then they became those who helped the government hold on tightly and in the end the former no longer understood the latter, to the extent that even the dead were summoned in absentia to receive decorations stripped of any meaning, let alone charm."
The reform of decorations, according to the head of government, brought back to the state order the evaluations of persons who have made contributions to the Albanian state: "This long and painful decline prompted us to undertake a profound reform of the system of orders and medals, not as a formal retouching, but as a fundamental act, to restore the Republic in contact with its European sisters and to restore it to its height of evaluation of merit, relying on consolidated European tradition and practices."
Skanderbeg, who is the figure of Albanian unity, was not at this event because the 100th anniversary of the order also brought together political representatives in an activity, as opposition representatives were absent from the hall.
