Albania and Stability Pact

AIM Tirana, 16 April, 2000

Stability Pact, conceived way back before the bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, is assessed by all the countries in the region as the greatest opportunity to bring this problematic part of the continent closer to the structures of the progressive West and later integrate it into them. As the poorest country in the region, Albania, more than any other country, sees joining the Stability Pact as an ideal possibility for resolving the difficult problems that accompanied it during the difficult period of transition. In fact, except for the economic aspect and construction of infrastructure, the Stability Pact also includes development of democratic institutions, struggle against organised crime, corruption, definitive solution of problems of ethnic nature and establishing relations among different countries of the region on new foundations. Due to all that Albania is without any doubt one of the most interesting countries of Southeastern Europe. On the other hand, since a big number of the Albanians live in neighbouring countries, without even mentioning Kosovo, the interest of Albania and its role in implementation of the Stability Pact increases considerably in view of the influence of the Albanians in the whole region.

When one has all this in mind, one may say that the Stability Pact in a way favours the political class which is in power. This is true especially because of the fact that interlocutors of international institutions which are involved in implementation of the Stability Pact and its partners engaged in it are mostly government agencies. This also explains why the Stability Pact was given great publicity by the authorities and the parties of government coalition. The climax was reached by the idea of the Socialist leader Nano that a Commission for the Stability Pact be established in Albania. He became the president of this Commission.

For known reasons, however, interested agencies of the Albanian state devoted attention only to the economic part of the Pact. This was especially evident from the propagandist aspect. It is a fact that the official propaganda in Tirana was focused on information that within this Pact Albania would be flooded by millions or billions of dollars, that this or that would be built with the money and so on and so forth. Even the political struggle between the regime and the opposition centred on this issue which came down to the extent to which the Albanian government would be able to absorb financial contributions within Stability Pact. In this way, the most important part of what was offered to Albania by the Stability Pact, which concerns development of democratic institutions, struggle against crime, smuggling and police, not to mention other fields such as regional cooperation, development of education, culture, media, will remain in the background. Perhaps due to this engagement only on economic advantages offered by the Stability Pact to Albania, Albanian officials neglected certain duties such as the long delay in sending a representative into Hombach's team, which was done by other countries in time.

Nevertheless, Albania has been and remained a regular and active participant in all round tables and activities linked to the Stability Pact. Trilateral meetings of prime minister Ilir Meta cannot be disregarded either, such as the one between Meta, Vujanovic and Georgijevski in Ohrid or the one on Prespa between Meta, Georgijevski and Simitis, not to mention participation of Albanian prime minister at meetings like the one in Sofia and Bucarest where countries of neighbouring Yugoslavia gathered.

The Albanian government proposed that within the Stability Pact a regional Ombudsman be appointed which would make efforts of some countries in the region easier in establishing the institution of Ombudsman on the national level. This office of the regional Ombudsman would be established in order to investigate and report on violations of human rights in the countries of the region, to coordinate activities with significant international institutions concerning, among other, protection of ethnic minorities in these countries.

Albania also intended to propose foundation of a Balkan television station by the model of Euro News which would contribute to exchange of information and familiarising of the population with the problems of the whole region. But while participation in these activities can be considered to have been successful, where the Albanians wished to achieve the greatest success, in other words, at round tables dealing with economic issues where they would be able to get the sums of money they had dreamt of, they were disappointed.

At the meeting in Skopje held on 10 and 11 February, where part of the funds for the countries in the region was distributed, Albania received only seven per cent of the sum distributed throughout the region. The disappointment became even greater in view of the fact that countries like Bosnia and Macedonia received almost four times more than what was allocated to Albania. The disappointment is even greater when one adds to this the fact that Albania is in a much worse situation because of its non-existent infrastructure. Such a disillusioning result was linked to incapability of representatives of Albania to present its projects precisely, persuasively and in an interesting manner in order to convince the donors "to loosen the purse strings".

After that, reactions of Albanian opposition were more than critical. In this way the period between the meeting in Skopje and the one in Brussels held two weeks ago, where distribution of another sum of money was expected, was characterised by a very sharp debate between the authorities and the opposition. In a way, success or repetition of the results of the meeting in Skopje would affect the position of the Albanian government within the country. According to the official figures, out of 2.4 billion dollars allocated to the countries included in the Stability Pact at the meeting in Brussels, Albania got 112 million dollars. That is, more or less about five per cent. However, out of the total of 35 projects adopted for financing, seven belong to Albania, which is 20 per cent of the total number. Among these projects, "the lion's share" belongs to those which refer to improvement of water works in Albania, at the same time when Montenegro will receive the money for its roads, and Bosnia for its power system.

The political debate in Albania which followed after the meeting in Brussels was centred on the argument of the sum of five per cent which was called by the opposition "repetition of Skopje" or "big punishment of Brussels for corrupt Albanian officials", and another argument mentioned by the official propaganda that there was a comparatively large number of projects. To be perfectly realistic it should be said that, taking into account the needs of Albania and the Albanians as the poorest country and nation, with no infrastructure, it should be said that what was allocated in Brussels and Skopje, is very little indeed. But, it should also be said that more than parametres, certain other things affect such decisions. Putting aside the awkwardness in submitting projects, it should be said that Albania is in the zone which is considered as "risky". It is sufficient to mention developments in Montenegro where the possibility of a new conflict cannot be eliminated. In fact, facilities for reception of possible refugees in case of a conflict in Montenegro are being reconstructed in northern Albania. Besides, the internal situation in Albania, with its high smuggling and crime rate, does not offer sufficient safety for development of various activities primarily those of economic nature which require investments.

Third, corruption of Albanian officials which is broadly discussed even in seats of international institutions, created fear that the allocated money could end up in the pockets of corrupt state officials. And finally, long isolation of the country resulted in the lack of knowledge of the facilities of its neighbours and this creates additional difficulties in inclusion of Albanian economy in joint regional projects.

Perhaps Albanian officials and politicians have felt the need of greater engagement in other fields the Stability Pact includes, such as development of institutions, struggle against crime and corruption and so on. In any case, it is often said that the Stability Pact is like running in a Marathon race and not just a short and quick race.

AIM Tirana

Gavrosh LEVONJA