Institutions are challenged by politics/ Report: Procrastination of the vetting process in justice and rampant corruption

2023-05-24 08:50:00, Aktualitet CNA

Institutions are challenged by politics/ Report: Procrastination of the vetting

Freedom House has published the report on Albania for 2022. One of the issues addressed is the state of democracy in the country.

According to the report, in 2022, Albania was in the category of hybrid regimes/democracies in transition.

Other indicators of democracy remained unchanged and the report states that Albania's democratic institutions are challenged by clientelistic party politics, the procrastination of the vetting process in justice and rampant corruption.

Corruption remains widespread, contributing to the dysfunction of the public institution and limiting its ability to provide effective services.

The report emphasizes that political influence on the judiciary in corruption cases continues to be a concern.

It is also clearly underlined that basic justice for many Albanian citizens is really lacking.

Excerpt from the Freedom House report

The state of democracy in Albania

Even in 2022, Albania was in the category of hybrid regimes/democracies in transition. The overall rating for Albania marked a slight improvement in 2022 compared to 2021, thanks to an increase in the rating in the fight against corruption.

"The rating for the fight against corruption increased from 2.75 to 3.00 points, thanks to a series of high-profile indictments and convictions of former officials by the Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK), as well as its proactive role in promoting of the fight against corruption and organized crime", the report states.

This caused the overall rating to increase from 3.75 to 3.79, on a rating scale of 1 to 7 points, where 1 is the lowest level of democracy and 7 is the highest.

However, other indicators of democracy remained unchanged and the report says that Albania's democratic institutions are challenged by clientelistic party politics, the procrastination of the vetting process in justice and rampant corruption.

"Corruption remains widespread, contributing to the dysfunction of the public institution and limiting its ability to provide effective services. Although new law enforcement agencies such as SPAK, created in 2019, show promising signs in the fight against corruption and organized crime at the highest levels, political influence on the judiciary in corruption cases still continues to be a concern," the chapter on Albania says. of the "Countries in Transition 2023" report, provided by the Voice of America.

"Basic justice for many Albanian citizens is really missing. And it's also an environment, like much of the region, where independent media is shrinking, civil society actors are in a difficult position, adding more and more obstacles and threats," Alexandra tells VOA Karppi, one of the authors of the report.

Despite the modest improvement in the corruption indicator, the report says there was little scope for further reforms before local elections on May 14 this year.

Mrs. Karppi says for the Voice of America that the local elections of May 14 reinforced this trend.

"I think the local elections that were just held in May were another example that unfortunately, because of the state capture networks by certain parties, makes you think we're going to see the same thing. I think the political status quo is likely to continue," she says.

In the chapter on Albania, it is said that in 2022, Albania's democracy resisted numerous challenges, especially during the special local elections of March, as well as the internal reorganization of political parties and inter-party cooperation for the election of President Bajram Begaj.

“However, the country made little steady progress towards becoming a true liberal democracy and is still classified as a hybrid democracy. Most Albanian political leaders remained hostile to liberal democratic values ??and have shown little appreciation for the fact that equality under the law and respect for the rule of law are important democratic values," the report states.

According to Freedom House's assessment, "most political parties are dominated by iron-fisted leaders, and this lack of internal party democracy was demonstrated in the way candidates for local special elections, local party branch leaders, and election candidates were selected." local of May 2023 (the report includes only the developments of 2022).

According to the report, the political clashes in the Democratic Party (PD) that saw the return of former Prime Minister Sali Berisha to the political scene and the departure of Lulzim Basha from the leadership of the DP after the March 6 partial local elections where he won in five of the six contests The ruling Socialist Party (SP) of Prime Minister Edi Rama dominated Albania's political scene in 2022 and the major rifts between the respective party factions continue.

"The public debate and the media focused more on the internal dynamics of the Democratic Party than on the social and economic problems facing the country and the need to hold Prime Minister Rama's government to account," says the chapter on Albania.

During 2022, a number of political journalists faced verbal abuse, bans from attending press conferences, intimidation, large fines and even lawsuits, the report says.

The report appreciates the fact that the European Union opened accession talks with Albania in July 2022, described by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen as a "historic moment", and Albania organized in December for the first time outside the EU, the meeting high-level EU-Western Balkans.

"Both cases represent important foreign policy successes for Albania. However, despite the progress made since the fall of communism – including the convictions of high-level officials for abuse of power and corruption in 2022, thanks to SPAK's commitment, many public institutions remain dysfunctional due to widespread corruption and culture of impunity, undermining democracy and the rule of law", says the chapter on Albania provided by the Voice of America.

According to the report, although Albania generally respects international human rights instruments, the country still fails to protect fundamental rights as essential values ??that support a liberal democratic society, citing the BIRN study, according to which "about 320 cases of sexual abuse took place in the period 2020-2022 and the identities, families, personal information and home addresses of the victims were widely published in the media” leading to several suicides and targeting by human traffickers.

The report also mentions the murder of 10 women by their partners and discrimination against individuals from the LGBT+ community, Roma and Egyptian minorities.

"Instead of holding abusers accountable, public authorities and local politicians often blame the victims and even reveal their names and identities to the media, leading to their double victimization. As such, Albania has so far neglected its institutional responsibilities to protect basic human rights and civil liberties, values ??that are fundamental to a true liberal democracy," the report states./ CNA.al