Here is the list of major news from Albania for 19-24 Sept.2011.
- The Prime Minister Berisha visits New York: Albania vote on Palestinian membership bid remains unclear
- Opposition regional councilors switch sides
- Miners strike continues with no end in sight
- Bribery in Albania and Bosnia the highest in the region – UN reports
- Albania sovereign bonds priced at 9.6 per cent
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- The Prime Minister Berisha visits New York: Albania vote on Palestinian membership bid remains unclear
The Prime Minister Sali Berisha visited New York between 19 and 22 September in the occasion of the yearly meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization. Mr. Berisha used the event to meet leaders from various countries in order to forward the cause of Kosovo Independence recognition and for advertising Albania as an investment destination.
Some of the Tirana’s newspapers stated that the diplomatic activity of Berisha this year was weaker than in the same occasion in 2010 and that the Prime Minister had much fewer meetings with head of states and prime ministers. Tema newspaper in opposition claimed that the Prime Minister is largely isolated now as the result of its democratic backsliding during the last two years. Pro-government media published informal photos that show Mr. Berisha embracing the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
On the issue of Palestinian UN membership bid, Berisha said that he fully supported the existence of Palestine as a state, but also the US stance on the issue, but did not indicate straightforward how Albania will vote.
Sources: keshilliministrave.al, Shqip, Tema, Koha Jone, VOA.
- Opposition regional councilors switch sides
Opposition Socialist Party lost its majority in the regional council of Berati in south of the country and won a hardly fought battle to keep its majority in the regional council of Fieri, after some of the councilors elected in 8 May elections decided to switch sides and join the government coalition. Newspapers suggest that the event reflects bigger troubles for the weakened opposition, which is also suffering internal fights among different groups.
The Socialist Party held the power in Albania between 1997 and 2005 and its officials had a reputation for corruption. But the money seems to have gone with the power lost six years ago and the Socialist Party seems to have lost also its ideology and structures, according to Servet Pellumbi, a retired SP official.
Shqip, Gazeta Shqiptare
- Miners strike continues with no end in sight
Miners in the Bulqiza mine complex started a second indefinite hunger strike this week after the Union failed to reach an agreement with the Austrian owned Albanian Chrome company (ACR) who operates the mine through a concessionary agreement. The miners had requested higher wages and better working conditions along with full payment of the salaries for the last three months when they were on strike, plus the dismissal of the ACR appointed director of the complex. The Company had accepted all the conditions except the director dismissal but the Union said that its conditions were non-negotiable.
Meanwhile, in Tirana the opposition Socialist Party accused the government for managing a criminal organization in the mining sector in the expenses of the miners. The Minister of Economy Nasip Naço said in the parliament that the Union has a hidden agenda that aims to kick out of the country the company and to take the mine for some local businessmen. Naço did not explain whom the local businessmen behind the Union are, but in the last three months, the Union doesn’t accept to give up to any of its request and that if the company agrees on their terms, then, they add new requests.
Top Channel, News 24
- Bribery in Albania and Bosnia the highest in the region – UN reports
An UN Office on Drugs and Crime Report on Corruption in Western Balkans unsurprisingly discovered that Albania and Bosnia on the top on bribery followed in a long distance from Croatia and Kosovo. In Albania, the majority of bribes ends up in the pockets of medics and paramedics and is paid by citizens to receive better treatment. In the majority of cases officials ask directly or indirectly for money in exchange for their service. The UN report was co-financed by the European Commission and used structured interviews with citizens as method. The interviewed citizens were randomly selected from the adult population. Macedonia is the least corrupted country in the region according to the report.
Bribery prevalence and purpose
Macedonia: 6.2 per cent of the adult population paid at least one bribe in the last 12 months. Speeding up official procedure was the main reason. 50 per cent of the bribes were paid for this.
Serbia: 9.3 per cent of the adult population paid at least one bribe in the last 12 months. 38 per cent of bribes were paid to Speed up procedure and 18 per cent to receive better treatment, mainly in public hospitals.
Montenegro: 9.7 per cent of the adult population paid at least one bribe in the last 12 months. Speeding up procedures 31.9%, receiving better treatment, 18% and avoiding fines, 17%, were the main reason for bribing officials.
Kosovo: 11.1 per cent of the adult population paid at least one bribe in the last 12 months.
Croatia: 11.2 per cent of the adult population paid at least one bribe in the last 12 months.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: 20.7 per cent of the adult population paid at least one bribe in the last 12 months. Avoid fines was the main reason with 25 per cent.
Albania: 19.3 per cent of the adult population paid at least one bribe in the last 12 months. The majority of bribes were paid in public hospitals to receive better treatment. In 50 per cent of the cases the need to pay was after implicit request from the officials and 14.5 per cent the request was explicit.
For further information: http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/corruption/Western_balkans_corruption_report_2011_web.pdf
- Albania sovereign bonds priced at 9.6 per cent
Yields on Albania’s euro denominated bonds jumped to 9.6 per cent during the last few months, the highest ever, reported this week Bloomberg.
“Yields on Albania’s 300 million euros ($409 million) of 7.5 percent bonds due in 2015 jumped 69 basis points, or 0.69 percentage point, in the past month to a record 9.6 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg,” the agency said. Albania sold its ever sovereign bonds last October to pay for the Durres-Kukes highway that links Albania with Kosovo and is dubbed “The Road of the Nation” or “The Patriotic Highway”.
Xhentil Demiraj the country’s debt management director, said to daily “Shqip” in Tirana that the yield increase is not related to the economic development of Albania but is rather result of the increased risk related to the European debt crisis.
Albania doesn’t intend to issue new bonds in the near future and can wait up to 2015 to return to the international market.
Bloomberg, Shqip
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