change font size

print version

copyright

Other languages:

Comment: The Left Wants to Sabotage Berisha's Achievements

02 11 2006  

The government has a track record of success - but it could all be thrown away by the opposition.


By Mero Baze in Tirana (Balkan Insight, 2 Nov 06)

Albania's right-wing coalition government under Sali Berisha has a positive balance sheet so far. Successes in the war on organised crime, substantial increases in customs and tax revenues, educational reforms and the start of major road construction projects are just some of its practical achievements.

The success in the war against the crime gangs is mainly down to the determination of the youthful interior minister, Sokol Olldashi. He has succeeded in tackling criminals even in tough parts of the country, which have been long under the financial, political and criminal influences of local clans.

As the prime minister rightly said recently, the government has also undermined the main drug-related networks in the country - as well as seizing at least 15 million US dollars' worth of criminal property.

Human trafficking is another problem in Albania that arouses major international concern. Here, too, officials have taken action, curbing the movement of unauthorised vessels in Albanian waters in order to cut illegal immigration.

NGOs and tourist associations have criticised the moves, saying they pose an obstacle to normal tourist activities. But the government is right to stress that the eradication of Albania's image as a haven for traffickers is the priority.

On the economic front, the government can also list achievements. They silenced many sceptics when they persuaded the IMF to support the country's adventurous new budget for the next six months, using this to substantially increase revenue from customs and taxes. The extra money can now be dedicated to salaries, schools and hospitals.

The government has undertaken the serious reform of the collection of taxes and customs. This is overdue, for the real problem in the field is not the personnel but an unreformed system, which is both primitive and antiquated.

Too many businesses are still able to hide their activities and conceal their profits. The lack of a modern system means it cannot succeed if it depends solely on a new team of tax collectors.

In infrastructure, the government has also made progress. This year work started on the northern motorway, which will one day connect Albania with Kosovo.

This is one of the largest infrastructure projects in the Balkans. The government has already convinced the World Bank to co-finance one segment of the highway with the American company Bektel. This will enable the construction of the most difficult part of the project, including a 6-kilometre-long tunnel.

In education the government has undertaken important reforms, changing the way students enroll into higher education, for example, by instituting new high-school exam systems. They have also acted to check the corruption that has been endemic in admissions to these institutions.

No one denies that the education system still faces many problems, and some graduates have protested against innovations connected to the way points are measured. Nonetheless, everybody agrees that the reforms are essentially pragmatic.

Other reforms in the economy have been put into place, mainly with a view to increasing the interest of foreign investors. The government aims actively to lure foreign investments into the bankrupt state companies of the old communist era and into the country's natural resources.

Whether this will succeed remains to be seen. The interest of investors has already grown but there is a danger that some may be disappointed if the government proves unable to match the standards they have pledged.

The government has, meanwhile, presided over a historic event, when the European Union in June signed a Stabilization and Association Agreement with Albania, a process that started in 1996, when the centre-right was also in power. European officials have stressed that the signing of this agreement is a mark of Europe's confidence in the government's fight against organised crime and corruption.

Berisha has also improved diplomatic relations with friends and foreign countries. Although Albania has experienced problems with Greece, the prime minister's visit to Athens was a judged a success. He has also built up political relations with the regional governments in Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro, as well as with Turkey and Italy.

The main question is whether the government can now start to consolidate the progress it has already achieved. Thus far, it has had little trouble in seeing off the opposition, which is plagued by internal problems, and which has focused mainly on accusing the premier of authoritarianism.

It does partly through a network of sympathetic NGOs, which organise protests and actions against the premier.

Protests soon followed after a government official was recorded discussing the proposed dismissal of the chief prosecutor with a nephew of the Albanian president, Alfred Moisiu, for example.

Initiated by some left-wing activists, these protests did not receive much support - except, notably, from the president.

This has opened up a breach between the government and the president who has continued to use his powers to veto parliament's demand to dismiss the chief prosecutor.

The president uses his constitutional powers routinely to oppose government initiatives. They in turn accuse him of acting in the interests of the previous Socialist government.

He regularly vetoes diplomatic nominations of the government and has so far blocked all women candidates put up for ambassadorial posts, claiming they were all under-qualified.

The opposition may accuse the government of being authoritarian. But the government feels it has a right to press on in demanding changes in the leadership of the judiciary, most of whom support the Socialists, gaining posts when they were in power.

While this standoff continues, the continued success of the fight against organised crime remains in doubt. Reforms may yet fail if they are not stabilised through an infrastructure that supports them.

Next spring's local and presidential elections will be a chance for the country to deliver its own verdict. On their outcome depends the future of reforms. Only then can we see whether they will proceed, or whether everything will have to start again from scratch.

Mero Baze is editor of the daily Tema. Balkan Insight is BIRN's online publication.