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"Businesses have captured the state", Albania holds a record in the region

2022-12-08 08:08:10Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

"Businesses have captured the state", Albania holds a record in the

56% of Albanian respondents affirm that they have been asked for a bribe and 47% admit that they have given it.

Both of these figures are the highest in the region, according to the latest report "Monitoring the corruption system 2021", published by SELDI, the Southeast European Leadership for Development and Integration.

According to the report, Albania has the highest pressure and involvement in corruption in the Western Balkans for all indicators, such as seeking bribes, giving them, acceptability of corruption, falling prey to it and even state capture by businesses.

"Albania appears to be the country most affected by the highest administrative corruption in the region with 57% of citizens being asked for bribes at least occasionally and 47% actually participating in corruption transactions," the report states.

Serbia remains the country with the lowest level of corruption pressure in the region, while Kosovo has the lowest level of actual involvement in corruption activities with 20% of citizens having paid bribes at least in some cases compared to 23% in Serbia.

According to the report, direct involvement in corruption transactions is associated with the prevalence of specific attitudes towards corruption and corrupt behaviors and the perception that corruption is widespread in society.

Another indicator, that of the acceptability of corruption, reflects the citizens' belief that some corrupt practices by public officials are normal and can be tolerated.

In 2021, acceptance is highest in Albania (40%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (38%) and North Macedonia (37%), but also the lowest results (Kosovo – 25% and Montenegro – 27% ) remain quite high.

However, the steady decline in acceptability in all countries except BiH and Montenegro since 2016 indicates increasing resilience to corruption among citizens, the report points out.

Businesses in Albania capture more of the state

Even state capture is dominant in the Western Balkans, where Albania once again holds the record as a country where private interests significantly influence the decision-making processes of a state to their advantage.

The indicator of pressure for state capture by businesses, which focuses on the pressure of monopolization at the national, sectoral or institutional level, Albania has 45, the highest in the region, together with Bosnia and Herzegovina. As for the other indicator, the enablers of state capture, which include institutional and environmental factors at the national level, reaches 50, almost twice as high as the second country after us, which is Kosovo.

State capture in the region is a mechanism through which the drafting, adoption and enforcement of government rules and regulations in some important areas of government operation is skewed in favor of a small number of beneficiaries at the expense of society and business in general.

The report expresses concern that despite state capture being high not enough is being done to combat it – none of the anti-corruption strategies adopted by countries in the region mention it. It is mainly civil society, and occasionally foreign partners, who call it a major concern. The European Commission, which raised it as an issue a few years ago, now seems to avoid this problem.

Previously, EC progress reports for countries in the region stated that they had found "clear elements of state capture", while in recent publications the phenomenon is mentioned only slightly, which may be a reflection of geopolitical priorities for accelerated expansion in the face of threats from Russia and China.

The fact that state capture is missing from the anti-corruption agenda shows that the "measures" that make up that agenda are mainly administrative issues that cannot affect the deeper causes that hinder progress and the building of democratic stability, the report points out.

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