Speaking at a forum organized in for the International Day against Corruption, OSCE Ambassador in Tirana Bernd Borchardt called corruption an omnipresent blight of Albanian society.
His speech addressed the following main points:
- The Albanian government has made efforts to address corruption issues but more needs to be done – corruption remains a serious problem for the country.
- The independence and efficacy of institutions that are supposed to fight corruption continue to be limited by political pressure and weak administrative capacities.
- Corruption in Albania is a complicated and multidimensional problem.
- A corrupted environment increases the costs of doing business, discourages foreign investors, deforms the markets and investment priorities, and damages the belief in public administration.
- Often low wages, the acceptance of bribes by society, and tight social networks make the fight against corruption a difficult duty.
- We have to dedicate more efforts to guaranteeing the integrity of elected officials and the construction of a reliable, functional, and transparent public administration. Different measure against public corruption need to be combined with appropriate economical incentives for public officials.
- Corruption is not simply a financial issue. It can lead to a serious lack of social stability and conflicts. So there exists a strong link between the disappearance of corruption and the guarantee of security, the state of law, and long-term stability.
