TIRANA, Jan. 29 – In a year when the state of freedom in the world declined for the ninth
consecutive year, Albania continued to be included in the category of partly free countries,
according the Freedom House annual report.
Albania continues to have the same degree of freedom, taking 3 points for the state of freedom
in general, in a measuring system with a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 represents greater freedoms
and 7 the least freedom.
The Freedom House report attributes Albania’s issue in rooted problems and the fact that
institutional reforms are still in the early stages.
“Of course we would prefer that Albania had scored more progress,” says Arch Puddington, the
organization’s vice president for research.
He attributes the lack of progress to the history of oppression of the totalitarian regime of Enver
Hoxha, which he says was more severe than other countries of Eastern Europe.
“I think the country is still trying to come out of that darkness where it had sunk under Hoxha. So
you may need a little more time. They have recorded significant progress,” he added.
The report notes that the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama was able to obtain the status
of candidate country after three previous postponements and is rated well for measures against
organized crime, the new law on freedom of information and consultation processes on reforms
and legislative changes.
However, according to Freedom House, the country continued to suffer the consequences of
political disputes, including the boycott of parliament by the opposition, the impunity of officials
and former senior officials accused of corruption and political appointments to positions that are
supposed to be independent.
Mr. Puddington told the Albanian service of VoA that if Albania wants to join the EU, it needs to
intensify efforts.
“But one of the things we learned is that when a country joins the EU, it tends to respect
democratic standards steadily, so we hope that Albania can achieve that goal,” he added.
institutional reforms are still in the early stages.
