TIRANA, May 12 – One out of two Albanians admit to having been demanded directly or indirectly to bribe public officials, according to a corruption survey conducted by the Albanian Center for Economic Research as part of the Southeast Europe Leadership for Development and Integrity (SELDI) anti-corruption and good-governance coalition.
The 2016 survey showed corruption perception has deteriorated by 5 percent compared to 2014 and what’s more concerning two-thirds of the surveyed citizens indicated they would be engaged in corruptive acts if they were part of the public administration.
Judges, customs officials, public officials, political parties and political leaders were perceived as the most corrupt in the 2016 survey. According to public perception, the level of these groups’ involvement in corruptive practices remains high and there has been no improvement in the past couple of years. Meanwhile, teachers, journalists, members of the city councils, and the university faculty members were perceived as the least corrupt.
“The judicial system suffers from a number of problems from the way it is organized, to the status of the judges, and to the lack of the ability of the system to function according to European standards,” showed the study.
The justice system, perceived as the country’s most corrupt sector, has been the focus of attention during this year as political parties struggle to reach consensus on a deep reform, a requirement for the country’s EU accession talks after Albania obtained candidate status in mid-2014.
Only a fifth of the surveyed citizens believe corruption can be drastically reduced or eradicated. “The increasing distrust of the citizens on the capacity and effectiveness of the Albanian society to confront the problem of corruption is a result of the weariness of the Albanian citizens with the failures of the state institutions’ fight against corruption,” said the study’s authors.
Zef Preà§i, the director of the Albanian Center for Economic Research, says corruption remains the top concern in the Albanian society but there is hope that the long-awaited justice reform will help reduce it.
“Our study carried out at the beginning of this year shows that corruption continues remaining the key concern in the Albanian society, more than unemployment and poverty. Meanwhile, there has been a 5 percent increase compared to 2014 in corruption pressure directly or indirectly by the public administration,” said Preà§i.
“Unfortunately the Albanian society, at a high level of two-thirds of citizens, say they would do the same thing if they were part of the public administration and about 90 percent of the Albanian society is not confident that there can short-term success in the fight against corruption. Despite this, the concern about the acceptance of corruption continues remaining high, the society is sensitive about this, and there is hope that with a successful reform in the justice sector and in other fields, the impact of this ruining factor for the Albanian society will reduce,” he added.
Speaking at the introduction of the survey, Alba à‡ela from the House of Europe organization, said the civil society should coordinate their efforts in joint platforms in order to achieve greater efficiency and more legitimacy in the project fighting corruption. She stressed the need for these joint actions to be sustainable in the long run and go beyond national borders in their activities reach. “SELDI is one of the examples of a functional regional platform that has given strength to every individual organization’s voice,” à‡ela said.
The EU funded survey with about 1,000 respondents nationwide was carried out in partnership with House of Europe civil society organization.
