Editorial: High tax policies, failure to produce economic growth behind Albania’s social unrest

Much of the news this week has focused on the Kukes-Durres highway toll clashes, the ensuing arrests and related protests. While these events are important, they are a symptom of a larger problem: A series of government policies that are tearing the social fabric of Albania by failing to produce economic growth while squeezing Albanian citizens and small businesses hard through taxes and then channelling the funds to unproductive and shady ventures fraught with questions over cronyism and ethics. Albania’s Socialist government led by Prime Minister Edi Rama, in power nationally since 2013 and locally in Tirana 2000-2011, has implemented…