TIRANA, Jan.19 – Unfair dismissals have cost Albania’s state budget $30 million, adding another strain to the country’s finances.
Albania’s Ministry of Finance said it had allocated a total fund of about 140 million USD for accumulated unpaid bills by the end of December 2015, out of which a total of about $30 million have been allocated to address arrears related to the unfair dismissal of employees from the public administration.
However, the current figure risks getting bigger as a large number of cases are still waiting to be heard by administrative courts, which could potentially have additional costs to the state budget.
Due to the nature of the process, considering that the court proceedings have no definite timeframe, the country’s financial institutions are unable to estimate future arrears.
Currently, arrears are treated by a special government ordinance whose main principle is the liquidation of the bill no later than a fiscal year from the date the debt is submitted to financial institutions for the execution of the court decision.
Although Albania has taken steps forward towards the establishment of an independent and merit-based civil service, it is still not entirely free of political interference. It used to be a common practice in Albania that whenever a new political party took power, nearly the entire administration would change hands, which not only undermined its efficiency, but also created a burden to public finances.
