TIRANA, Feb. 22 – Albania lost eight places in the 2017 Corruption Perception Index, ranking 91st out of 180 countries, on par with Bosnia and Herzegovina and leaving behind only neighboring Macedonia among regional competitors.
Montenegro and Serbia, the only two Western Balkans countries that have launched accession talks with the EU, were the region’s best performers, ranking 64th and 77th.
Ethnic Albanian-dominated Kosovo, which recently marked its 10th independence anniversary climbed 20 steps to rank 85th. The 2017 index ranks 180 countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, using a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
The index draws on 12 surveys from independent institutions specializing in governance and business climate analysis covering expert assessments and views of businesspeople. None of the surveys are commissioned by Transparency International.
In the case of Albania, the Germany-based anti-corruption watchdog considered Albania’s ranking in the World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey, the Bertelsmann Foundation Transformation Index, the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, the Political Risk Services International Country Risk Guide, the Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Ratings, the Global Insight Country Risk Ratings and the Freedom House Nations in Transit.
Corruption is highly perceived in Albania’s public sector with the judiciary and health sectors as well as politicians topping the list. High levels of corruption and an inefficient judiciary are also considered a key barrier for the country to attract foreign direct investment and much-needed know-how to bridge the huge gap with EU member countries.
Albania has recently started implemented a long-awaited justice reform that is expected to overhaul the country’s judiciary with vetting of all judges and prosecutors over their professional background and assets.
The OSCE Presence in Albania also regretted the reverse of Albania’s positive trend in the corruption index.
“The 2017 Corruption Perception Index results offer a warning that corruption remains one of Albania’s biggest challenges. The OSCE Presence regrets that the positive trend since 2013 was reversed, and calls for more accountability of public institutions, and independent investigation of corruption,” the OSCE said in a statement.
“The OSCE Presence calls on public institutions and rule of law agencies in Albania to proceed with the implementation of justice and anticorruption reforms in line with international recommendations. We remain committed to support Albania in its fight against corruption,” it added.
