The Process of Denationalization in Albania in the Light of the Country’s Accession Process to the EU

Abstract

The economic system of planned economy, which was established in Albania with the centralized control of the economy through five-year plans for 45 years and state ownership (private property was abolished in Albania since the Constitution of 1976) as well as the binding of the enterprise to the priorities of the PPSH or to the fulfillment of the plan, led to the reduction of economic output, the rationing of consumer goods and, ultimately, after the political change to the transformation into a market economy. This transformation required a broader reform of the entire economic and legal system by creating a functioning market based in the rules of free market and competition and the guarantee of private property. In this sense the privatization and denatonalization-process were two of the main pillars of the new economic system in Albania that built the foundation of free market economy. In this context, the denationalization - process was accompanied by the deficiency of accurate economic statistics, denationalization strategies, foreign investors, a bad policy implementation as well as delays in the framework of immedialy needed reforms (Åslund 2013). The main objective of this article is to analyze the denationalization - process in Albania in the Light of the Country’s Accession Process to the EU. A detailed analysis of this process will help to understand the main, strategies, problems and failures of the Albanian legislator that are and will be sanctioned by the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights based in Strasbourg.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n4p325