The Process of Albania Enlargement of the European Union, the Transition, Reforms and Changes in Public and Private Sector of Economy

Abstract

Challenges in identifying the appropriate electoral system and institutional arrangements to achieve inclusiveness require developing an adequate knowledge of the local electorate and identifying a combination of electoral system and affirmative action which best suits the structural as well as institutional context. The capacity of public administration was weak; the system, stemming from a party focused environment, was highly politicized. Corruption was pervasive in every facet of the public sector. Citizens feared public administration and did not trust it to provide even the most basic services in a fair or impartial way. The financial collapse in 1997 was a watershed event in Albania's transition from its communist past. It highlighted the problems of Albania's economic governance capacity and, from an administrative standpoint, reaffirmed and highlighted the inefficacy of a public administration, unable to enforce its laws and regulations. As the public's confidence in Albanian1 institutions had been significantly eroded by the recent events, restoring the public's trust in the government became the main priority of the government. In order to achieve this objective the capacity of the public administration needed to be dramatically strengthened.2 The donors concurred with this assessment. IDA, starting with the 1998 CAS, considered governance and institution building as one of the central planks of its intervention and identified the need to adopt and implement reforms to build an accountable and transparent state as the most important challenge facing the Government of Albania. Over the next several years, the Albanian Government, in partnership with donors, emphasized institutional reform and capacity building and developed a comprehensive strategy to strengthen the public institutions for more effective governance.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n9p689