Democratic Party MP Jorida Tabaku says in the latest video in her “Weekend Corner” series that corruption is not just a political problem, but a cost borne directly by Albanian families, pensioners and businesses.

Referring to the US State Department’s report on the investment climate, Tabaku says concerns about corruption, distorted competition, the informal economy, money laundering, procurement and insecure property rights are not merely opposition allegations.

“Don’t take my word for it. Read the latest US State Department report. The crisis we talk about, because we live it every day, is described there too,” she says.

According to Tabaku, corruption means less money for pensions, families and public services, while inflated and nontransparent contracts create long-term obligations for the budget.

“Ministers change. But the contract remains. The bill remains. And citizens always end up paying it,” the Democratic Party MP says.

Tabaku also cites the American Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 Business Index. The index fell to 40.34 points out of 100, while monopolies and unfair competition scored just 26.11 points. Corruption scored 28.67 points.

She says the results show the difficulties companies face in dealing with the administration, courts and regulators, and in a market where not everyone competes on equal terms.

In the video, Tabaku also addresses the quality of foreign investment. She argues that Albania needs more American and European capital in technology, manufacturing and sectors that create high-paying jobs, rather than investment concentrated only in property and construction.

“Serious capital requires functioning courts, enforceable contracts, competition, transparency and rules that do not change depending on the investor’s name,” she stresses.

Tabaku closes her message by calling for a shift from an economy of favors to an economy governed by rules, from monopolies to competition, and from secret contracts to transparency.

“Capital can enter an unjust country. But trust is built only in a free country,” she concludes.

FULL STATEMENT:

Albanians are facing a major economic crisis today, one that is not visible only in statistics but is felt every day in their pockets. It is felt in rising prices and mounting bills; in families who work harder but buy less; in pensioners who count every penny; and in parents who must choose which of their children’s needs they can meet and which they must put off until next month. It is also felt by small businesses, which pay taxes, fees, energy costs, rent and interest while facing a competitor with political connections who gets the contract, the permit, the property and the favor. This crisis has deep roots, because it is not simply a temporary economic difficulty or a crisis that came solely from abroad and will go away on its own. It is the product of a system: a system headquartered in the Prime Minister’s Office, with branches in every institution that should serve citizens but now serves the interests of a few.

Tenders open to manipulation, politically micromanaged concessions and public-private partnerships whose total contracted value amounts to approximately 10% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. We must be clear that we are not talking only about one year’s payments, but about the overall value of contracts and long-term commitments that weigh on the economy, the budget and Albanian taxpayers. More than one billion euros has been paid over the years for concession contracts and PPPs, while some of the largest contracts have become the subject of investigations and criminal cases. Payments continue, ministers change, but the contract remains, the bill remains and the obligation remains. In the end, citizens always pay the bill. Every euro that goes to an inflated, nontransparent or unnecessary contract is one euro less for pensions, education, healthcare and the services families need. All this has undermined confidence in the economy, damaged competition, held back honest enterprise and given Albania a reputation that neither the country nor its people deserve.

Don’t take my word for it. Read the latest US State Department report. The crisis we talk about, because we live it every day, is described there too in the detached language of a technical report, without political rhetoric or emotion, but with a clear diagnosis: corruption, organized crime, money laundering, distorted competition, problematic procurement, insecure property rights, unenforced contracts, the informal economy and pressure on businesses. These are not merely the opposition’s words. They are the problems that investors and our international partners continue to identify in Albania. For years, I have read the US State Department’s reports carefully. I have compared them from one year to the next. I have read the reports on the economy, the investment climate, competition and the rule of law. I have raised these concerns in Parliament, denounced them when the government denied them and explained them when propaganda tried to cover them up.

What is shocking is not just the severity of a sentence; it is the repetition. The years change, the reports change, but the problems remain. After more than a decade, they can no longer be called isolated episodes of governance. They have become the way the system operates. A problem repeated in twelve consecutive reports is not a coincidence; it is a system. In the fourteenth calendar year of Edi Rama’s government, Albania continues to face the same fundamental obstacles that hindered business and investment when this government first came to power. In some respects, the diagnosis has become even more serious. Today, the issue is not only administrative corruption; it is the influence of organized crime, illicit capital, money laundering and the way these phenomena distort competition.

The State Department report is not alone. The American Chamber of Commerce is sounding the same alarm. Its latest business climate index fell to just 40.34 points out of 100, a decline of more than six points in a year. The individual figures are even more troubling: monopolies and unfair competition score just 26.11 points out of 100, government bureaucracy 26.39 points, the informal economy 28.19 points, corruption less than 29 points, the overall level of taxes just 32.82 points, and enforcement of laws and regulations 35.34 points. Perceptions of the business climate itself fell to just 37.02 points, a loss of nearly ten points in a year. These are not abstract numbers. They are the responses of companies operating in Albania: companies that pay wages and taxes, try to invest, and deal every day with the administration, courts, inspections, regulators and unfair competition.

When American businesses rate monopolization at 26 points out of 100, it means the market is not working. When corruption scores less than 29 points, it means the law is not guaranteeing equality. When tax policy scores just 32 points, it means the burden is not seen as fair or predictable. When the business climate falls to 37 points, it means the propaganda about economic success does not match the reality businesses experience. On one side we have the US State Department report, and on the other we have the member businesses of the American Chamber of Commerce. Both describe the same disease: an economy that is increasingly unpredictable, increasingly concentrated and increasingly unfair. The reports describe an environment in which political connections, selective treatment, nontransparent procedures and administrative decisions directly affect competition.

In Albania, the best idea, the best offer or the entrepreneur who works hardest, invests most and employs the most people does not always win. All too often, the strongest connection to those in power wins. This has been shown not only by reports but also by investigative files made public. A phone message determines who should win, a communication specifies what the bid should be, pressure is put on anyone who wants to complain, and a decision made outside an institution is then simply signed inside it. In this way, a state run through phone calls spends billions of euros in Albanians’ tax money while becoming the main obstacle to the development of honest businesses.

This is the paradox of Albania today. The state is extraordinarily quick when it needs to approve a concession, grant strategic investor status, approve a building permit for someone privileged or create a legal exemption. But it becomes slow when a citizen seeks to register property, powerless when an entrepreneur seeks to enforce a contract, deaf when an ordinary business asks for fair competition and invisible when a family seeks justice. This is therefore not simply a weak state; it is a selective state, one that works very well for the few and very badly for the many.

Corruption is no longer just an envelope under the table. Corruption is the way contracts are awarded, permits are granted, public property is transferred to private use, so-called strategic investors are selected and economic opportunities are distributed. This is where the façade of a government that claims to help businesses and attract foreign investment falls away. Albania has attracted more foreign investment in nominal terms, and its total stock reached around 17 billion dollars in 2025. But the amount of capital is not the same as the quality of development. Around 34% of new investment inflows in 2025 went into real estate. In other words, a third of new capital went into property rather than technology, manufacturing, innovation or industries that create high-paying jobs.

Meanwhile, the stock of American investment is estimated at around 490 million dollars, only about 3% of the total stock of foreign investment in Albania. The United States is our main strategic partner, but American capital continues to account for a modest share of the Albanian economy. Why? Because serious capital does not seek only land and permits; it requires functioning courts, enforceable contracts, competition, transparency and rules that do not change depending on the investor’s name. The relationship with the United States is measured not only by diplomatic photographs and declarations of friendship; it is also measured by the security Albania offers American investors.

The strategic investment law was presented as the instrument that would bring in new capital, technology, jobs and serious international investors. But what has it produced in practice? A mechanism that, in the overwhelming majority of cases, has favored domestic projects, mainly in tourism, and beneficiaries of property and state support. Laws intended to bring in investment have been used to select investors. Citizens bear the risk, while the benefits are concentrated among the privileged. This is not a market economy; it is an economy of favors. It is not competition; it is the political selection of winners.

Insecure property rights and the failure to enforce contracts may sound like technical concepts, but behind them lie the hardships of thousands of people. There is the family that has been unable to register its property for years, the farmer who has no security over the land, the small property owner facing an institution far more powerful than they are, the emigrant who has invested a lifetime’s savings and cannot find justice, and the entrepreneur who has a contract but no court that will enforce it in time. When property is not secure and contracts are not enforced, citizens do not have a guaranteed right; they have only the hope that an institution will decide to treat them fairly.

In this system, Albanians do not leave only for higher wages. They leave because of injustice, a lack of opportunity, an economy in which the market has been divided among a few players, and a country where hard work and ability count for less than connections to those in power. They leave because of the arrogance of a government that works for the few while overtaxing the many. Emigration is therefore not just a demographic statistic; it is the strongest vote against this economic model. Around 70% of American Chamber members say they find it difficult or very difficult to find qualified employees. The government presents this solely as a labor shortage, but the question is: why have workers and young people left? Why does a qualified professional have more faith in starting from zero abroad than in the possibility of getting ahead in Albania? Because people do not leave only because of low wages; they leave a system in which they see no merit, security or prospects.

The State Department reports and the assessments of business institutions are an X-ray of this government. That X-ray shows an economy becoming ever more concentrated; monopolies and oligopolies burying competition; small businesses paying more and getting less; and families working harder but being able to afford less, while a limited group benefits from contracts, permits, property and public money. This is not a bankrupt state, because the state collects taxes, makes decisions, awards contracts and grants property and permits. The problem is whom it does all this for. This is a state with strong signs of capture: a state that is weak for the citizen but very powerful for the privileged; a state that demands every document from a small business but turns a blind eye to millions of euros; a state that punishes the vulnerable and negotiates with the powerful.

When accountability approaches the highest levels of power, this governing majority does not seek to understand its mistakes; it seeks to change the rules. It interferes with legal codes and procedures, attacks institutions, shifts the debate and tries to convince Albanians that the problem is not corruption but those who investigate it; that the problem is not abuse but those who expose it. The transaction has become the philosophy of this government: “Give me your support, and I’ll give you power. Give me your silence, and I’ll give you the contract. Give me your loyalty, and I’ll give you the property.” When the transaction does not work, pressure, political blackmail and public attacks follow.

But Albania needs something else. It needs an economy in which the state does not choose winners but guarantees the rules; where the tender is won by the best offer, not by the best-connected caller; where a strategic investor is someone who brings capital, technology and jobs, not someone who takes public property; where American and European capital come because they find security, not because they have to find a political intermediary; where property is secure, contracts are enforced, entrepreneurs do not need a friend to open a business and compete, and young people can get ahead through knowledge and hard work, not through party membership cards and connections.

This is our battle: not simply against a government, but against a system that has turned the state into the property of a few. We do not want to change the names of the beneficiaries; we want to change the system that produces privileged beneficiaries. We do not want an economy that only builds towers and increases the wealth of a handful of people. We want an economy that lowers the cost of living, raises wages, helps families, frees up competition, supports small businesses and attracts American and European investment in technology, manufacturing and employment.

Albania is not a poor country; it is a country impoverished by poor governance. It is not a country without opportunities; it is a country whose opportunities have been held hostage. It is not a country without capable people; it is a country that drives capable people away because it does not guarantee them fair competition. Our alternative is therefore clear: from an economy of favors to an economy governed by rules, from monopolies to competition, from secret contracts to transparency, from investment in concrete to investment that creates knowledge, production and high wages, from a state for the well-connected to a state for citizens, and from a government that chooses winners to a law that gives everyone an opportunity.

Capital can enter even an unjust country, but trust is built only in a free country. The Albania we want is not an Albania where a few have everything and the many pay for everything. It is not an Albania where a few benefit and the many leave. It is an Albania where the state works equally for everyone. That Albania is possible, but to build it, we must first free the economy, our institutions and our future from the system that has held them hostage.

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