The organization Freedom House says that the impact of the war in Ukraine, as a result of the Russian aggression, was perceived in the 29 countries from Central Europe to Central Asia last year, taken into analysis in its latest report “Nations in Transit 2023”.
In this year’s publication called “War Deepens a Regional Divide”, analyzing developments during 2022, Freedom House states that “the heightened security threats, historic refugee crisis, and economic disruption associated with the Russia-Ukraine conflict have deepened the gulf between autocracies and democracies, and triggered divisive shifts in the foreign policies of individual governments”.
“Although some countries made clear choices in favor of a more democratic future during 2022, the net result was the 19th consecutive year of declining democratic performance in the area under study,” finds the research led by Mike Smeltzer and Alexandra Karppi.
The state of democracy in Albania
Even in 2022, Albania is listed in the category of hybrid regimes/democracies in transit. The general assessment for the country scored a modest progress in 2022 compared to 2021, due to an increase in the rating in the fight against corruption. The overall rating increased from 3.75 to 3.79, on a scale of 1 to 7 points, where 1 is the lowest level of democracy and 7 is the highest.
However, other indicators of democracy remained unchanged and the report states that Albania’s democratic institutions are challenged by clientelistic party politics, a lagging judicial vetting process, and rampant corruption. The country’s special anticorruption courts made small strides in addressing graft during 2022, resulting in a modest score improvement in the Corruption indicator, but there was little opportunity for further reforms before local elections set for May 2023.
In the chapter on Albania, it is said that in 2022, the country’s democracy resisted numerous challenges, especially during the partial local elections in March, as well as the internal reorganization of political parties and inter-party cooperation for the election of President Bajram Begaj.
“The country, however, made little steady progress towards becoming a true liberal democracy and is still classified as a hybrid democracy. Most Albanian political leaders remained hostile to liberal democratic values and have shown little appreciation for the fact that equality under the law and respect for the rule of law are important democratic values,” the report states. It further highlights Albania’s limited internal party democracy, where party leaders maintain control with an iron fist, with autocratic rule.
Although Albania’s scores in Nations in Transit place it close to North Macedonia and Montenegro in terms of democratic development, polling suggest that Albanians are more optimistic about the potential of EU membership to provide not only economic prosperity but also improved democratic standards.
During 2022, a number of political journalists faced verbal abuse, bans from attending press conferences, intimidation, large fines and even lawsuits. The report expresses concern about the state of the media, citing pressure from political interest to curb media surveillance and manipulate the media narrative to serve partisan agendas. Freedom House mentions Albania’s drop by several positions in the Reporters without Borders Index.
“Most of the media in Albania are owned by business people with close ties to politicians and/or organized crime networks and serve as mouthpieces for these interests. Given the ambiguous nature of media ownership and financing in Albania, it is difficult to analyze the exact motives behind large fines against different media channels or any possible connection between politics and media ownership.”
The report appreciates the fact that the European Union opened accession talks with Albania in July 2022.
Read the report here.
