“Government, electoral budget”
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The cables of the US Embassy in Tirana, published by Wikileaks, show
that the government’s economic policies and the economic situation have
been the main concern of the reports that the US Embassy sent to the US
State Department.
Some of the documents state the concern of the US Embassy for government using the entire state budget in service of the general elections of 2009.
A report sent on December 2008, titled “Albania’s Electoral Budget”, the former ambassador John Withers comments:
“It is very easy to win the hearts and the minds of the people when you control what goes in their pockets. It is clear that the budget is planned for giving the ruling Democratic Party an advantage in the elections. After IMF will leave on 2008, there will be no one to supervise government’s expenses, which might surpass the budget in areas where votes are critical”.
The report of the US Embassy sees as an attempt for buying votes the unpredicted wage and pension increase, for the fact that the increment was enacted on May 1st, before the elections, different to other times when it entered in act on July.
During this period that belongs to the end of 2008, the embassy has given detailed reports about the situation of the banking system in Albania, which was feeling the consequences of the global crisis. The US Embassy was informing the US State Department that Albania was facing the crisis better then other countries, but however, as the report says, the first signs of potential problems are showing up, especially for the fact that people were withdrawing deposits and the government had difficulties to find money after failing with the Eurobond.
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