More than half of the promises for the first 100 days of the second government term, which were announced on October 7th were related to the economy and services to the citizens, including the functionality of the administration.
Easier bureaucratic procedures
The government has removed more than 40 documents that used to be required by public institutions, to be provided by citizens when applying for services. This promise was kept within the first 100 days, but through the “e-Albania” portal which was created a few years ago.
New phase in the battle against informality
The operation against informality entered its fourth month. The Tax Office led more than 20,000 inspections on businesses, collecting 23 million EUR of due taxes, and 1720 subjects have moved from small to big businesses.
Including small business in the VAT scheme
The promise was kept, but it was criticized by the International Monetary Fund. In fact, the government started a very aggressive project for including every small business in the VAT scheme but withdrew later. Businesses with an annual turnover less than 2 million ALL were excluded from the VAT, same as farmers and artisans. But despite the fact that the new law was much lighter, the policy was still opposed by the IMF.
Encouraging foreign investments
With the new fiscal package, the government reduced taxes for new hotels with 4 and 5 stars. This is the main measure for encouraging foreign investments, a sector with problematic results for the government. But in contrast to this move, the only brand of international hotels in Albania, “Sheraton”, has left the country. In the past four years, the government didn’t get any big business coming to Albania, and nothing can be seen on the horizon.
Preferential and strategic relations with Kosovo
In November, both governments of Albania and Kosovo held a joint meeting in which they signed a series of agreements. But is there real progress in the relations between Albania and Kosovo? The Minister of State for the Diaspora is not very enthusiastic. “If there is one show of bad treatment, it is the fact that people are not allowed to move freely between Albania and Kosovo. This can be considered wrong to a criminal level”.
Cleaning of national roads
The operation for cleaning national roads from signs and other objects by the roadside started since October. The Ministry of Transportation says that they have removed 1400 signs and 124 kiosks from roadsides. They also removed sites for collecting tires, inert materials and other objects. As for the fight against pollution, the national cleaning action started on November 24th and, according to the Environment Ministry, the number of registered volunteers mounts up to 280,000, or 1/10th of the population. However, Top Channel has reported during the entire month of December the dramatic situation in roads, fields and rivers of Albania, for which nothing was done.
Fight against water waste
The operation started in October. The government left three-month deadline to those who have illegal water connections. They were asked to sign regular contracts with the Aqueducts. According to the plan, inspections on terrain would start on February 1st.
Winners of the Vlora and Fier bypass bids
This promise has not been kept. The government promised to declare the winners for the bid within the first 100 days, but the bid is still open.
Completion of the Tirana-Elbasan highway
This is another unrealized objective. The government promised to complete it within 2017, but it was not realized. Now they don’t even have a new date about its completion, without mentioning the recent landslide that blocked part of the road with massive rocks.
Unique offices for registering farmers
This is another promise that has not been kept. Despite promising to open five unique offices for registering farmers within 100 days, the government has not opened any so far.
Food safety
The Prime Minister promised to start a fierce fight against slaughterhouses throughout the country. The promise could be considered kept, but the opposition has declared that this is a corruptive act for monopolizing the meat trading business through clients who have ties with the government leaders.
The government has kept the promise of organizing the test for hospital directors and partially kept the promise for the Nurses Portal, which has been created, but it is not functional yet.
In conclusion, the government unfolded a very modest program for the first 100 days. Their main economic achievement may be considered the removal of many bureaucratic procedures, but other areas didn’t have any important result. However, three months are not enough to judge a government.
Top Channel
