Embassy Concerns Over Albania's Consideration for MCC

UNCLAS TIRANA 000730 SIPDIS Sensitive For the MCC Board from Ambassador Withers E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID PREL PGOV ETRD ECON KMCA MCC AL SUBJECT: Embassy Concerns Over Albania's Consideration for MCC Compact Status ¶1. (SBU) The November 9 release of the FY2010 Scorecard marked an important milestone for Albania, technically qualifying it as eligible for consideration for Compact Status. Most notable is the fact that for the first time, Albania scored slightly above the median in terms of "Control of Corruption." Albania's eligibility for consideration for a Compact is recognition of the progress, albeit modest, that has been accomplished in Albania in recent years in the three MCC policy categories. While a few important benchmarks were achieved, Embassy Tirana has strong reservations about Albania's capacity for a substantial Compact based on the GOA's lack of administrative and fiduciary capacity to effectively implement the significant responsibilities inherent in any Compact. Two areas of concern are particularly worrisome: endemic corruption throughout senior officialdom in particular and the broad society in general; and the stark lack of government capacity to manage funding levels. Corruption -------------- ¶2. (SBU) In recent years initiatives such as the National Business Registration Center (the so-called "One-Stop-Shop"),along with e-taxation and e-procurement programs have made tangible progress in reducing opportunities for corruption. The plain fact, however, is that corruption in Albania remains endemic and entrenched at all levels of government and society. Although prosecutions and convictions of corrupt, mainly lower level government officials have increased in the last two years, there remains a crippling atmosphere of impunity for the highest GOA officials. ¶3. (SBU) In just the last six months, for example, two current government ministers have had abuse of office charges - involving graft in a billion dollar road project and a major demilitarization scam - dismissed or dropped based on shaky rulings by the courts. There is growing credible evidence that the Prime Minister's immediate family, senior members of the opposition party, and numerous members of the parliament engage in corrupt acts on a large scale. The actions generally go unreported and unpunished. The Embassy has documented in recent months numerous cases of political interference in the judicial system, itself riven by pandemic corruption, to protect senior level malfeasants. ¶4. (SBU) Embassy Tirana urges the MCC Board carefully to consider how this endemic corruption would impact the effectiveness of a Compact program in Albania. Despite gains in a number of World Bank and other indicators regarding corruption, the scale of corruption remaining in Albania raises serious doubts about Albania's capacity for implementation of a substantive Compact. Without a tight oversight mechanism, the Embassy cannot be sure that substantial amounts of U.S. taxpayer money would not go to wrongful and illegal uses. Government Capacity -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The GOA's ability effectively to budget for, spend and account for its own funds remains woefully inadequate - not only because of corruption, but because the government lacks the necessary expertise and bureaucratic structures necessary to manage its money in all but the most elementary ways. In recent years the Albanian Ministries of Defense and Health, to name just two, have been unable to spend their modest budgets due to a lack of procurement procedures and expertise. In 2008, the Ministry of Defense was forced to return nearly one half of its entire budget to the treasury. Other government officials are in such fear that they will be charged with fraud or corruption that they refuse to spend money at all, leaving large amounts of budgetary funds unspent. ¶6. (SBU) The GOA has no experience managing the potentially large amounts of money involved in a Compact. Large grants would likely quickly overwhelm the GOA's ability to adequately account for and spend such funds, impinging on the effectiveness of any possible Compact for Albania. Embassy Tirana believes that any Compact for Albania would need very strong oversight provisions by some international agency, such as USAID, that would assist the GOA to more effectively manage and spend funds responsibly. ¶7. (SBU) A full Compact for Albania would at least in theory provide momentum for change in Albania in the areas of poverty reduction and economic development - but only if the program is properly administered, a dubious proposition in the Albania of today. Thus, while recognizing the considerable progress made in Albania since the collapse of civil order in 1997, Embassy Tirana continues to hold grave doubts about the Government of Albania's ability effectively to implement a Compact and the potentially large amounts of money involved. Continued endemic corruption and poor government capacity to manage funds raise serious concerns about Albania's effective capacity to implement a compact. Embassy Tirana urges the MCC Board in the strongest terms to consider fully these concerns as it prepares for the December 9 board meeting. At minimum, effective oversight mechanisms that ensure transparency and GOA fiscal responsibility in the administration and implementation of Compact funds must be a central part of any Compact for Albania.