Redefining Albania’s image

When José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said in September that it would be "unwise" to proceed with any more enlargements after Romania and Bulgaria "before we have resolved the constitutional issue in Europe", his words were greeted with widespread dismay across the Balkans. Except for Albania. After all, this country has no prospect of joining in the near future, so it is widely assumed that the EU will have solved its own problems long before Albania is ready to join.

Mention ‘Albania’ and the name, to the minds of many, conjures up images of poverty, of the chaos of the collapse of 1997, of organised crime and corruption. But Albania has changed so fast in the last few years that while it still has huge residual problems to deal with, its clichéd image abroad is now in need of a serious overhaul.

Tirana is unrecognisable from a few years back. New blocks of flats and offices have been built, roads everywhere are being dug up as the infrastructure is modernised and the city buzzes with an air of optimism and dynamism. These changes are also spreading across the country. Vlora, which a few years ago was infamous as the jumping-off point to Italy by speedboat for illegal migrants, has also changed beyond recognition.

A crackdown on speedboats over the past few years has effectively meant the end of this trade across the Adriatic and so now, to the shock of Albanians themselves, Vlora has turned into a tourist resort complete with new hotels and restaurants catering not just for tourists from home and emigrants, but also for the lucrative market of Albanians from Kosovo and Macedonia. As more and more roads are upgraded or built, the country is becoming ever more accessible.

In terms of European integration the country has been making slow but sure progress. It signed a Stability and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU in June, a step widely regarded as a first step towards eventual membership. But nobody will be drawn on dates, as to when Albania might be granted candidate status like neighbouring Macedonia or Croatia.

Helmuth Lohan, head of the European Commission’s delegation to Tirana, says: "In the Commission’s view it would make sense to apply once Albania has established a positive track record on obligations stemming from the SAA." He adds that "administrative capacity has to be strengthened", a view that Albanians themselves would not disagree with.

One reason that Albanians were less dismayed by Barroso’s remarks than others in the region, was perhaps because, what is not immediately understood by others, is that Albania and its economy are already far more integrated into that of the EU than the rest of the Western Balkans and not just in terms of assistance.

The figures are stunning. Albania’s population is just over 3 million. But of those at least 600,000 work or live in Greece, more than 200,000 in Italy and perhaps another 200,000 elsewhere. Without its Albanian workers, many but not all of whom now have work permits, Greece’s construction and tourist industries would be in serious trouble.

Today emigrants are believed to send up to €1 billion a year back to Albania. That compares to an estimate for 2006 of only $339m (€270m) for foreign direct investment. Remittances, along, say police sources, with large amounts of cash, representing the proceeds of organised crime, are helping fuel the current construction boom and demand for goods and services. In the long run though, they do little to create sustainable jobs.

In order to attract foreign investment Prime Minister Sali Berisha has launched a programme called "Albania: One Euro". But, for many potential investors, despite the progress made recently in the fight against corruption and in rebuilding infrastructure, especially in the energy sector, the country has still not advanced far enough.

The EU though is deeply involved in the process of modernising Albania with assistance across the board, from combating organised crime to helping fund the building of new roads. Across the country the EU banner is flown almost as often as the Albanian one. New EU harmonised laws, rules and regulations are being passed, but, says one diplomatic source, what everyone waits to see is whether the Albanians can now "put life into them", or whether they will remain unfulfilled and on paper.

Just over a year after Berisha came to power he is involved in major political battles with his enemies. Mustafa Nano, a leading columnist, says he sees worrying signs of the premier reverting to the authoritarian tendencies, which marked his years in office in the mid-1990s.

"I am frightened about Berisha," he says, but since the prime minister has, unlike his last time in office, now met stiff resistance to some of his moves to control bodies, which are officially independent of government, like the prosecutor’s office, Nano says that makes him optimistic. And he says, in terms of the economy: "I am quite confident that even Berisha will do something."

• Tim Judah is a freelance journalist based in London.

When José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, said in September that it would be "unwise" to proceed with any more enlargements after Romania and Bulgaria "before we have resolved the constitutional issue in Europe", his words were greeted with widespread dismay across the Balkans. Except for Albania. After all, this country has no prospect of joining in the near future, so it is widely assumed that the EU will have solved its own problems long before Albania is ready to join.