51 Parties have benefited ALL 2.17 billion from Taxpayers in 10 years 2011-2022

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AIS has just published an article on the Open Data Albania page showing the Public Money Value that Political Parties have received in 10 years. 2011 – 2022. The data provided in the article disclose public funding from taxpayers’ money distributed to (51) Beneficiary Parties1), by Year abd by type of funding, i.e. annual or electoral funding, etc. The reference used for each data is taken from the Spending Data Albania Treasury Transactions database. This article was created by the youth team working at AIS organization as part of an Open Data Network and was first presented at the Open Data Albania Event. Article Link: Treasury Transfers for Political Parties 2012-2022 – Open Data Albania (ndiqparate.al)
Some of the data:
  • In ten years, 2012-2021, Political Parties have benefited from public funding in the amount of 2.174 billion ALL.
  • ALL 1.784 billion are allocated to the regular annual activity of political parties, while ALL 390 million have been allocated to electoral campaigns (General Election 2013, Local Election 2015, General Election 2017, Local Election 2019, and General Election 2021).
  • Budget expenditures as support for Political Parties for their Election Campaigns have been in the amount of 65 million ALL until 2021, while this year these transfers have doubled to 130 million ALL.
  • Public financing for electoral campaigns for Political Parties accounted for about 20-27% of the total public financing for parties during the years 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019, while in 2021 it accounted for almost half or 47%.
  • On average, in an electoral year, 265 million ALL were transferred from the State Budget as support for political parties, while in non-electoral years, 170 million ALL or 36% less were allocated to the parties.
  • Treasury data show that over the years the Socialist Party is the one that has benefited from the highest value of transfers from the State Budget. The years 2012 and 2014, on the other hand, are the years when it was the Democratic Party the one that has benefited the most from public funds.
  • In total, there are 50 political parties that have managed to absorb funding from the State Budget in the years 2012-2021. In 2022, even Nisma Thurje Party managed to get funds from the state budget, bringing the number of political parties benefiting from transfers from the state treasury to 51 parties.
Open Data Albania, the database owned by AIS, has disclosed year after year data on the funding and costs of election campaigns and political parties. You can read a group of articles in the Electoral Expenses section or in the Electoral Processes section. Being committed to contributing to transparency and improvement of electoral situations, AIS has developed methodologies and projects for Election Citizen Monitoring. The organization is already working on raising funds for such methodologies and projects to be implemented in the upcoming 2025 parliamentary elections.

Debate and Policy Paper on “Financial Control of State-Owned Corporates” (Standards, Chapter 32 of EU Integration)

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The organization AIS, promoter of Open Data Albania, organized on May 31st, a Debate and Presentation of a Policy Paper on the topic of Financial Control of State-Owned Corporates (SOC – State Owned Corporates).

Financial Control, as in chapter 32, part of Cluster 1, in the process of fulfilling the conditions and standards for Integration.

State Owned Enterprises or Companies are a risky sector in terms of management and control of finances and assets. The Integration Process targets efforts and models which in the SOC sector are far from meritocracy management, effective performance, sound financial management and multi-level auditing.

The Policy Paper, drafted by AIS, was presented by the expert Professor Dr. Lindita Milo (Lati). The document analyzes the situation in the country and presents findings and recommendations for progress. This document was formulated as part of the C1-EU-NPA project, supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tirana.

The complete document in Albanian and English.

Three expert panelists ellaborated and emphasized aspects of the sector, problems and the need for better standards and policies in management and auditing. Specifically:

Prof. Assoc. Dr. Ira GJIKA presented the Findings and Recommendations on Enterprise Management and Auditing

CFA. Irena BEQIRAJ The former Deputy Minister of Finances, presented some typical cases of poor SOC management, issues coming from party influences and the lack of meritocracy at the management level.

Prof. Assoc. Dr. Mateo SPAHO presented the EU models and standards of Financial Control over State Owned Companies, highlighting a far-from-positive situation in the Albanian context and the need for reform, independence and management through administrators with the proper skills and integrity.

At this event, the DataSet with dynamic passports for State Owned Corporates was also presented, a dataset incorporated in the Open Corporates Albania web database. The Director of AIS/Open Data Albania, Ms. Aranita BRAHAJ, explained the importance of information and transparency on the management, performance, legal issues and use of assets of important public companies. With a view to making these companies as transparent as possible, AIS has applied the Open Corporates Albania Open Business Register model. In this database, the information comes for each Company in a well-structured version applying OpenData and LinkData standards. The database for State Owned Companies is the result of the implementation of the project entitled Open Data Access and Transparency over sector exposed to Risk of Corruption, a project supported by Sida, the Sweden International Development Cooperation Agency (March 2021 – February 2024). The purpose of the project itself is to Promote Transparency and Inform the Public through Open Data.

The event was attended by representatives from Institutions Engaged in Financial Control and Auditing of the State Owned Companies Sector, such as

  • Ministry of Finances
  • High State Audit
  • Representatives from the Embassies of European countries
  • Representative of EU Delegation in Tirana
  • Academic representatives from Universities
  • ThinkTank Organizations
  • Media representatives
  • Members of the OpenData Fellowship Youth Network

List of participants.

Findings, Opinions or Recommendations Expressed in this document and in the organized event represent the views of the experts and the AIS organization, and do not necessarily correspond with those of the project partners or supporters.

Datathon Albania

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Monday and Tuesday, From 3 April, 09:00 to 16:30 and 4 April, from 17:00 to 18:30

Rogner Hotel, Antigonea Meeting Room

Topic of DataThon: Party Financing Data, Charts, Visualizations and Recommendations

The participants of DataThon Albania this year are young people from the OpenDataFellowship Network

 

Datathon Albania 2023 is organized by AIS, promoter of Open Data in Albania

This year, DataThon is held as part of the Open Data Access and Transparency Project activities

in sectors exposed to the risk of corruption, a project financially supported by

Sida – Sweden International Development Cooperation Agency

First Day of Marathon, April 3rd, from 09:00 to 16:30

Phase 1: Ideation from 10:30 to 12:00

Welcome Participants to the Marathon

Logistics

What is a DataThon?

How can data be collected for the Finances of Political Parties over the years

Working Teams are created for Lawyers: Statisticians; Economists; and Designers

Moderator: Aranita Brahaj & Fatjona Mejdini

12:00 DEADLINE – HAND IN YOUR PROBLEM ANALYSIS

Lunch 12:00 – 13:00

Phase 2: Prototyping 13:00 to 15:00

Phase 3: Preparing an elevator pitch from 15:00 to 16:30

Prepare an elevator pitch of Max 3 minutes on the idea MAX 1 visual

17.00 DEADLINE: HAND IN 1 VISUAL FOR ELEVATOR PITCH

 

 

Second Day of the Marathon, April 4rth, from 17:00 to 18.30

DataThon Albania Award Ceremony

Tuesday, April 4th, 17:00 – 18:30

Rogner Hotel, Antigonea Meeting Room

PRESENTATION OF THE TEAMS – KEY NOTE SPEECH – AWARDS AND DRINKS

Follow us

On the website of AIS http://ais.al/new/

On twitter @AIScience

on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/OpenDataAlbania/

Where the Graph, Data and Visualizations of this Marathon are published

On the Open Data Albania web page

DataThon Albania 2023 is organized by @AIS, promoter of Open Data in Albania

Supported by Sida – Sweden International Development Cooperation Agency

 

 

 

DataThon Albania 2023 – Topic Party Financing Data, Charts, Visualizations and Recommendations

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Make Data Great Again

 

What is DataThon Albania 2023

DataThon is a marathon event where citizens work together to collect, analyze data and raise awareness about a specific topic. The word DataThon is a combination of Data plus Marathon. The work consists of data collection, analysis, comparison, structuring and visualization of information.

Usually, a specific topic or field is chosen and the engaged group focuses and has an interest in working in that field.

Instruments or apps are often developed in datathons to make the information as useful as possible. DataThon are events where citizens, activists, journalists, economists, lawyers, architects, and various professionals may participate as long as they have a passion and desire to work with data.

An inspiring event for DataThon Albania 2023 is also the EU DataThon

 

Who Organizes DataThon Albania 2023

Datathon Albania 2023 is organized by AIS, promoter of Open Data in Albania. AIS has previously brought events like DiploHack Tirana, Hackathon and DataThon.

This year, DataThon is held as part of the Activities of the Project Open Data Access and Transparency in the sector at risk of corruption, a project financially supported by Sida – Sweden International Development Cooperation Agency.

 

Where and when it will be held

April 3 and 4, 2023 at Antigonea Meeting Room, Rogner Hotel

 

Who will work on the data? What about the audience

This year, participants of DataThon Albania are young people from the OpenDataFellowship Network. This Youth Network was created to increase the capacities and skills of young people in matters related to anti-corruption . At the end of the Marathon, in the final presentation session, you are invited to participate and listen to the presentations of the young people with Data, Charts, Visualizations and Recommendations.

Featured Topic

This year, the Marathon will focus on Political Party Financing. The selected topic sheds light on the integrity of subjects very important for the democratic and pluralistic life of the country. The young people participating in the marathon will work to gather data on the expenses declared by the political subjects in the last ten years, the structure of their income, the types of expenses, the weight of the electoral expenses versus the total expenses, the issues related to transparency, difficulties with access, and party financing issues that require practices with more integrity.

 

Event Contribution and Output

Data, Charts, and Visualizations will be presented in the final stage. Young people will also submit recommendations, their perspectives on how to improve the rules and models of control or reporting of the Finances of Political Parties with a view to ensuring Integrity.

 

Where can we be informed?

On the website of AIS.al

On twitter @AIScience

On Facebook 

On the FollowTheMoney platform

 

Where the Graph, Dates and Visualizations of this Marathon are published

On the Open Data Albania web page

 

Not only DataThon

At this event, Certificates will also be distributed to the team of young people who have attended the first cycle of activities for capacity building as part of the OpenData Youth Network

 

 

“February, Month of Civil Engagement for EU Integration” started – AIS presented a Policy Paper on Integrity Control of Public Contractors, EU practice and the Albanian Context

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February, the Month of Civil Engagement for European Integration, began with an event of the Organization AIS, whose purpose was to present a Policy Paper titled “Control of the Integrity of Public Contractors, EU practices and contracting in the Albanian Context”, drafted in the frame of the C1-EU- NPA Project. His Excellency, the ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tirana, Mr. Reinout Vos, was also in attendance at this event.

Aranita Brahaj, the head of the Organization, emphasized that many companies in the country that have acquired the status of Contractor in Public Procurement; Investor in State Assets or Public Licenses in Strategic sectors, are Shell or Offshore companies with unidentified beneficial owners, located in fiscal havens. This status raises questions about the control of integrity concerning companies, that are engaged in implementing Public Contracts in exchange of State Assets and Money from the Albanian Taxpayers.

The Policy Paper’s aim was to analyze the existing Practice of integrity control in EU countries and to identify what was lacking in the Albanian legislation and practice, weather it coincided with potential loopholes present or need for intervention. In conclusion, the organization also presented specific recommendations for legal amendments and incorporation of additional measures to the respective legislation on Public Procurement and the Law on the Declaration of the Beneficial Owner.

Conclusions and Recommendations were introduced in the presence of Parliament and Government Representatives. Ms. Klotilda Bushka, Chairperson of the Legal Affairs Committee in the Assembly and Ms. Jorida Tabaku, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee for Integration, spoke about the findings and proposals for legal amendments drafted by Civil Society. The General Director of the Public Procurement Agency, Ms. Reida Kashta, concurrently responsible for the EU negotiations concerning the Public Procurement Chapter, also attended the event.

The Policy Paper and the subsequent Event, were carried out in the frame of the C1-EU-NPA project “Improved Policy Debate and Accountability on delivering the Fundamentals First, to fulfill Basic Rights through the Establishment of Cluster I EU Negotiations Platform, Albania”, a project implemented jointly by four Albanian organizations: CSDG, ISP, KSHH and AIS, with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tirana.

The document was drafted by AIS, in collaboration with the renown legal expert, Eduard Halimi. The organization AIS, in addition to its contribute through the preparation of Policy Documents and Recommendations, is also a promoter of Open Data platforms for the tracking, making transparent and verification of contracts and public contractors, more specifically through databases like Open Corporates Albania and Open Procurement Albania.

See the agenda HERE

See the Policy Paper HERE

  • Mrs. Aranita Brahaj – Executive Director AIS/Open Data Albania

  • Mr. Reinout Vos – Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Albania

  • Mr. Eduard Halimi – Legal expert

  • Mrs. Jorida Tabaku – Chairperson, Parliamentary Committee for European Integration and Mrs. Klotilda Bushka – Chairperson of the Legal Affairs Committee Parliament

 

 

Constitutional Control over Corrupt Laws, Vacancies of several years in the Constitutional Court bring Serious Consequences for the Prevention of Corruption by Law

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The AIS organization initiated a Lawsuit in September 2021 for the Constitutional Court requesting the Repeal as unconstitutional of a law that regulates Contracts for the Reconstruction Program after the Earthquake.

The lawsuit of the organization AIS/Open Data Albania sought the Partial Repeal of Law no. 97/2019 for the adoption of the normative Act with the power of Law no. 9 / 2019 of the Council of Ministers for Coping with the Consequences of Natural Disasters.

In our opinion, this Law is incompatible with the Constitution of the Republic of Albania as it violates economic freedoms; affects open competition; creates premises for corruption and clientelism in the distribution of Contracts to Preferential Clients.

Contracts for the Reconstruction Program (about 120 billion ALL) have been signed and continue to be signed by following procedures: a. limited procedures, b. procedures without a contest and c. procedures with discriminatory legal deadlines. procedures with criteria formulated by the Procuring Authority.

The Government and the Parliament have introduced this form of contracting by law.

In addition to the potential for clientelism, the contested Law also carries risks for contracts with Business Entities who are persons under investigation for Laundering the Proceeds of Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking.

Now the Special Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office has already taken several decisions involving such Businesses as Parties to Public Contracts for Reconstruction.

Regardless of this, the Constitutional Court, which is responsible for checking and repealing the operation of Laws that violate economic freedom and create the premise for Favoritism and Corruption, has not been capable and functional regarding such activity.

The court hesitated and did not act upon a Lawsuit from an Anticorruption Organization. The lawsuit formulated by our organization that works for accountability, transparency and anti-corruption was not recognized as a legitimate lawsuit as the Case Reporting Judge argued that an organization can Request Constitutional Interpretation, but only in cases its members have a direct interest in the claim.

We think that failure of the Court to recognize the right of Organizations, whose mission and scope of work is Good Governance and Anti-Corruption represent a time of regress.

The Constitution recognizes Organizations as entities that have the right to request Constitutional Control, Article 134 point h of the Constitution. And the interest in a claim made to the court does not have to be an individual interest of the members of an organization, whose mission is directly relevant to that claim.

With the desire to stop the operation of a clientelistic law, the organization asked for the cooperation of other actors who are immediately legitimized as subjects that may put the Constitutional Control in motion.

Our request was answered by 28 opposition MPs who re-sent the Lawsuit to the Court in January 2022 . This time, the Court Accepted to Review the Lawsuit and Started reviewing the case facts in a Plenary Session in July 2022.

But in July 2022, the Constitutional Court functioned with a limited number of members, only 7 of its 9 members were in office. Delays in the filling vacancies has affected the efficiency of the Court.

Even with 4 out of 7 judges voting in favor of accepting the lawsuit, and 3 voting against, the lawsuit failed to repeal this law. It requires 5, and not 4 votes in favor, i.e. qualified and not simple majority, to accept the lawsuit.

After two attempts to activate the Constitutional Check, the fact is: The Law that gives Power to the Normative Act of the Government, continues to Remain in force and produce serious consequences of Corruption by Law.

Through this Law, some important contracts in value and public interest have been won by Businesses already subject to criminal investigation, seized by Court Decision for organized crime and drug trafficking.

This company managed to win several contracts with high monetary value for Reconstruction in the Main Areas for Compulsory Development after the Earthquake. This is a typical example of how the limited procedure, the lack of bidding competition and the final negotiation of the bid at the table and not through filling in the electronic system, have led to public contracts being awarded to individuals and businesses that aim to clean up Criminal Products through Public Contracting. In an open competition, a business that does not have Similar Construction Works would not be able to qualify as a Successful Competitor. The law preventing free competition enabled this clientelistic penetration.

The procedure without competition, limited, and with negotiation outside the electronic system is provided precisely by the law that had to be repealed. Only after the award of Public Contracts, the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Anticorruption SPAK acted by requesting seizure of the Businesses. But the fate of public contracts and the responsibility of those who created this situation where the state becomes a contractual partner with entities with criminal records, remain issues without regulation and without criminal investigation.

Corruption by law has been favored in recent years in the absence of the Constitutional Court, its Vacancies and Lack of Efficiency in Reviewing Cases.

As above, the Constitutional Court should exercise a role in controlling the compatibility of Laws with the Constitution. Setting the constitutional court in motion, its operation without vacancies, integrity, impartiality, improved doctrine regarding the constitutional control over Corrupt Laws are the main aspects of Preventing the Corruption Phenomenon by Law.

OpenData Youth Fellowship Retreat October 22nd and 23rd, 2022

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The organization AIS / Open Data Albania has been working with a group of students and young professionals for a year, creating a Fellowship program for empowering young people in Anti-corruption matters. This includes events held during the year such as work sessions; discussion forums; internships with the organization’s team; training and other networking events. On the weekend of October 22nd and 23rd, members of the youth team traveled to several districts of the country on a Retreat. The event contains   – Happy Hours and Networking – Presentation of the Organization’s Work Strategy Youth Objectives – StartUp DataThon Albania  

  • The itinerary was organized with the cooperation of Fation Plaku Photography, author of Homeland Albania.

  The young participants areas of significance for nature; culture, tradition and urban development of the country, such as: – Nivica, the view over the Canyon – Peshtura waterfall – Labova, the beautiful area of Lunxhëria with religious and cultural monuments dating back to the 5th century. – accommodation at Bujtina Maria, a model of agritourism and tourism business initiative, where we presented AIS new Work Strategy, with a focus on civic education and young people. – Archaeological Park #Antigone. – Peshtan, visit to the Italian-Greek war museum, During the event, the Work Program was also finalized for the next event of the Network, which is DataThon Albania Financing of Political Parties, an event that will be held in December 2022.

Video Realizuar me Dron nga Fation Plaku Tetor 2022 Kanion Nivice
Video Realizuar me Dron nga Fation Plaku Tetor 2022 Parku Arkeologjik Antigone
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Working with young people and empowering them against corruption is part of the implementation of the Open Data, Access and Transparency over sectors exposed to Risk of Corruption Project. The project is supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida. One of the components of the project is Youth Empowerment against Corruption – Citizen Education, Improve Fact-Checking Models.

Training Cycle: Youth Empowerment against Corruption – Citizen Education, Improve Fact Checking Models

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The Organization AIS / Open Data Albania is holding this week (October 2022) a training cycle with young people, part of the OpenDataYouth Network. The young participants in this program are selected through competition targeting young journalist professionals or students; economists; tax accountants; future politicians; analysts; sociologists; researchers; etc.

The purpose of the Training is to raise the capacities and empower the youth, as the category most predisposed to bring change in society. The targeted capacity includes awareness, articulation, education and evaluation on issues of good governance and anti-corruption. Provide them with knowledge about the stakeholders engaged in anti-corruption phenomena and tracking methods. The final goal is for a researcher, activist, journalist in the first steps of the profession, or during university studies to be able to articulate publicly on issues related to governance and corruption

There are eight specific topics addressed during October with a focus on anti-corruption and good governance issues, namely Corruption and EU Integration; Media and Anti-Corruption; Institutions and Stakeholders engaged in Anti-Corruption; Gender Perspective and Anti-Corruption; Corruption by Law; Money Laundering Challenges; Fiscal Policy and Civil Society and Activism for Anticorruption.

Working with young people and empowering them against corruption is part of the implementation of the Open Data, Access and Transparency over sectors exposed to Risk of Corruption Project. The project is supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida. One of the components of the project is Youth Empowerment against Corruption – Citizen Education, Improve Fact-Checking Models.

This component shall consist of several events. Its objective is to educate and develop the skills of a group of young people in critical thinking and articulation on issues related to corruption. The component envisages activities such as training, individual work sessions, internships at the organization, forum, preparation of articles and networking.

 See the Training Program: HERE

 See the Curricula HERE

Photo from the Training:  

Announcements and other Network Events:

Call Apply to become part of the open data fellowship youth network http://ais.al/new/en/apply-to-become-part-of-the-open-data-fellowship-youth-network/

OpenData Fellowship Youth Network working with young people to increase their capacities

http://ais.al/new/en/open-data-fellowship-youth-network-working-with-young-people-to-increase-their-capacities/

Forum “Youth and Emigration as an inducement to live for a better country

http://ais.al/new/en/forum-youth-and-emigration-corruption-as-inducement-to-live-for-a-better-country/

http://ais.al/new/en/forum-youth-and-emigration-corruption-as-inducement-to-live-for-a-better-country/

Forum “Youth and Emigration: Corruption as inducement to live for a better country”

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Last Friday, July 1st, AIS/Open Data Albania hosted a forum on “Youth and immigration: Corruption as inducement to leave for a better country“. The activity was held in the frame of the Open Data, Access and Transparency over Sectors Exposed to Risk of Corruption project,  as part of which, AIS is preparing the Open Data Fellowship Network, a group of young people who will be upskilled in analyzing data and use data and facts in arguing on topics of public interest.

During the 3 hours that the forum lasted, guests partook in a discussion about the flight of the population, as one of the biggest problems facing the country, with disturbing effects that will extend in the following years and decades. Led by analysts in the field, young people debated on what has influenced this phenomenon, how can we analyze its various dimensions through data, how it is related to other prominent issues, such as corruption and unemployment.

Speakers at the event brought different perspectives on the increased emigration in the country:

Sociologist Donalda Tanellari treated the phenomenon from the point of view of societal developments; Blerina Shehu, a journalist with a focus on economics, spoke about immigration and how it has affected demographic dynamics, while Gjergj Erebara brought a history of censuses to the country, focusing on what data that can be extracted from them, as well as how censuses can be used to inform government policies.

For a more detailed overview of the approaches broached during the forum, please consult the agenda in the attached link

 

Agenda Forum Youth Network. Youth and Emigration Corruption as inducement to live in a better country

 

Open Data Fellowship Youth Network: working with young people to increase their capacities

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AIS is working with a team of young professionals aiming to educate, increase their capacities in public speaking and evidence-based debating. They come from university auditoriums, important institutions, organizations and civic movements. Strengthening their capacities against corruption through civic education and improving Fact-Checking models are the main goals of the training curriculum,  assistance, and internships. The OpenDataFellowship Youth Network is being established within the OpenData Project, Access and Transparency on Corruption Risk Sectors, supported by Sida through the Swedish Embassy in Albania.