The
European Commission has recently purchased a €1.65 million villa in the
area of Rolling Hills on the outskirts of Tirana, Albania.
The villa houses the head of the EU delegation there, Ambassador Romana Vlahutin,
who news website ‘Exit’ reports took over the negotiations for the
purchase of the villa from the law firm that was previously handling the
negotiations. Most curiously the report notes that the EU spent €4,700
per square meter, whereas the prices advertised for villas in Rolling
Hills range from €1,000 to €2,000 per square meter.
Twice the size for half the price
What is even more impressive than the new
€1.65 million, 345 square meter villa of the European External Action
Service (which oversees the Delegations’ work), is the intense research
project that buying this villa must have been.
A web search for ‘rolling hills villas for sale Albania’ get
you one click away from a beautiful 3-story villa in Rolling Hills, for
just over €850,000. Perhaps its 600 square meters however, felt too big
for the Ambassador.
Despite criticism for the higher price,
the lower price paid for cleaning services of the smaller space, and the
larger depreciation rate that the larger villa would have had, will
make up for the higher purchase price over time.
Transparency on the chopping block
Responding to New Europe, the EU foreign affairs spokesperson, Maja Kocijančič,
said that the decision to select the Head of Delegation (HoD) residence
in Albania was “the conclusion of a comprehensive analysis, including a
market survey and an independent expert estimate.” In response to a
request for these documents, Kocijančič, posited that the documents “are
note made public.”
As a market survey and independent
analysis cannot be considered commercially sensitive, New Europe has
filed an official Access to Documents request asking for these to be
made public in the interest of transparency.
How close is too close? How cheap is too cheap?
One of the arguments made in favour of
the overpriced purchase is the proximity to the delegation. As the
residence is located outside Tirana and rather far away from the EU
offices at approximately 8 km away, this is hardly plausible. The
price/quality argument also seems hardly convincing especially if we
consider that Rolling Hills is a newly built residence complex, and that
so far no other villa sale there has fetched such a high price.
Nevertheless, the EU considers that
“taking everything into account, we expect considerable net annual
savings compared to the previous rental arrangement.”
Indeed, previously the rental agreement for the residence before purchase was €8,000 per month.
On average, the monthly housing rental
price per square meter for apartment, residence is around €13 (or €4485
for a 345 sq. meter residence); meaning the Albanian residence was
shifting the average cost up quite significantly at over €23 per square
meter .
In any case the €8,000 per month is more
than the European Commission pays for office buildings in Brussels. And
Tirana, is not Brussels.
Who negotiates?
According to the 2012 discharge of the
EEAS, it is the Head of Delegation who is responsible for the
negotiations and contracting. Indeed, as can be seen for the purchase
contract of the Rolling Hills villa, the Ambassador is the signatory.
However, asked if the head of delegation had taken over the negotiations
from a law firm, the EU spokesperson claimed that the negotiation which
was “started before the current HoD was appointed, were held by the
head of administration at the Delegation checked and finalised by the
EEAS.”
Albania’s relationship with corruption and the delegation
The particular matter is quite sensitive
in Albania, where corruption remains a reality. The 2016 Corruption
Perception Index found Albania in 86th place, with one point more than Mongolia and Zambia.
Furthermore, according to the Corruption
Assessment Report Albania 2016 of Seldi, “one in two Albanian adult
citizens admit to being demanded directly or indirectly to bribe public
officials (49.6 %). This shows increase of the corruption pressure from
public officials on citizens compared to 2014 of around 5 percentage
points”.
These facts were also identified in the
Albania 2016 Report of the European Commission where it is stressed that
“Corruption remains prevalent in many areas and continues to be a
serious problem”, ”More efforts are needed to tackle corruption at high
level”, “Administration of justice continued to be slow and inefficient;
corruption remained prevalent across the sector”, “The police still
experiences corruption and political pressure, hindering in-depth
investigation of organised crime”, “Fighting organised crime and
corruption remains fundamental to countering criminal infiltration in
the political, legal and economic systems” and “need of improvement
against organised crime and corruption”.
The European Commission’s delegation in
Tirana also has a history of problematic behaviour. According to EU
Observer, in 2007, two Italians, one a European Commission official and
another a European Parliament assistant, were arrested for corruption,
suspected of “bribes from real estate and security companies in return
for rewarding them with contracts to rent, equip and secure the
commission buildings in New Dehli and Tirana.”
Vlahutin’s agenda and Rama’s entourage
More research into Ambassador Vlahutin,
shows that Vlahutin has made statements to the press contradicting the
European Commission’s official position as regards the progress made in
the accession process of Albania – which was significantly more clear as
to the steps Albania is required to make.
A source in Tirana told New Europe, that
“Vlahutin does little hide her support for Edi Rama (the Prime Minister
of Albania). Perhaps one should look into what interests the entourage
of Rama has in Rolling Hills.”
Related:
The Greek Ambassador case
The same corruption, has been from the Albanian Oligarch who owns "Rolling Hills", who had sold the villa, for the residence of the Greek Embassy in Tirana. But Greek journalists, investigated about this corruption affair, and found that in addition to this agreement, understood it was another tourist resort in the Himara Region, for that the oligarch, "had bought, the Greek Ambassador".
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