Bank of Albania Presses for Agreement with IMF

Published: (FriedlNews)

The Albanian economy from short-term adjustment toward long-term sustainable growth. Why Albania needs an agreement with the IMF.

The Bank of Albania recently reported stating that soon enough representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will come to Albania to judge on the performance of the Albanian economy and its perspective. During their mission to Tirana, Fund representatives will expectedly discuss on the country’s economic outlook in the medium run, from the perspective of the IMF vis-à-vis the perspective of the Albanian authorities. Triggered also by the latest economic developments in Albania, the possibility of signing a new cooperation agreement between the IMF and Albanian authorities has been a persisting question in public debates. The Bank of Albania’s approach to this issue has been to fully support negotiating a new agreement with the IMF. I am certain our economy will only benefit from it, especially under the current circumstances, as the attitude of the IMF towards developing economies has become more flexible.
Presently, the biggest challenge facing the Albanian economy is recovering its activity, ensuring stable economic growth and employment. On the other hand, all the economies of Central and Southeast Europe are also facing these challenges. The main objective remains enhancing competitiveness: in other words, creating and boosting production capacities to produce high-quality goods and services at lower costs compared to our competitors. Currently, Albania’s economy and the economies of the region are very small in size to generate domestic demand that would promote employment, and costly to cope with the competition from the Asian economies. At the same time, the Western Balkan economies are small against the economies of Central Europe; they even suffer from low productivity, implying that, in the current conditions, the production quality and quantity for unit of labour is lower than in their direct partners, both in the regional and global level. Higher production and employment rates are the only alternatives that would enable the creation of values that would guarantee convergence with advanced European economies. In Central European economies, this phenomenon happened at the end of 1990s thanks to capital investments from European and global markets. Factors that supported these capital flows weakened at the outbreak of the global financial crisis and withdrew totally after the sovereign debt crisis. At present, the global markets have withdrawn from Eastern Europe economies and from other developing countries. In the absence of free capital from abroad, structural reforms in the labour, capital, and land markets and pension system remain the only possibilities to attract foreign capital and investments to support growth and employment. These reforms have high financial costs and their benefits materialise in the medium and long run.
In the meantime, actual economic policies are oriented towards maintaining the fragile macroeconomic and financial equilibriums and are obliged to focus on overcoming the difficulties of the moment caused by the crisis that has stricken not only our region, but also our European trading partners. The priorities of the moment do not sustain, or better say, render it more difficult to implement structural immediately reforms in the economy, at least for those that require financial resources and support. Nonetheless, definite solutions for short-term problems will come in the framework and context of economic benefits and convergence. Consequently, choices related to defining economic priorities, education, employment, existing vacuum in human and financial capital, fiscal policies, structural and legal reforms should be guided by the vision and objectives for the next 20 years.
While long-term solutions and short-term problems in the economy interconnect with and condition each other, it is indispensible to adopt domestic and external anchors, which would support economic and development policies. Assessing the existing situation at 360 degrees, in a global context, taking into account the decision-making time and methodology, Ardian Fullani, Govenor of the Bank of Albania, deems that the country needs and deserves to enter as a partner in a new and flexible agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
From the overall perspective, the Albanian economy enjoys economic and financial stability. The Albanian economy continues to produce positive growth rates; it has a stable financial system, low but contained inflation, relatively stable exchange rate and low interest rates to finance the public debt. Moreover, macroeconomic policies have been in line with the scope and recommendations of IMF programmes. Signing under these conditions enables a dignified agreement and minimises the costs that accompany the implementation of reform at present by Albanian authorities. At the same time, from the point of view of foreign investors in general and those in the banking sector in particular, this development would contribute to reducing risk premiums for the country. The experience of other countries has shown that the intervention of the IMF has helped sovereign ratings to return to their previous positions. The spread has narrowed immediately hence reducing the nervousness and hesitation of agents to invest in these markets.
In the national and international arena it seems that the highest risk is related to ensuring the monetary assets to meet immediate needs arising from acknowledging government liabilities to businesses, and medium-term needs to cope with liabilities or enable reinvestment of liabilities arising as a consequence of extraordinary fiscal stimuli applied in 2009. An agreement with the IMF would address the scepticism of the domestic and international markets about the size of the public debt, especially under the conditions of a sizeable absence of foreign reserve funds in relation to crediting the economies of our region.
According to all reliable analysis of the market itself and of important international financial institutions, a number of risks exist, not only for developing economies, but also for the so-called advanced economies. Albania’s main trading and financial partners are focused on their problems of the real economy and financial system. Their adjustment policies have negative side effects on the Albanian economy, which appear in low demand for our products, downward remittances and limitation of financing with direct investment and other forms of capital while, despite the partial adjustment noticed recently, the current account to GDP ratio continues to be of concern. The dependency of the Albanian economy on countries experiencing difficulties, such as Greece and Italy, requires that measures be taken to face a potential non-financing of the balance of payment.
Moreover, European monetary authorities and regulators of the banking and financial markets state that there is a political decision that each European economy experiencing lack of financing must find funds in cooperation with the IMF. The new agreement would ensure low cost and safe foreign reserve funds directly from IMF accounts. This would increase Albania’s rating in relation to her capacities to pay back foreign debt, and would provide for better access in the international financial market with low financing costs.
The agreement is positive news for foreign investors and potential partners as well, not only from the point of view of ensuring financial assets but also as a guarantee to implement prudent policies and adopt a reliable fiscal order, which enables the consolidation of public finances in the medium run and, at the same time, keeps the trajectory of the public debt in check.
The IMF may not solve the challenges for long-term developments of the Albanian economy. Problems related to competitiveness, employment and demographic developments, capacity utilisation, and repositioning of the country’s economy in the region and global economies, require that structural reforms be taken in the realms of education, employment, expansion and deepening of financial and capital markets, alignment and unification of legislation and coordination of structural reforms at regional and European level. Overcoming these challenges, however, will be easier given the solidity conditions that an agreement with the IMF offers. This agreement should and could be characterised by sufficient flexibility, which would guarantee the necessary space to stimulate the continuation of structural reforms and sustainable economic growth in the long run, not conditioned by short-term problems.
Concluding, Fullani is confident that the news for an agreement will be received positively by the domestic and foreign financial markets, and will also be interpreted as a guarantee that Albania enjoys a sound economic and financial environment, with many opportunities for investment and profit.

Vlora: "Jon" Complex will be expropriated

1

The Council of Ministers decided to expropriate the “Jon” complex, one of the buildings that is affected by the environmental rehabilitation of the coastline at the Uje I Ftohte-Tunel area in Vlore.

This means that all residents will be compensated with a 500 million ALL fund.

The government’s decision says that the legal property owners will be compensated for the 8396 square meter construction, with a total of 462.919.230 ALL, 362.919.230 of which will be taken from the reserve fund of the Council of Ministers, and 100 million from the Contingency Fund.

The fifth point of this decision asks legal owners to be compensated after showing the legal ownership documentation.

The deadline set by the Council of Ministers is December 28th.

The Deputy Minister of Transportation, Ylli Manjani, declared that this object will be demolished for cleaning the coastline. This case ended up in the Administrative Court, which has decided to not intervene until it is resolved.

A task force unit for the territory protection claims that there are severe violations. The Interior Minister, Saimir Tahiri, asked a criminal prosecution for judges, real estate officers, chief inspectors and employees of the Real Estate Compensation office.

Unimaginable: Even from prison, MP Christos Pappas of the Golden Dawn, calls the Greek government, for the rights of the in Northern Epirus and the Corfu Protocol



Question of the Golden Dawn MP Christos Pappas for ignoring the official Greek state for the fate of Northern Epirus Issue

Pappas: The Northern Epirus Issue, although it is active national issue

MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SUBJECT : " Indifference of the official Greek state for the fate of Northern Epirus issue"

Mst. Minister

According to a recent press release of the European Commission made ​​a proposal to grant Albania candidate status for membership of the European Union .

The memorandum accompanying the proposal for minorities, which are not mentioned anywhere and is only once mentioned the need to make progress on the issue of respect for human rights only for Roma Community. For the Greek National Minority, however, no reference whatsoever .

This demonstrates that not only is there no national strategy for the Northern Epirus issue, although it is active national issue, but that Greek foreign policy is completely non-existent, as no work to ensure the most basic rights of the indigenous in Northern Epirus. These rights derive from the International Regulations signed and Albania itself.

Note that the Greeks of Northern Epirus, why ostentatiously ignores by the government 's memorandum, measure millennium history. Recall that sacrificed hundreds of Northern Epirus who believed in the unification of Northern Epirus to Greece .

The heroic act of resistance of the inhabitants of Himara on 2 December 1945, when they refused to vote in the rigged election of dictator Enver Hoxha would never be forgotten by the Albanian government. Even today, the criminal acts to robber properties, Albania do anything possible to cover it with a veil of forgetfulness on this historic day. Also, buildings and institutions, such as the Observatory of Athens, the Arsakeia schools, the Academy of Athens Zappeion were some of the donations that the Greek state owes the benefactors of Northern Epirus .

I ask the Foreign Minister Venizelos:

What would you take to defend the rights of the Northern?
Will Athens to take the necessary steps in order to recognize the Greek language as an official language and to provide free public education in traditional Greek populated by Greeks areas, putting into practice the activities of Active Protocol of Corfu , thereby recognizing and other areas with pure Greek population, such as Himara, Vlora, Premeti, Korca , etc.?

Will Athens be require withdrawal of all illegal judgments award of the lands in the Northern Epirus by Albanian settlers and descendants landowners, thus altering the Greek regions?

Will Athens require return of church property to the Orthodox Church and remove all obstacles to conducting spiritual mission

Will Athens arrange for the effective combating of crime that plagues in Northern Epirus and endangers the lives, safety and property of residents and monuments of cultural heritage of the region?

Will you to intervene in the institutions of the European Commission dealing with minority issues, to analyze and record the problems they faced over time the Greek national minority in Albania ?

Athens , 03/12/2013
The questioner MP
Christos Pappas
Member of Parliament
LAIKOY SYNDESMOY - GOLDEN DAWN

Sources:
 http://ellogosar.blogspot.com/2013/12/blog-post_7331.html
http://www.xryshaygh.com/index.php/koinovoulio/view/erwthsh-gia-thn-adiaforia-tou-epishmou-ellhnikou-kratous-gia-thn-tuchh-tou

Photo of the day

George Washington And The Japanese

Posted 12/2/2013 PHILIPPINE SEA (Nov. 28, 2013) The aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73), right, the George Washington Strike Group and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ships participate in tactical maneuver training during Annual Exercise (AnnualEx) 13. AnnualEx 13 is designed to increase the defensive readiness and interoperability of Japanese and U.S. Naval forces through training in air and sea operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Ricardo R. Guzman)

Albanian mom with 3 American children to be deported today

12:05 PM, December 3, 2013   |  

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Cile Precetaj, 40, of Troy packs Monday with children Migena Gojcaj, 6, and Martina, 4. She was denied political asylum. / Ryan Garza / Detroit Free Press

By Tresa Baldas

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

• Albanian mother decides to stay put, ignores deportation order

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Cile Precetaj of Troy shows the paperwork telling her to meet at Metro Airport after being given notice of deportation. She intends to take her kids — Migena, 6, Martina, 4, and Mikey, 11, — with her. / Ryan Garza/Detroit Free Press

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UPDATE: Albanian mother decides to stay put, ignores deportation order
For Cile Precetaj of Troy, an Albanian immigrant with three American children, the last 24 hours have been a nightmare.
Come 10:30 a.m. today, the 40-year-old married mother of three has to report for deportation at Detroit Metro Airport — an event she has had little time to prepare for.
She got 24 hours’ notice.
According to her family and attorney, U.S. authorities sprang the deportation notice on Precetaj on Monday morning. It was brief: Report at 10:30 a.m. at the McNamara terminal, departures level, near the elevators.
“In my experience, I’ve never seen it. ... I’ve never seen them deport a female who has children,” said New York immigration attorney Andrew Johnson, who is in a race against time to save his client from deportation. “No one can believe that this is actually occurring.”
The woman’s husband is especially baffled.
“We’re hoping for a miracle,” Pjetero (Pete) Gojcevic, told the Free Press on Monday night.
The U.S. Immigrations Customs and Enforcement said it would comment on the case today.
According to court documents and interviews with Precetaj’s husband and attorney, this is her story:
Precetaj, who was born in Albania in 1972, fled to the U.S. in 2000 to escape an abusive fiancé and a criminal atmosphere, testifying that she was unable to go outside for fear of being kidnapped and sold into prostitution. She entered the U.S. illegally via Canada at the Port Huron border with friends. Upon arrival, she turned herself into authorities and sought asylum.
While living in the U.S. illegally, she got married and raised a family. She worked at various restaurants in the kitchen. And teachers praised her as a good mother who had a positive influence on her children’s performance in school.
But despite her appeal for asylum, an immigration judge denied her request, concluding her testimony about fearing prostitution and crime lacked credibility. And even if it was credible, the judge held, she wasn’t entitled to asylum because “young, attractive women are not a social group for asylum.” In 2008, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision.
Precetaj, meanwhile, was under supervision by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Having lost her asylum case, she was placed on a tether and ordered to report once a month to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office on Mt. Elliott in Detroit.
She knew deportation was ordered. She just didn’t know when.
On Monday, she got the news. She came home and told her husband, who emigrated from Yugoslavia 40 years ago. The couple pulled the kids out of school and broke the news to them. The children broke down crying. She started packing her bags, and the kids’, too. She plans to live with her elderly parents in a village in Albania.
“She’s got no choice. She can’t leave them,” said her husband, who is a cook at a coney island in Detroit and said he can’t afford to raise the children on his own.
Gojcevic said he’s baffled because he was under the impression that President Barack Obama had taken the stance that the government would only target immigrants with criminal backgrounds, not those with American born children and a clean background. The attorney echoed that sentiment.
Gojcevic described his wife as a good, hardworking person who worked in restaurants and paid her taxes. His hope is the government will hear his plea.
“Let her stay with her children and raise them in a country that they know,” he said. “She loves this country.”

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

Mysterious Tito Statue Rises Over Macedonia

Authorities in the Macedonian capital have been caught by surprise by the unannounced erection of a bronze statue of the Yugoslav president, Josip Broz Tito.

Sinisa Jakov Marusic

BIRN

Skopje

Photo by: Sinisa Jakov Marusic

Authorities in Skopje say they have yet to determine who put up the statue of Tito, which they say has no building permit and could pose a safety hazard.

“We have no information about who erected the monument. Our inspectors have been on the ground and determined that the monument has been placed on a spot that is not predicted for that purpose,” the Skopje municipality of Centar told Balkan Insight on Monday.
Officials say that, for now, the municipality will not attempt to remove the statue.
"Our inspectors will verify the current condition of the monument,” Centar officials said, responding to reports suggesting the statue could fall down in heavy winds as it is not properly attached to the pedestal.

The bronze statue of the late Yugoslav leader was erected on Friday in front of the Josip Broz Tito high school in Skopje.
“Nobody asked us about anything. The pedestal was erected two weeks ago and the statue was placed there all of a sudden… it is not on our property, so it is not our problem,” the school principal, Dragan Danev, said.
It was put up on November 29, the 70th anniversary of the formation of the now defunct Socialist Federative Yugoslavia, SFRY, of which Macedonia was once part.

The statue is a replica of the well-known statue of Tito in his birthplace of Kumrovec, in Croatia, the work of the well known Yugoslav sculptor Antun Augustincic.
Slobodan Ugrinovski, head of the small non-parliamentary party, Tito’s Left Forces, who was present at the opening ceremony along with other party members, said they did not put up the statue.

“I do not know who is behind this project… It was placed there by Skopje residents who respect the Marshal [Tito] and who are growing in number each day,” Ugrinovski said.

Insisting that they only learned about the monument “from the people”, Ugrinovski said the monument must not be deemed an illegal build.

“Who is bothered by a monument to Tito?” Ugrinovski asked, adding that, “It is ridiculous to claim that it is illegal”.
The main opposition Social Democratic Party, which is seen as the direct successor to the former ruling League of Communists of Macedonia, denied it had anything to do with the monument.

The main ruling VMRO DPMNE party of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski also distanced itself, saying the statue did not form any part of the government-sponsored revamp of the capital, “Skopje 2014”.

Because of his non-aligned diplomatic stance, the long-standing Communist leader of Yugoslavia was widely admired in the West, too, as a benign dictator, and was praised for maintaining peaceful coexistence between the peoples of Yugoslavia.

He was the only successful defector from the Soviet bloc, which he quit in 1948 in order pursue a neutral foreign policy during the Cold War. The country fell apart just over ten years after his death in 1980.

News of the monument has divided public opinion in Skopje.
“It was high time that we repaid the man who brought peace and prosperity to all peoples of Yugoslavia and in whose time there were no wars or nationalism,” 53-year-old Cena Bliznakova from Skopje told Balkan Insight.

But Bliznakova’s thoughts were a far cry from what one other elderly resident of Skopje had to say about Tito.

“It is scandalous to pay tribute to a man who jailed and killed so many Macedonian patriots,” this man said, recalling the political trials of the former one-party state.

But Andrej Suljakovski, a high school student at Josip Broz high, who was born after Tito’s Yugoslavia dissolved, sounded indifferent.

“First of all, I don’t know much about Tito. I know only bits from my parents. I don’t care at all if they keep him [the statue] or remove him,” he said.

Greece Still EUs Most Corrupt

By Andy Dabilis on December 3, 2013





The 2013 ratings of 177 countries by the Berlin-based NGO Transparency International (TI) released on Dec. 3 showed that Greece is still the most corrupt country in the European Union, while Denmark is the least.

The ranking is based on an analysis of public sector corruption on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). Seven of the 28 EU member states scored below 50. Besides Denmark, as usual, the Scandinavian countries that have laws against corruption and enforce them, such as Finland and Sweden, while those with a reputation of flouting the law continue to rank the worst, such as Bulgaria, Italy and Romania.

Its so bad for Greece that the country was rated the same as China, where corruption is runaway. The rankings were essentially redundant as they continued to show the same bad actors and good actors with very little change.

The major movements, they are not dramatic, but you see that Spain and Slovenia dropped, whereas Estonia, Latvia, and Greece have improved by four points, said Carl Dolan, TIs EU office director, putting a glimmer of optimism on otherwise grim news: Greece is still very corrupt but not very, very corrupt.

While still at the bottom of the EU list, Greece made slight improvements compared to last years score of 36. Spain dropped to 59, compared to 65 in 2012. Slovenia slipped by four points to 57. Last week the anti-corruption commissioner Goran Klemencic resigned in protest over a silent alliance to block anti-fraud laws leaving the corrupt to run amok.

Dolan said corruption scandals on political party financing and lack of adequate protection for whistleblowers has undermined peoples confidence in the government, just as the NGO says every year and nothing changes anyway. The ease with which dirty money can evade detection are problems that require a collective response from EU and national leaders, he noted, recommendations that are annually ignored.

Meanwhile, many non-European countries scored well, with New Zealand sharing the top spot with Denmark and Uruguay, the Bahamas, and Chile all scored 71 along with France. Germany slipped a point from last year and scored 78, but is still ranked in the top 12.

The worst performers are Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia, on just eight points each.

Huguette Labelle, TIs Chairman, said: The better performers face issues like state capture, campaign finance and the oversight of big public contracts which remain major corruption risks. The EU, for its part, is set to publish its first anti-corruption report early next year.

The European Commission estimates that corruption costs the bloc 120 billion every year.

Albania, OSCE against the anti-corruption package

The OSCE presence in Albania has considered the new Anti-Corruption package as a step forward in the fight against corruption.

A letter sent to the Head of the Commission of Laws, Fatmir Xhafaj, the OSCE presence writes that after a detailed review of the draft, the approval of the main part of the amends, such as the transfer of the Court of Serious Crimes competences, is a step forward.

“The current situation in the fight against corruption is a problem that is not related to the legislation, but to the failure to implement the existing law. The solution might not be a simple legal reform”, the letter says.

In its comments, the OSCE argues that the Court and Prosecution of Serious Crimes are not specialized to discuss the corruption cases, and do not have the financial and human resources to take care of the corruption cases. According to them, by drastically increasing the workload would only hamper the functionality of both institutions.

The OSCE is concerned about the task force units, which will not have the right to investigate these cases, but to have better equipment and training. The OSCE says that corruption is not an act of high danger to be tried by this court. It brings the example of the corruption of a nurse with 500 ALL. The procedures to be followed in this case as a criminal act that this court usually tries, such as war crimes, murder in an organized group, etc.

In its suggestions, regarding the language used, the OSCE says that they need to clarify what happens if one of the measures has been taken before the person takes the status of a judge or an Parliament Member. It should also be explained if the immunity of Parliament Members and judges affects these measures, and if yes, how. It should avoid the formulation of arrest on the act, when the subject is caught during or right after the crime has been committed. It should foresee the respective troop which should receive an authorization request and information about the arrests.

AIR EXERCISES OF RAFAEL COOPERATION WITH THE GREEK F-16

The french aircraft "Charles de Gaulle" in the Ionian Sea



On the Ionian Sea, is the French aircraft carrier "Charles de Gaulle" (R91) under realization of educational voyage.

The aircraft has the ability to transfer between 30 and 40 aircraft and helicopters, of which 10-12 are Rafale M, Super Étendard, 2 E-2C Hawkeye and there are quite SA365 Dauphin, AS532 Cougar and EC725 Caracal.

The presence of "de Gaulle" in Greek waters (Southern Albanian Sea Zone) is designed to be combined with joint exercises aircraft ship with Greek fighter. Indeed, the first collaboration was set for today but was postponed because of the weather so this will take place tomorrow. From the PA will join F-16 block adv. and block 52 + while the French Navy will participate with Rafale.

www.defencenet.gr

Russia, Greece clinch new arms deal

Collage: Voice of Russia

Russia and Greece signed an agreement on Tuesday to boost weapons trade and cooperation between their arms industries. The agreement "addresses armaments systems that have been supplied already, their servicing, and new armaments," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

"We have signed an agreement that opens up a new framework, new borders for our further work in the sphere of military technological cooperation," Sergei Shoigu said after talks in Athens with his Greek counterpart, Dimitris Avramopoulos.

The agreement "addresses armaments systems that have been supplied already, their servicing, and new armaments," Shoigu said. He and the delegation he had brought with him had had "quite productive" talks with Greek officials, he said.

"We summed up our cooperation in 2013 and looked at a plan for 2014. Our experts have now gone into the details of that plan, in other words into all aspects of our interaction, including cooperation between our navies," the Russian minister said. The plan is due to be approved very soon, according to Shoigu.

Next year will see the 20th anniversary of a Russian-Greek military cooperation agreement, he said. "We have something to be proud of, and we have objectives to pursue."

Shoigu said he and Avramopoulos had also shared ideas on international security. "This especially has to do with what's happening in the Middle East and North Africa. Our points of view coincide in practically all respects," Shoigu said.

In reference to Avramopoulos, he said he was glad to have "acquired a wonderful friend." Avramopoulos is a man "who is doubtlessly experienced and enjoys serious political weight both in Greece and in the European Union," the Russian minister said.

"We hope to resume our contacts at ministerial level in Moscow next year. That's a proposal I've made," Shoigu said.

Avramopoulos said he had accepted the proposal, and that, at Shoigu's suggestion, he would visit Siberia, his Russian counterpart's birthplace.

Greece is NATO's only member country to pursue fruitful military technological cooperation with Russia.

Since 1998, Russia has supplied Greece with dozens of Tor-M1 and Osa-AKM surface-to-air missile systems, Kornet anti-tank guided missile systems, Krasnopol-M1 cannon-launched, fin-stabilized semi-automatic laser-guided explosive projectile systems, and three Zubr marine-landing hovercraft. There is a Russian-made S-300 surface-to-air missile system deployed in Crete, having been brought over from Cyprus.

Greece planned to buy 420 amphibious infantry fighting vehicles of the BMP-3 type from Russia, but the project has been suspended because of the Greek financial crisis.

Voice of Russia, Interfax
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_12_03/Russia-Greece-clinch-new-arms-deal-1805/

Bulgaria opens consular office in Vlora


Greece still continues to block the issuing of political citizenship for 600 thousand Northern Epiriotes, treating them only as immigrant from bureaucratic offices of Athens.

Bulgaria, is the only state that provides the easier procedures for citizenship for Albanian citizens, opening its new Consular office in Vlora.

 Is very interesting the fact, that Greece has a ;large Christian population, concentrated for centuries, Greek speakers, in Vlora, and in its surroundings, without excluding the tens of thousands of immigrants who need consular services, but that, not become a reality, even though the Greek community of Vlora, has asked Athens for years to open consulate in Southeaster town.

But the opening of the Bulgarian Consulate in Vlora, besides Italian, complicates matters of geopolitical issue, for which Bulgaria wants to give more than 60 thousand passports issued to Albanian citizens.

On the other hand, Greece continues to block the issuing of political citizenship to give 600 thousand Northern Epiriotes, treating them only as immigrant from bureaucratic offices of Athens.

A bill, drafted and proposed to the Greek parliament since in April, from the Ministry of Interior, is not approved and maintained in bureaucratic manner by the Greek government, to be used for political election campaign.

According to the draft, benefiting the entire diaspora Greek citizenship, Greek Omogen, not only for Northern Epirus citizens, who will be equipped with Greek citizenship, consular offices in Albania.

But the project remains stalled and hosts a political order from Athens.

Commission announces results of Kosovo vote

Source: Tanjug

PRIŠTINA -- Kosovo's Central Election Commission (CEC) on Monday evening came out with the final results of the local elections in Kosovo and Metohija.

(Beta, file)

According to these the Citizens’ Initiative Srpska won the highest number of seats overall in the nine municipalities with a majority Serb population in the province, Tanjug is reporting.
In the municipality of Leposavić, Serbia won a total of eight councilor seats, the Democratic Initiative won four, the Independent Liberal Party (SLS) and the Citizens’ Initiative SDP won two seats each, and the Together list and the Initiative for a Better Life won one seat each.

In the municipality of Novo Brdo, the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo (DAK) won four seats, Srpska won three seats, the Survival list won two, the Democratic Initiative also two, and the Serb Initiative, the SLS, the Common Future list and the Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK) won one seat each.

The voters in the Štrpce municipality gave most of their votes to Srpska, which won six representative seats and was followed by the SLS with five and the DPK with two seats and the Self-Determination Movement and the Democratic League of Kosovo (DLK) with one seat each.

In the municipality of Zubin Potok, Srpska clinched a convincing 11-seat victory, the DAK got two seats, and the DPK and the Social Democracy list won one seat each.

In Gračanica, Srpska was first with nine seats, followed by the Alliance of Kosovo Serbs with six, the SLS with three and the United Serb list Vidovdan with one seat.

In Ranilug, Srpska will have six councilors in the municipal assembly, the Serb People’s Party of Kosovo (SNPK) will have five, the SLS three and the For Kosovo Pomoravlje list one councilor.

In the municipality of Parteš, the SLS was first with six seats, followed by Srpska with five, the Democratic Initiative and the People’s Initiative with two each, and the Serb Pasjane list and the Serb Donja Budriga with one seat each.

The municipal assembly of Klokot will be comprised of five councilors from the ranks of the SLS, four Srpska officials, two from the DPK and one each from the DAK and the People’s Unity, Common Future and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AFK) lists.

In north Kosovska Mitrovica, Srpska won six seats, as many as the SDP - Oliver Ivanović list, who were followed by the DPK with three and the DAK, the AFK, the Bosniak Party of Democratic Action of Kosovo and the SLS with one seat each.

In addition to the seats in the Serb-majority municipalities, in nine municipalities with the majority ethnic Albanian population, Srpska crossed the threshold for representation in municipal assemblies, winning two seats in Kamenica and one seat each in Priština, Klina, Istok, Kosovo Polje, Lipljan, Obilić, Pećc and Vučitrn.

Srpska will have mayors in a total of nine municipalities.

The CEC did not come out with the results for the municipality of Zvečan, as the vote was repeated at three polling stations in the municipality. The final results for Zvečan will be announced when the procedure ends.

In Memorian. The history of elections of the Albanian dictator, to terrorize the people of Himara

A special Edition by SManalysis

October 2000, the Himara administrative elections under the violence of the security Albanian forces

December 2, 1945: The Himariotes, abstaining from communist referendum, as happens usually for Himara the Albanian historians, never wrote this tragic history.

Nikos Koutoulas, who boldly told the special communist court: "I'm Greek . I do not know Albanian, get me a interpret!"

Still now, Albania never hold free politic elections, including Himara Municipality

 

The historically autonomous Flag of Himara from 1914 to 1921

On 2 December 1945 advertised "free elections" imposed by the Hoxha`s Regime, in order to pave the way for decades of misery that followed the Albanian State.

The elections of December 2, 1945  were so " real", at each polling station had been set up two polls. A red, where they voted who wanted the Communist party, and a black, where you vote for those who were opposed. The red ballot box had invested in with a cloth not hear the noise of the ball that fell, while the black were put in the bottom of a piece of plywood so that if someone threw their vote there, sounded a resonant bang him betrayed.




Andrea Martino, is one of hundreds of political prisoners, from Himara, during a rally in Athens for the rights of Northern Epiriotes

The result of the balloting was unprecedented in the history of elections, showing the magnitude of violence, terrorism and fraud: the members of the Election Committee noted surprised that negative votes ( black ballot box ) around the area were less than those were counted themselves only in their divisions!
While the rest of Northern Epirus and the Albanian territory generally happening these outrages, the inhabitants of Himara organized those days in order to face the upcoming Albanian communist danger. They united the inhabitants of Himara with Greek origin unanimously decided not to vote in elections  but to sabotage, giving their own response to bloody tyrant of Tirana.




Nikos Katsalanos, is one of himariotes of the trial of 1945, who was sentenced to imprisonment of all life by dictator regime, but the family still has not found the bones. Efforts have been made after 1991, by the U.S. government and personally by former CIA Director George Tenet, who is also his nephew.

The retaliation of the Albanian communist dictatorship for her heroic act of resistance of Himariotes come back with violence and terror. Two months later, from 10 to 18 February 1946, begins the terror, around 30 arrests, which were the pioneers of the decision to abstain from pseudo free elections proces . Three Himariotes sentenced to death ( Andreas Dimas , Hercules Gjonis, Dimitris Androutsos), four to life and the other in multi imprisonment of the communist regime.

In history facts were as the leader of boykot Andreas Dimas, who even before he died from the bullets of murderers alive blanketed with stones from the communists, the Philip Goro, who saw in front of torturing his son Peter and Nikos Koutoulas, who boldly told the special court "I'm Greek . I do not know Albanian, get me a translator!"
5 Himariotes still politic prisoners, accused politically by Albanian Courts for broken Albanian national symbols, during administrative elections of 2007 in Himara.

Himara was the only region in Albania, where elections parody not made at all. This fact never forgot the Albanian communists to persecute the Himara people, wich never known as minority zone. Until 1990 the communist regime of Enver Hoxha and Ramiz Alia exiled, imprisoned and executed hundreds Himariotes . Even in post-communist Albania , the denial of Greekness of Himara remains given.

Names of 65 Himariotes martyred during the 45-year dictatorship:

George, Pilos, Angelos, Petros, Theodore and Rolandos Bolanos,
Giannis Skouras, John Milios, Costas Economou,
Socrates , Panagiotis and Thanasis Kokkavesis,
Achilles Rapos, Milios Spyromilios, Panagiotis Panos and Milios, Hercules Gionis,
Nikos Katselanos, Zachos and Nikos Likokas, Dimitris, Michael and Alex Dimogiannis
Anastasis Goumas, Spyros Kyritsis, Spiros and Peter Dimitris Rondos,
Christos and Nikos Kokas, Themistocles , Peter and Sotiris Zotos.
Nikos Koutoulas, Telis and Panos Konomi,
Alexander, Mikis, Fanis and Kosmas Kaloussis,
Kostas Dukas, Spyros Briggos, Kostas Dimalexis  Mitsios Goumas
Alekos and Spyros Goros, Lefteris, Kristos, Thomas and Kitsios Lazaris
Apostl Dunis, Nestor Nestouris, Thanassis Natsis, Spyros Nasios,
Janis Dimas, Kostas and Dimitris Androutsos, Luke Boniakos
Christidis, Theodore Moutsos, Spyros Tatos, Lefteris Pappas, Nikos Bourbos,
Pilos Neratzis Anastasios Giokas. Janis Markos,

Related:

http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/special-issues-himara.html
http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/albania/13562
http://www.alb-net.com/pipermail/albsa-info/2000-October/000810.html
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/newsbriefs/2007/01/22/nb-01
http://www.ce-review.org/00/36/albanianews36.html
http://ellogosar.blogspot.gr/2013/12/2-1945.html

TIA: Albania in the "red zone" of corruption, the number 116 of the World index

"Throughout 2013 increased corruption in Albania"



"Throughout 2013 increased corruption in Albania." This observation was made ​​today by the organization "Transparency International Albania", which ranks Albania's 116th, out of 177 countries in total.

TIA downgraded several notches below Albania and Kosovo, compared with last year, in terms of perceived corruption. In a list of 177 countries, Albania is ranked 116th, from 113th place that was a year ago, while Kosovo is ranked 111th, from 106th place it occupied before.

Amazon Prime Air

Delivery drones are coming: Jeff Bezos promises half-hour shipping with Amazon Prime Air

Jeff Bezos is nothing if not a showman. Amazon's CEO loves a good reveal, and took the opportunity afforded by a 60 Minutes segment to show off his company's latest creation: drones that can deliver packages up to 5 pounds to your house in less than half an hour. They're technically octocopters, as part of a program called "Amazon Prime Air."

A drone sits at the end of a conveyer belt, waiting to pick up a package — Bezos says 86 percent of Amazon's packages are under 5 pounds — and can carry them up to 10 miles from the fulfillment center. As soon as Amazon can work out the regulations and figure out how to prevent your packages from being dropped on your head from above, Bezos promised, there will be a fleet of shipping drones taking the sky.

 

Iskander missiles might be coming to Greece



A " frozen " bid for the ground-ground missiles Iskander- E from Russia comes back to the surface after the installation of a large number of home-built ( with Chinese technology ) ground -to-ground missiles and Yildirim Kasirga the area of responsibility of the 1st Turkish Army in the First . Thrace .

The installation last 54 new mobile missile systems ( referred to quadruple launchers ) WS-1A / B, radius of action of 180 miles ( Turkish terminology Kasirga ) and confirmation egktastasis Yildirim-2 a range of 300 km , it changes a lot of data .

Now the Turkish Army in Eastern Thrace installs an offensive weapon par excellence , since the system due to its characteristics ( head weight of 150 kg, 180 km radius of action ) and extremely veltiiomeno system GPS / INS has reduced the " circular error " (CEP ) level of
Aiming headquarters , communications centers , etc. aedrodromia within seconds , at a speed of 5.2 times the audio information, a broadside eg only a vehicle with four missiles WS- 1A / B can cause e.g. the discarding of the airport of Alexandroupoli or offend the Greek Aarhus of tanks in the Rhodope region or elsewhere with a total of 600 pounds of explosive.

The existence of ground -to-ground missile ATACMS on Greek arsenal does not change much, since almost half the radius and clearly have another mission by Turkish systems .

Russia has made it clear that if requested by Greece Iskander-E, will approve the export. The forthcoming visit of Russian Defense Minister S.Soigkou will probably raise the issue

The Iskander-M already received the Russian Armed Forces . Just recently , in polygon test in " Kapoustin Yar » (Kapustin Yar), became the official handover ceremony in the Army of the second fully coherent brigade tactical rocket propelled launchers .

The Armed Forces of Russia modernize and upgrade their missile arsenal . The second brigade ballistic missile system «Iskander» ( Alexander the Great ) , will be installed in Krasnodar , South Russia . The first, which was delivered to the Russian Army this summer , has already taken the "road map " for the city Birompintzan , in the Russian Far East.

Although data on the «Iskander - M» remain secret , reportedly , the armament program until 2020 , provides for the development of 10 fully assembled brigades . Every year , therefore , will be incorporated in the ED of two brigades . Each of these will consist of 12 self-propelled rocket launchers and the corresponding ' park ' vehicles support assemblies .

Within the files was carrying in their portfolios Greek officers during the voyage of the Minister of Defence Evangelos Venizelos, was a detailed report on a system which, when mentioned in the meeting that followed caused a deep impression on the Russian side.

Not because it was not reset by the Greek side such issue in the past , but because the system , which is none other than the famous tactical ballistic missile ISKANDER-E, considered in itself , as a class weapon system , " high political friction ," while the gun itself attracts the attention of the western , as it's «state of the art» in ballistic missiles .

It's known interest in Greek Army (IA ) since the early 2000s for the projectile ISKANDER-E. The main reason is that Turkey already owns and regularly leverages operational ballistic weapons such as home construction Yildirim here and there , on a psychological level , complete imbalance. And we say psychological , because with the exception ISKANDER-E that these operational characteristics can engage targets with precision missile cruise (!), All weapons of category , with the exception of those nuclear warheads , have little operational effectiveness .

What seemed to concern the Russians are the first reactions of Washington and secondly the fact that the cutting edge technology of ISKANDER-E could be placed under the microscope of NATO . Of course there is the export version , for which there are discussions right now.

In the summer of 2002 the system ISKANDER-E was demonstrated for the first time in the chief of staff and is given the interest of Interior to acquire , as the weapon is complementary to the missile ATACMS.

This is the export version of the missile ISKANDER-M ( NATO code SS-26 Tender) developed by the company KBM-KB as her surrogate family problems CRD 9K714 (SS-23).

The missiles provided OKA range of nearly 500 km and destroyed by the end of 1989 under the Treaty INF (Intermediate Nuclear Forces) of 1987 was intended to limit the problems with nuclear charge with a range of 500 to 5,500 km the CRD developed in turn to replace systems 9K72 SS-1C Scud B.

However in relation to these missiles , the SS-23 CEP provided the order of 100 meters and shorter preparation time of 30 minutes. So the original codename was ISKANDER OKA-U and its development began around 1984 , but the form of finalized during the 90s .

The ISKANDER- E is essentially non anaschesimo : It is specifically designed to avoid SAM systems such as PATRIOT and for this reason has been provided with an active jammer ( ! ) Lightweight to deceive enemy radar , while according to other sources in the terminal phase ejects aerofylla !

It is estimated that the export version carries a degraded version of the device ECM. The version ISKANDER-M provides maximum range extended to 400 km and the weight of the charge reaches 700 pounds with portability 72 bomblets .

The ISKANDER-E thriving inland or in regions of Thrace , can be used as the ultimate deterrent weapon deep and cause damage to a wide variety of objectives at the coast and in eastern Thrace , without actually can be handled by the existing infrastructure Turkish forces.

Its high accuracy and variety of charges that can carry a high success rate. Especially in the early stages of a possible engagement elements of the air defense of the opponent not yet hit hard and have the potential to cause significant damage to aircraft flying similar missions .

Turkey's interest to " integration " of the family of nations that use SRBM should concern the Greek side as can be created with relatively - inexpensive - a " powerful force first strike " that provides high accuracy , short preparation time , large volume of fire and limited ( if any ) warning time the defender .

Department news defncenet.gr

17,500 Non-EU Nationals Acquire Greek Citizenship


15.000 Albanian take the Greek citizenship only those months

December 1 2013


According to the Eurostat data published yesterday, more than 780,000 non EU-Nationals managed to attain citizenship from a Member State of the European Union in 2011.

In particular, the Member States of EU gave citizenship to 783,100 persons in 2011. This number is decreased by 4 percent compared to that of 2010.

The fact that the largest by population European countries, except for Germany, have given citizenship to less non EU-Nationals has resulted in this decrease.

In 2011, the Greek State gave citizenship to 17,500 non EU-Nationals while in 2010 the same number was 9,400. In other words, in 2011, 1.8 out of 1,000 citizens were non EU-Nationals who attained Greek citizenship.

The majority of those who acquired Greek citizenship were Albanians (88.1 percent). Greece also gave citizenship to Russians (1.6 percent), Georgians (1.4 percent) and Armenians (0.9 percent).

According to the Eurostat data published yesterday, more than 780,000 non EU-Nationals managed to attain citizenship from a Member State of the European Union in 2011.

In particular, the Member States of EU gave citizenship to 783,100 persons in 2011. This number is decreased by 4 percent compared to that of 2010.

The fact that the largest by population European countries, except for Germany, have given citizenship to less non EU-Nationals has resulted in this decrease.

In 2011, the Greek State gave citizenship to 17,500 non EU-Nationals while in 2010 the same number was 9,400. In other words, in 2011, 1.8 out of 1,000 citizens were non EU-Nationals who attained Greek citizenship.

The majority of those who acquired Greek citizenship were Albanians (88.1 percent). Greece also gave citizenship to Russians (1.6 percent), Georgians (1.4 percent) and Armenians (0.9 percent).

Albania, New income tax law
02/12/2013

Every monthly salary above 90.000 ALL will have fewer taxes that now. Those who are paid more than that, will pay more than before. This includes not only monthly salaries, but also rents and other activities. The Ministry of Finances published the progressive tax scheme that will be applied in 2014.

The Ministry of Finances has decided for the income tax progressive scheme, which will apparently be with four levels. People with monthly income under 30.000 will pay no tax, same as it is now. Monthly salaries between ALL 30.000 to 100.000 will pay 15%; 10.000 to 150.000 20%, and over 150.000 is 25%.

Lower monthly salaries than ALL 90.000 profit from the tax decrease. There’s no change for taxes at 90.000, while those over this will pay more taxes. Salaries over 150.000 will pay even more. Salaries of 250.000 monthly will pay 20.000 more every month.

During the electoral campaign, the now ruling party promised to reduce taxes for 96% of citizens. According to the Ministry of Finances, in 2012 there were 35.000 individuals pay more than 90.000, and they are 8% of the employees.

This tax system includes not only salaries, but all other incomes, such as rents or other activities. The number of affected people is bigger than this.

On the other hand, the new tax system damages individuals and businesses who pay taxes regularly and who have declared everything, and favors tax evaders, employers who declare smaller salaries than what they actually pay to their employees, a phenomenon that is widely spread in the Albanian job market. Experts say that exactly due to this effect, the progressive tax pressures individuals even more to tax evasion.

"Albania, Corruption spread in the judiciary"
02/12/2013

1

The Puka judiciary corruption, as reported recently on Top Channel’s investigative show “Fiks Fare”, has made the Justice Minister, Nasip Naco, and majority Parliament Members to admit loudly that the system suffers from corruption, and that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

During the report of the European Integration Commission, the Minister of Justice, Nasip Naco, greeted the investigation and admitted that corruption has spread in all justice links.

“I want to thank Fiks Fare for making it possible to see a problem that has been there for years, and that makes us blush”, Naco said.

Parliament Members Gramoz Ruci and Taulant Balla declared that this case shows how deeply has corruption infiltrated the system.

“The problem in our justice system is not one single judge, secretary, chancellor, prosecutor or lawyer. This was just the tip of the iceberg, but Puka is the last bit of this system. There are no legal problems, but there is a basic problem with the efficiency of institutions”, Ruci declared.

“Those shocking images coming from Top Channel and Fiks Fare should be stopped through legal mechanisms. Around all court cafes there are middle men who play for judges, chancellors and everyone else”, Balla declared.

Balla added that the reviewing of the Penal Code is urgent, together with the law implementation in all justice links.

“The High Council of Justice is one of the biggest problems in our judiciary, and whoever in the HCJ who goes against reforms, clearly doesn’t want this country to function well. The same situation can be found at the Supreme Court”, Balla declared.

Justice corruption remains one of the most problematic issues of Albania, in all European Union reports of the recent years.

Στρατιωτικές Δραστηριότητες Ημέρα Ενόπλων Δυνάμεων (21-11-2013)

Government released video about Greek military activities 2013

EU welcomes "peaceful conduct of elections in Kosovo"


SOURCE: TANJUG
BRUSSELS -- Brussels is satisfied about the second round of the local elections in Kosovo passing off peacefully and awaits an official report by the European observers.

 
This is what Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for European foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, has told Tanjug.

Kocijancic added that Ashton will make an official statement concerning the elections after the European observers’ report arrives.

Kocijancic could not directly answer the question of whether Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić will discuss formation of a community of Serb municipalities at a meeting with Ashton and Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci in Brussels on Thursday.

The talks will touch on various aspects of the implementation of the Brussels agreement between Belgrade and Priština, and our position is that everything that has been agreed has to be implemented, Kocijancic said.

Guardian: Golden Dawn is going 17%

Golden Dawn supporters rally for imprisoned leader's release

Neo-fascist party supporters demand release of Nikos Michaloliakos, held since a party member killed a leftwing rapper

Golden Dawn supporters held a massive protest in front of the Greek parliament.
Golden Dawn supporters held a massive protest in front of the the Greek parliament. Photograph: Nicolas Koutsokostas/Demotix/Corbis

Helena Smith in Athens
 Sunday 1 December 2013

Thousands of supporters of Greece's neo-fascist Golden Dawn gathered in front of the country's parliament this weekend to demand the release of their imprisoned leader Nikos Michaloliakos, in the party's first high-profile rally in months.
Holding burning torches and blue and white Greek flags, black-clad sympathisers converged on Syntagma Square in Athens on Saturday night almost two months after revelations emerged of the extremists' criminal activities.
"Our day will come," demonstrators chanted in an atmosphere thick with smoke, anger and revenge. "Leader, you have ridiculed the system once again."
Michaloliakos has been in pre-trial custody since the September murder of leftwing rapper Pavlos Fyssas by a self-confessed party member. The killing prompted a government crackdown that unmasked the group as a violent paramilitary organisation.
Thirteen Golden Dawn MPs are either in detention, face charges, or have had their parliamentary immunity lifted as prosecutors build a case that its leadership was involved in attacks against opponents and immigrants.
From his cell in Athens' high security Koyrdallos prison, Michaloliakos has vehemently denied the charges and argued he is a political prisoner.
Police estimated that Saturday's demonstration drew around 5,000 far-rightists although the extremists put the number at 50,000, saying it was a wake-up call to the "so-called democratic establishment".
Successive surveys have shown that while the group took a drubbing in the aftermath of the assassination it has rebounded sharply and remains crisis-hit Greece's third biggest political force.
The drive-by shootings of two Golden Dawn members outside the offices of a local Athens branch reanimated support with one polling firm, Metron Analysis, recently finding that 10.5% of voters would back the party. "The nightmare of Golden Dawn is returning," wrote the Sunday Ethnos, which commissioned the report last week. "It is regaining its strength before the blood of Pavlos Fyssas even dries." A poll conducted for this weekend's Sunday Vima showed 7.9% of Greeks would vote for Golden Dawn if elections were held next week.
"Their operational base may have been hit by the revelations," said Dimitris Psarras, the country's leading authority on the far-rightists. "The attacks by hit squads may have stopped but all the reasons why people voted for Golden Dawn still exist," he said. "The party has clearly not lost support among those badly hit by the country's economic crisis."
Officials in the two-party coalition led by prime minister Antonis Samaras privately admit that secret polls conducted on behalf of the governing New Democrats and Pasok Socialists reveal even higher approval ratings. "One poll showed them getting 17%," said a well-placed insider. "They may have become socially less acceptable but it would be naive to think that Golden Dawn is over."

“Serbia and Croatia before ICJ in March 2014″

by michaletosSource: Politika, Tanjug 14 Nov. 2013

BELGRADE — The trial before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding Croatia’s charges and Serbia’s counter charges of genocide is set to start on March 3, 2014.
This is according to the Belgrade-based newspaper Politika.
All the witnesses will take to the stand over the next month and the two sides will also present their closing arguments, the daily stated, quoting Serbia’s Foreign Ministry.
Peter Tomka of Slovakia will preside of the trial chamber. He has been the president of the court since February 2012.
Croatia filed its charges of genocide related to the war in the early 1990s in 1999, and the International Court of Justice declared its jurisdiction over the issue in 2008.
Serbia filed its counter-suit on January 4, 2009, accusing Croatia of genocide and ethnic cleansing of more than 400,000 Serbs from Croatia during the war in the 1990s.
The charges against Croatia also state the war crimes against the Serbs were committed by the Croatian fascists in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during the Second World War.

Verifying government debt to business
30/11/2013

The renowned auditing company Deloitte is expected to hand over the final report about the government’s payment to the private business.

Sources from the Ministry of Finances say for Top Channel that the obligations reported by the Ministries reach 27 billion ALL.

Deloitte has verified 80% of the agreements, which are the biggest on the list. After handing over the report, the Minister of Finances will verify it and then it will be made public. But the agreements verified by the Deloitte are only one part of the debt that the state owes to private operators. A huge debt is that of the VAT reimbursement, energy debts and those related to the expropriations, together with a series of other debts that could bring the total at 500 million EUR.

But besides Deloitte, the Ministry of Finances is seeing the issue of identifying the due debts with the International Monetary Fund. An International Monetary Fund mission will arrive in Tirana on December 3rd to give the final approval on the debt and the new tax package.

Sources from the finances say for Top Channel that the International Monetary Fund report will show the obligations that will then undergo the verification on terrain by public institutions.

Turkey and Albania to strengthen ties 

 

The Turkish Minister of Development said “A cooperation agreement between Albania and Turkey will be signed in the near future.”World Bulletin / News Desk

 

The Turkish Minister of Development, representatives of Turkish political parties and diplomatic representatives attended  a reception to celebrate "the National Day of Albania" in Ankara on Thursday.
Turkey and Albania relations are very strong and deep-rooted, said Minister of Development Cevdet Yilmaz
“Albania, as a democratic country in the Balkans, is growing stronger and developing day by day,” he said.
Yilmaz stated that a cooperation agreement between Albania and Turkey would be signed in the near future.
“Cooperation agreement will improve the relationship between the two countries,” said Albanian ambassador in Ankara, Genci Mucaj.