A recent spate of terrorist attacks in Albania has drawn virtually no international attention. But the consequences for the country could prove very serious indeed – and for wider Europe
2015 did not start well for Europeans following the deadly attacks in Paris and Copenhagen. The brutality of the Kouachi brothers and grotesque video images broadcasting the execution of 12 people outside Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris did not only further alarm public opinion over the rise of Islamic terrorism in Europe, but raised fears over US Patriot Act-styled measures in countering future threats.
Indeed, and as French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, declared before France’s National Assembly, “[France] must respond to this exceptional situation with exceptional measures” and monitor high-risk passengers. Furthermore, Valérie Pécresse, former French Minster of the Budget under former President Nicolas Sarkozy, went even further suggesting that France should adopt its own type of the Patriot Act.
In Berlin, German Chancellor, Angela Merkel was pushing efforts towards adopting a new EU law on data retention; just 678 miles north, UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron announced new surveillance legislations outlawing certain forms of encrypted digital communication in thwarting the means by which terrorist activities could be facilitated.
Leaving the EU club for a while, there’s one country whose endogenous terrorism has not – for reasons which I consider wrong and with long-term calamitous consequences – drawn much attention. Since February 2013, when the newly-elected coalition government comprising the Socialist Party of Albania (PS) and Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) assumed power, Albania has witnessed an unprecedented wave of what the government has dubbed “terror attacks”.
One of the most recent incidents of terrorist activity took place on February 10 when two powerful explosions damaged a pharmacy business, reportedly owned by the family of Albania’s Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri, and the apartment of a senior police officer. The third bomb, which was placed at a bus station near Vasil Shanto School in Tirana, was successfully defused.
Albania’s recent state of turmoil appears to be a response to the government’s anti-crime drive. The government started acting on its pre-election promise of cracking down on cannabis cultivation in the notorious village of Lazarat, and so far has been successful.
Saimir Tahiri – Albania’s acting Minister of Interior Affairs – was chosen as the frontman to lead the fight against organized crime and corruption, pathologies which have, since its very inception as an independent democratic state in 1991, deprived Albania from prospering.
According to Transparency International, Albania ranks 110th out of 175 states monitored in 2014, making Albania and Kosovo the region’s most corrupt states. On a business level, Business Anti-Corruption Portal notes that Albania, compared to the regional average, is “the country where the highest percentage of companies expects to give gifts to get a government contract”.
Where do Albania’s specific problems stand in the European post-Charlie Hebdo arena however?
Fear is at the epicentre of what defines terrorism and it is at the heart of contemporary Albania. The French killings may prompt reforms on security legislation and intelligence to boost the perception of safety felt by ordinary Albanians.
If that is to occur however, Albania’s may give in to the temptation to develop substantially authoritarian responses to crime and terror. Indeed, Albania’s weak state institutions, operating under an equally weak legal system and a judiciary lacking independence and accountability, could produce a fertile ground for Hobbesian tendencies to manifest.
Rubbing salt in the wound, Albania has been here before. Before 1991, the territory of what is now Albania found itself under autocratic rule under successive Roman, Byzantine, Bulgarian and Ottoman empires, the Kingdom of Albania and a communist dictatorship under Enver Hoxha. These regimes have undeniably contributed to the formation of Albania’s present-day identity.
It should be mentioned that, according to the CIVICUS Civil Society Index Analytical Report, “the short history of Albania as a free and independent country, and even shorter history as a functioning democracy, has been largely reflected in the history of its civil society”.
Albania’s path towards EU membership has greatly encouraged and indeed improved the picture on the ground. The rise of terrorist activities across Europe – including Albania – could, however, signal the beginning of Europe’s “introvert” character, willing to push forward extreme national measures to bring terrorist activities under control.
The British Government could be one of the first European states to focus on Albania’s problems, economic and political, which are likely to drive mass emigration following Albania’s accession in the EU.
Tough measures are needed and this is the time to put them on the table. If Berlin or Paris – with their vibrant civil societies and consolidated democratic institutions – are able to cope with it, for Tirana, similar measures could prove catastrophic unless the West and the Albanian people are careful.