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'Clientelist', the postponement of the deadline for "Strategic Investments" is opposed
The socialist majority is expected to approve the extension of the term of the law on "Strategic Investments" until December 2027, according to the proposal submitted on Wednesday by MP Eduart Shalsi to the Assembly.
Shalsi said on Thursday that although he remained convinced of the necessity of a new law on strategic investments, his proposals would improve the criteria for obtaining the status of a strategic investor.
"To significantly increase the minimum value of investment projects, which apply for strategic status in any strategically classified sector according to this law, to a value of no less than 50 million euros," he wrote on Facebook.
This is the third postponement of the deadline of a law that was approved in 2015, and was introduced as a temporary measure by the "Rama" government, initially with a deadline until 2018.
Although its aim was to absorb foreign investment, so far only the investment for Durrës Yaht Marina is foreign, the other beneficiaries are Albanian companies.
The postponement has been contested by the opposition and economic experts, who insist that the strategic investor scheme has favored a group of oligarchs and encroached on private property.
The Deputy of the Democratic Party, Jorida Tabaku, calls it "the most clientelistic and anti-property law of the last 30 years".
"This law does not have any positive record of foreign investments," she wrote in a Facebook status on Thursday, adding that there is also no additional employment, but there is only seizure of public and private property.
According to Tabaku, the law also seriously harms the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU, competition and the free market.
Zef Preçi, executive director of the Albanian Center for Economic Research, told BIRN that this law has a negative record during its implementation.
"There are at least 10 such decisions, in addition to interventions in the basic law, which more than anything else have created spaces for decision-making that avoid competition, for the transfer of important strategic state assets to the hands of lobbyists, oligarchs and segments of organized crime and in some cases even private ones, but disguised 'in the name of public interest'" - says Preçi.
According to him, the new legal changes are made in the absence of an assessment on its applicability to date and the risks of corruption denounced by various actors are ignored and in the absence of transparency from the government for the decisions made in these years.
Po ashtu, Preçi rendit disa nga problematikat që kanë dalë deri më tani nga zbatimi i këtij ligji si; “përzgjedhja e kompanive fituese të panjohura, të krijuara posaçërisht, pa përvojë apo të kontrolluara nga persona të ekspozuar politikisht apo më këq akoma të zotëruara drejtpërdrejt nga funksionarë të lartë politikë; transferimi në mjaft raste i pronësisë drejt kompanive offshorë menjëherë mbas marrjes së këtij statusi; kthimi de facto i disa prej këtyre lejeve zhvillimore në një “sifon” për investimin e parave me burim krimin e organizuar dhe korrupsionin, etj..”
Edhe gazetarja e ekonomisë, Ola Xama, e quan një hap pas ndryshimin e ligjit.
Sipas saj, zbatimi i ligjit vërtetoi se qëllimi nuk ishte thithja e investimeve të huaja, “por përfundoi në ndarjen e tokave pa para ose me vlera qesharake, publike dhe private, për një dorë biznesmenësh vendas me histori suksesi në monopole ose në krimin e organizuar”.
Xama po ashtu vë theksin tek mungesa e një raporti monitorimi për ndikimin që ka patur në ekonomi në 8 vite zbatim të tij.
“Kërkesa për ngritjen e një komisioni hetimor për këtë çështje iu mohua dhe opozitës, duke vërtetuar se direktiva nga lart në qeveri dhe nga biznemenët e mëdhenj është që kjo fushë të mos ketë asnjëherë kontroll”- thotë ajo në profilin e saj në facebook.
Mungesë transparence dhe analize
Investimet strategjike janë përdorur për interesa të ngushta të oligarkëve të lidhur me qeverinë, mendojnë ekspertët, duke anashkaluar interesin publik dhe ndjeshmërinë e komuniteteve që preken nga këto ndërtime.
Sipas Preçit, nuk ka asnjë transparencë për ‘arritjet” e një dekade të dhënies së lejeve për investime strategjike, – “vëçanërisht sa i takon krijimit faktik të vendeve të reja të punës dhe të hyrjeve buxhetore të siguruara nga zbatimi i kontratavë të tilla”.
“Qeveria fillimisht gjen apo cakton kompaninë (që vjen vetë ose e prezantojnë lobistë, oligarkë vendas dhe të huaj), pastaj kryen rregullimin përkatës ligjor duke ja u bërë shumë më të vështirë punën edhe institucioneve audituese si KLSH, si dhe atyre hetimorë si SPAK e Drejtoria e Tatimeve”- thotë ai.
Sipas tij, mjafton fakti që më shumë së 2/3 e kontratave të ngjashme të llojit PPP janë nën hetim penal dhe se mbi 95% e investitorëve strategjikë janë vendas, që të kuptohet potenciali për cënimin e interesit publik.
Zgjatja e afatit ligjor do të bëjë të mundur, thotë ai- “ vazhdimin e kësaj gjakrrjedhjeje të pasurive natyrore dhe financiare të vendit”.
Xama po ashtu vë thekson tek fakti që propozimi i ri, jo vetëm anashkalon procedurën e konsultimit publik për nevojën reale të zgjatjes, por bën hapa pas në kriteret që klasifikojnë një projekt ‘strategjik' dhe se ndryshimet po bëhen pa analizuar investimet në fuqi.
Sipas Xamës, ndryshimet e reja lënë mundësi për abuzim.
"Unlike the current law, which requires investment value and a high number of employment, the proposals set an 'or', either to have a 50 million euro investment project, or 300 employees, or the project should be in priority development areas. In other words, if you had a project worth 100 euros, you get the land for free because if the Committee of Strategic Investments wants to declare it strategic" - she explains the legal change.
Xama insists on the lack of an institutional report on the real value of investments in 43 projects granted so far, the number of employees and the deadline for their implementation.
"Many strategic investors have ended up with the status in their pocket, the acquired land for free and waiting for someone who can sell these securities to them - while the economy and public interest have been lost" - concludes the journalist.
Question about the legality of the proposal
The new changes also raise questions about the legality of the "retroactive character" they give to the law.
Although in the previous practice of changes made to the law, the majority voted to extend the deadline within the month of December before the end of the old deadline, this time the SP wants to give it retroactive effect by extending the effects from January 1, 2024.
In the accompanying report, the proponent defends "retroactive power" as an exception to not interrupt the continuity of applications for the status of strategic investor at the Investment Agency (AIDA).
"In this particular case, the purpose of the proposal is to avoid the negative consequences related to the interruption of the continuity of the law and therefore of the possible applications" - it is stated in the relation.
Deputy Shalsi told BIRN that it was only about one article and not the whole law.
"The law has no deadline, it is about article 36, when it was approved there was a deadline and it has to do with application deadlines due to interest and these changes should create continuity" - he said adding that "the law itself does not have retroactive effects".
According to him, the new requirements for strategic status will be filed after the amendment proposed by him comes into force.
However, legal experts raise questions about the legal basis of the retroactive effect of the law.
Lawyer Viktor Gumi told BIRN that, "as was the practice, the legal change should have been made before the deadline of December 31, 2023, and even published in the official gazette before this date".
"For me, the deadline in article 36 can be extended, but by completely reformulating the article because it is already an "empty" article without normative lines" - argues Gumi, adding that in this case "parliament is legitimized by writing a new article 36 with a deadline and not changing a thing is empty". / BIRN
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