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RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTI #1070/01 3551505
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211505Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY TIRANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6486
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TIRANA 001070 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON PGOV PREL SOCI AL
SUBJECT: THIS WEEK IN ALBANIA, DECEMBER 15 - 21, 2007 
 
¶1.  (U) The following is a weekly report prepared by Embassy 
Tirana's local staff to provide political and economic context and 
insight into developments in Albania.  These updates will supplement 
post's DAR reports and reporting cables. 
 
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) ALBANIAN PROPERTY CLAIMANTS SET THEIR HOPES ON STRASBOURG: 
On December 18, the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) in 
Strasbourg ruled in favor of an American-Albanian citizen named 
Marini over a property dispute claim he filed with the court against 
the GOA.  The court found against the government for failing to 
implement prior domestic court decisions and fined the GOA USD 
480,000.  The verdict was a victory for Marini, who had waged a 14 
year-long fight with various state institutions over an abrogated 
commercial partnership he entered into with the government in the 
early 1990s. Marini's was the fourth case involving property 
disputes brought by Albanian citizens to be heard by the ECHR.  All 
four decisions have gone against the GOA; total compnsation and 
penalties exceed USD 2 million.  To date, almost 200 Albanian 
citizens have filed suit with the ECHR in Strasbourg against the GOA 
over property claims.  (Note: It is not yet known whether the GOA 
has paid any of the four winning claimants.) 
 
¶3.  (U) Property restitution and the enforcement of court decisions 
are two of the most serious problems that have afflicted Albanian 
society during the post-communist transition period.  Large-scale 
property confiscation during communist rule and the subsequent 
nationalization of the economy completely altered Albania's economic 
landscape.  Competing property claims, an over-burdened state 
administrative process for adjudicating claims and a lack of 
financial resources to compensate property owners all make the issue 
difficult to correct.  Property restitution and compensation have 
progressed slowly, generating a lot of corruption and social tension 
in the process.  It is estimated that almost 70 percent of all civil 
cases in the Albanian courts involve property disputes; most of 
these cases linger for years before reaching a final ruling. 
 
¶4.  (U) The property restitution issue has gained political momentum 
in recent years as increased public attention has put pressure on 
the government to act.  While the restitution of confiscated 
property might be completed in the nearer term, property 
compensation remains a distant dream, with some estimates putting 
total compensation at approximately USD 5 billion.  The recent 
decisions by the ECHR have ratcheted up pressure on the GOA to 
finally resolve this long-running national headache. 
 
¶5.  (U) ELECTORAL SYSTEM PROPOSAL THREATENS SMALL PARTIES' SURVIVAL: 
The electoral reform debate took a new turn this week when the 
Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI), the second largest 
opposition party, proposed the adoption of a pure proportional 
electoral system.  This would be a positive step toward eliminating 
the "horse-trading" for votes from one party to another that 
currently takes place in parliamentary elections.  (Note: Forty of 
the 140 seats in Parliament are elected under a proportional 
respresentational scheme that was originally designed to protect 
minority rights.  In practice, most of the 13 parties in Parliament 
are one- and two-member parties whose constantly shifting loyalties 
contribute to Parliament's political gridlock.) 
 
¶6.  (U)  Under the LSI proposal, voters would vote only for one 
political party and parties would publish their list of candidates 
for Members of Parliament.  LSI pointed out that this proposal would 
not only allow all political parties to compete equally, but it 
would also solve other issues, such as improving the gender 
imbalance in Parliament.  This proposal petrified the other small 
political parties, as its adoption could cost most of them their 
parliamentary representation.  While discussion over electoral 
reform continues, the two main parties have recognized that there is 
increased urgency to reach an agreement ahead of the NATO summit 
next year.   The adoption of a pure representational system would, 
for the first time in 16 years of Albanian democracy, demonstrate 
the real representation of the existing political parties across the 
country. 
 
"O Lord, help me to be pure, but not yet." 
Saint Augustine 
 
¶7.  (U) KOSOVAR SINGERS RATTLE ALBANIA'S MUSICAL SCENE, BUT NOT THE 
JURY: Albania's cultural scene was engulfed last week by a heated 
controversy over the winner of the annual song festival that 
represents Albania in the EuroSong competition.  While allegations 
about flawed voting procedures have plagued this festival in the 
past, the controversy this year took nationalistic tones as 
allegations surrounded a song that featured two girls from Kosovo. 
Two members of the jury, a well known Albanian film producer and a 
young singer, aroused heated public debates with their decision to 
give zero points to the two Kosovar girls' song and push forward 
another song that was trailing behind in second place.  The votes by 
the two members of the song jury guaranteed that the winner was a 
 
TIRANA 00001070  002 OF 002 
 
 
sixteen-year-old making her first appearance on the national stage. 
The two jury members insisted that their votes were based on their 
musical preference and had no ethnic undertones.  However, many 
obervers are having a hard time understanding how a song that was 
considered the best by the majority of the jury failed to get a 
single point in their votes.  With the coming EuroSong festival set 
to take place in Serbia, speculation abounded that the jury members 
failed to support a song sung by Kosovar Albanians to avoid any 
controversy in Belgrade.  With the debate set to continue over the 
coming weeks, this year's contest highlighted the lingering 
importance of the national music festival that first started in 1962 
and continues to play an important role in Albanian contemporary 
music across all Albanian inhabited territories. You can listen to 
both songs in youtube: winner 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4kIiwQfUkU Second place: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPC6sW8rVnc 
 
¶8.  (U) The Festival i Kenges was the premier music event during the 
communist period and was strictly controlled by the Party to ensure 
compliance with "socialist art principles."  With the communist 
government's intention to preserve its hold on the country's 
cultural life, many who failed to live up to the party's artistic 
standards ended up in prison.  While the festival continued to play 
an important role after the fall of communism, its influence 
diminished as new musical events made their debut in the public 
scene. Since 2003, however, the festival has garnered greater 
attention (and controversy) as it is the venue that selects 
Albania's song for the European EuroSong contest. 
 
¶9.  (U) HOLIDAY SEASON IN ALBANIA: Albanians have great respect for 
family values. So whenever they decide to celebrate, they do it 
together with their entire family. Albania has a mix of Christian 
and Muslim populations. Although New Year's Eve is the most 
celebrated national holiday, Christmas is also greatly celebrated. 
The tradition of gift giving is maintained through New Year's Eve. 
It originates from the communist era in Albania when religion was 
prohibited - i.e. a Christmas tree was called a New Year's tree, 
Santa Claus was called New Year's Grandpa, etc.  Feasting takes a 
prominent place during the Christmas season in Albania.  Like in the 
U.S., almost all families prepare special meals for their Christmas 
or New Year's dinner.  Typical food includes turkey, stuffing, 
Russian salad and different side dishes.  And the Christmas desert 
takes a special place.  Albanians call it "bakllava" which in 
America is known as "baklavash."  It's like a pie, but far more 
complicated, featuring primarily nuts.  And it's delicious. 
Albanians also mark Christmas by putting up a big and brightly 
decorated Christmas tree in the center of the capital, which is 
enjoyed by people of all traditions. 
WITHERS