Why It Should be Regulated and Which System of Lobbying Regulation for Albania?
Why It Should be Regulated and Which System of Lobbying Regulation for Albania?

Summary/Abstract: In these 28 years after the transformation of the system from the communist to the democratic one and toward the market economy, the democratization of Albania has faced various problems, which has often led to the loss of public trust in the political class and the political system in general. This loss of public trust, in large part of the cases, has come as a result of the public discovery of various corruption scandals, political clientelism, illicit influences or a political decision-making process that is often conceived as closed and monopoly of those who have been elected or appointed to leading positions. For this purpose, that of channelling and controlling the impacts that particular vested interests exerts on the decision-making process, a good part of countries in Europe in the last years, have begun to consider undertaking regulatory reforms for lobbying in their environments. The main objective of regulating lobbying activity in Albania on a legal basis would be precisely the handling/curbing of such informal relationships that exist at various levels between interest groups and decisionmakers and which are often on corrupt and clientelistic grounds. This paper argues that the best system for regulating lobbying in Albania should be that of a statutory type, in which lobbyists on a legal basis be obliged to register in a publicly accessible register and to disclose data on critical aspects of their activity.

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