Author: Lorin Kadiu
On March 9, 2020, the Ministry of Health reported identification of patient zero infected with COVID-19 in Albania. A citizen who traveled by land from Italy to enter Albania from Muriqani customs, where he did not undergo the medical checks that had started for days.
Since that day, the Albanian government announced the first measures to restrict the movement of citizens, which were translated into a series of normative acts and special laws to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among the population.
One of these measures was the closing of the borders, which, in addition to stopping the flow of tourists, made it impossible for Albanians left outside the borders to repatriate.
Official data published by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy show that during the isolation period, 10 people were repatriated, mainly from Turkey and EU countries.
By May, when the government decided to lift the mandatory quarantine for returned nationals, data from the Ministry of Tourism and Environment shows that 10,454 returnees spent a total of 41,438 nights in hotels designated as special accommodation facilities for quarantine purposes. .
According to a decision of the Interministerial Civil Emergencies Committee, the payment of 2500 Lek per day for each quarantined person was divided between the state budget (1,700 Lek) and the repatriated person (800 Lek). In total, the bill of this process cost the Albanian taxpayers 70 Million Lek.
The legal procedure followed for the selection of hotels, at a time when the entire tourism sector was paralyzed, was entrusted to a number of public institutions and other private structures, including the Ministry of Tourism, the Interministerial Committee for Civil Emergencies, the Albanian Coastal Agency as well as The Albanian Tourist Union and the Albanian Tourism Association.
Selection of hotel structures – A non-transparent story
On April 14, 2020, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy published "live" on the official page on "Facebook" the procedure of repatriations from Italy. In a 5-minute video, Minister Beldina Balluku explains in an almost publicist tone, the detailed procedure that Albanian citizens should follow to return home.
"The Ministry of Tourism and Environment has reached an agreement with several hotel structures in the Durrës area, which have expressed their willingness to transform into COVID-19 quarantine structures," says Minister Balluku in the video.
But the data provided by the Center for Quality Journalism show a different reality. The Ministry of Tourism and Environment has not yet been notified nor officially charged to start this procedure. Only on April 15, the Interministerial Emergency Committee met to draft a draft decision no. 10, which still had to go to the Council of Ministers for approval.
On the same day, (after Minister Balluku had announced the agreement 'live' on Facebook) the Ministry of Tourism and Environment sends the Albanian Tourist Union (UTSH) and the Albanian Tourism Association (SHSHT) a request for cooperation*. In this invitation, the Ministry first requests that the two associations identify the accommodation structures and then negotiate with them to ensure the accommodation conditions.
*In the response to the request for information, this document came unsigned and with an unclear date, as it was written by hand. The date of the request for cooperation (April 15, 2020), is evidenced in the response that the Albanian Tourism Association has returned to the Ministry.
According to the official documents available to the Center for Quality Journalism on April 15, four different institutions made decisions, held meetings and negotiated and agreed on the full selection procedure and criteria of the accommodation structures (all done within one day of single job):
April 15, 2020
· The Interministerial Committee on Civil Emergencies met and took decision no. 10 "On the way of organizing the temporary accommodation of people who are repatriated as a result of the situation caused by COVID-19", which he proposed for approval in the Council of Ministers.
· The Minister of Tourism and Environment sends them a request for cooperation Albanian Tourist Union and Albanian Tourism Association.
· The Albanian Tourism Association and the Albanian Tourist Union i answer the request.
· The Minister of Tourism and Environment, through order No. 112, sets up a working group that will identify the needs for accommodation, negotiate with UTSH and ATA for the provision of temporary accommodation for repatriated persons.
· Representatives of UTSH, ATA, Ministry of Tourism and Coastal Agency meet in the meeting where according to minutes No. 1; The price of 2500 ALL per day per person is determined. The associations emphasize in this meeting that this applied price does not match the market, but starts from the conditions where this negotiation takes place.
All this, one day before the decision of the Interministerial Committee on Civil Emergencies was sent to the Council of Ministers, which through the decision No. 311 dated 16.04.2020 placei approval of this regulation.
Citizens are invited to book at "Harmonia Hotels Group" without a contract and without an approved list
"To book your repatriation package, you must first access the AirAlbania.com.al website and then the repatriation section. Click on the hotel link to choose the package that suits you and then confirm the electronic form of the quarantine conditions", continues Minister Balluku in her statement of April 15, where she calls on citizens to respect the quarantine and that no one will is tolerated.
However, it seems that the Albanian government and Air Albania have made a series of concessions in this process, regarding the respect of legal and selection procedures.
A historical search on "Google" shows that online repatriation site containing the "hotel link" was published on April 16, one day before the preliminary list of hotels was approved by decision No. 12, dated 17.4.2020 of the Chairman of the Interministerial Committee for Emergencies, Edi Rama.
The "rush" of institutions to announce quarantine hotels is evidenced in the report of the Institute of Political Studies on the conflict of interest in parliamentary activity.
"The ISP staff received complaints and collected data on the possibility of a conflict of interest of a member of parliament, who voted on the acts in the committee and in the parliament, while media reports showed that, based on the acts approved by the Assembly, returned citizens from other states are mainly accommodated in hotels that are owned by the MP", it says report for the period January-April 2020.
Air Albania – Monopolization of the flight market during the quarantine period
"The air transport for the repatriation process will be carried out by the flagship company Air Albania. All this package, which includes air transport and hotel facilities, placed at the disposal of the quarantine will be able to be booked online, with reasonable payments", the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku, continued in the statement.
However, this "reasonably priced" package appears to have allowed only one flight operator to operate. Asked by the Center for Quality Journalism, the representatives of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy (MIE) denied the existence of a legal framework or decision that defined "Air Albania" as the company that would offer the repatriation service.
Asked about the reasons for this selection, MIE justifies this decision on humanity and state responsibility: "Because of the essential elements of national security on the one hand, as well as state responsibility and character humanitarian of this operation on the other hand, the only flag carrier airline in which the state is a shareholder was selected", says the response to the request for information.
In contrast to the selection of hotels, the flight payment was made entirely by the repatriated citizens, which, according to MIE, exempts it from the obligation to implement the Public Procurement Law.
However, MIE, when asked about ticket prices, does not hesitate to say that: "Taking into consideration the humanitarian character of this operation, in calculating the ticket prices, Air Albania is guided by the principle of meeting the costs of the flights and not aiming to realize profits".
This monopolization of the flight market seems to have continued until the month of June, when the leaders of other airlines stated that the countries of the European Union had given approval to resume flights on reciprocal rights.
"Repatriation as a process is being misused and prolonged in order to favor a single company, openly violating the conditions of competition and the free market", said the head of a private airline company for Tv Klan on June 16.
This whole process once again raises repeated alarms from the media and other independent actors, about the hasty decision-making of the Albanian government, which has often been accused of making agreements on the table while treating legal procedures as a bureaucracy that closes in one day.
