‘We Are Aheadof Germanyand Sweden’/ Rama Goes Out of his Wits Again, Praises Public Procurement, ‘Forgets’ Alleged Hostage-Taking at Family-Run AKSHI

‘We Are Ahead of Germany and Sweden’ / Rama Goes Out of His Wits Again, Praises Public Procurement, ‘Forgets’ Alleged Hostage-Taking at Family-Run AKSHI

Edi Rama once again declared today that Albania is ahead of Germany, this time in another area.

This time, he claimed Albania outperforms Germany in public procurement.

Rama cited figures from the European Court of Auditors.

“If we place our country’s position within the context of the key indicators defined by the EU, competitiveness, and look at the competitiveness table, we see that while contracts awarded to a single bidder account for an average of 32.3 percent of contracts across EU countries, in Albania the figure is 23.5 percent. While in EU member states there is a large group of countries ranging from 57.4 down to 35.8 percent, Albania stands between them and countries such as Sweden at 22.9 percent and Germany at 22.6 percent. Our country is slightly above these, at 23.5 percent,” Rama said.

Meanwhile, just a few months ago, the EU itself published a progress report containing strong criticism of this sector.

In the EU’s latest report on Albania, public procurement is highlighted as a problematic area.

There are concerns over non-competitive procedures and exemptions from open tenders.

Legislation on PPPs and concessions remains not fully aligned with EU standards.

The EU stresses the risks posed by direct negotiations and the lack of transparency in certain cases.

Meanwhile, the most striking case remains AKSHI, the national information agency widely regarded as the Rama family’s private domain.

The agency has also been linked to alleged hostage-taking related to tender procedures, in which, according to the opposition, Edi Rama’s family is directly involved. These allegations are currently under investigation by the Special Prosecution Office.