The Bumpy Road of the Externally Transferred Austerity Agenda in Albania and Its Fragmentary Effects on Local Public Services

Abstract

This chapter attempts to scrutinize the adaption dynamics of the austerity agenda for the Albanian case and its effects upon the provision of local public services. Reformations intended to tackle retrenchments and cutbacks, for example the Territorial Administrative Reform in 2014, have been levered via external conditionality from the European Union and other supernatural agencies, such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and The United States Agency for International Development.

At this early stage, however, the impact of the austerity measures can still be considered as “work in progress.” The transfer of austerity measures from the central to the local government in general and local public services in particular was more eminent among the left-wing coalition government with the introduction of the above “not agreed by political consensus” reform but sustained by the unusual parliamentary majority that granted them the 2013 win. It also reflected, for the first time, an acceptance of the electoral costs that such wide-ranging overhauls are associated with.

Central government election years have proved to be the actual hazards with respect to public finances patterns at the national level. Interestingly enough, the underlying political agenda between governing coalitions and the opposition diverged in most cases from the real scope of the austerity agenda and the political discourse slowed down rather than promoted such changes.