New social contract based on inclusive democracy

In this political and social environment with rising prices in early 2022 it is true that the government has no influence. However, leaving the economy without an orientation in favor of increasing production at the disadvantage of imports should be seen as an obligation of the state to, through the legislator, intervene in the regulation of economic freedom, in order to guarantee freedom and the principle of welfare state and of the common good. A valid intervention would be to favor economic and fiscal policies towards promoting the productive and processing economy of agri-food products, fuel processing, value-added products in other sectors.

In reality in Albania for many years the economy of raw materials processing, education, health has been inherited and favored with policies in disfavor of other sectors. But the increase of value added of any sector has never been treated with due attention, nor combining foreign investments with domestic ones, neither failing to increase the value of the labor force. An example of this is the tourism sector still professionally untrained, with problems for land ownership, and uncoordinated with the agricultural economy and other complementary sectors.

All this the government should had done or openly should been discussed in its meetings and consultations with the people, as its task by telling us at the beginning of governance, to be politically correct, that We (the Government) who took over the state we will do so many other jobs, unlike previous governments.

Plenty of work has been done! But, also a lot of expected losses has had the governance!

Even in the first years of socialist rule, this work inspired the reforms that began to bear fruit. However, the beginning of the corruption of the will little by little began to erode the social dialogue and social contract, and the correct implementation of programs based on electoral promises.

In fact, there has been an inflation of promises and a modeling of the economy based on the demands and minds of just a few individuals. Meetings with the voter seemed to be to some extent part of this modeling. But business organizations, labor organizations and unions, human rights organizations and many institutes, experts and research centers were heard, but de facto were denied to be part of the inclusion in the analysis on these important issues. Time tells us that those parts of the interest groups that were part of the acquaintances and the perimeter of those who did not criticize the government were involved or carefully selected, and that this is acceptable as a logic even today for senior officials.

Strategic investments have not been discussed and analyzed with the “people” experts, but have served as platforms for launching decisions taken almost behind closed doors, not knowing the whole public in sufficient detail to serve as guardians of the implementation of all legal and moral requirements.

If inclusiveness had occurred, perhaps many governments would have made fewer mistakes in choosing strategic investors or other initiatives, but even if there had been more feasibility analysis of investments made we would probably have a different economy, as for initiatives in energy, in export and in orientation. The fact is that the Albanian economy remains less competitive than economies of neighboring countries, although there have been and are many opportunities and opportunities untapped at their full capacity. Starting with underground natural resources effective use and if we continue with above-ground natural resources would be enough to enhance the wealth of Albanian residents who see, and hope for themselves and their descendants for a dignified and secure life.

Based on the opinions and facts we check, hear and analyze quickly and naturally comes an opinion that the inclusion of capital resources and people are a challenge of all.

But since the obligation to organize the interaction of groups and resources belongs to the government, then time should encourage the use of inclusion as a new value in Albanian society and policy-making.

We at ALTAX, since the beginning of the economic crisis from the pandemic, and from the market shocks, as well as the recent crisis have understood and acted to give the contribution considering that the moments to start the necessary dialogue to discuss priorities are not property of individuals, but of all people and citizens interested in the development of the country.

But, even when our hand of cooperation is extended to government institutions to help the reform processes, there has been mostly silence and little reaction, the latter when the urgency of the moment has begged.

This approach of ours, hoping to find support from many organizations and individuals, hopes that one day our political system will move towards Direct Democracy, or Inclusive Democracy, as a moral norm for the continuation of reform processes in economy, society and politics.

But this approach is also a product that is being analyzed by the countries participating in the Democracy Summit in December 2021, where the emphasis was on strengthening democracy and protection from authoritarianism, the fight against corruption and the promotion of citizens’ rights. In this context accepted by Albania, another spirit of cooperation and national dialogue is needed, leaving aside selfishness and social exclusion.

Perhaps the time has come for the national dialogue to focus precisely on drafting a new Social Contract, where the norms of direct democracy[1] can be the format of debate, helping to make at least once the changes required by the voter.

[1] a form of democracy in which voters decide on policy initiatives without the need for policymakers to represent them. This differs from most of the democracies currently created, including the Albanian democracy, which are representative democracies.