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| By Mero Baze (Gateta Tema) |
The great conspiracy that broke out about Greek Foreign Ministry funding for the Albanian press is a banality that shows more the level of corruption in the Greek Government than any compromise of the Albanian press.
It is a secret fund of the Greek Foreign Ministry, which is available to its policies in the region. This fund has existed since when exists this Ministry and is used regularly.In the 1990s, was an influential fund, as it was used to finance Albanian politicians and journalists in oredr to be loyal to Athens' policies. It was also used for scholarships and specializations of a not-small number of Albanian intellectuals who performed an intership for Greek culture and language.
But the importance of Greece for Albania in the 1990s was enormous and the methods of its influence were much easier.
27 years later this is more a story of corruption of Greek officials with their funds than a corruption of the Albanian press. Much like the Greek Foreign Ministry has acted as the major Greek companies in Albania, which became as a corruption school in terms of marketing. Initially, they provided ads directly to the Albanian press, then their CEOs (directors) created each one an advertising company with their trusted people, and gave ads through the company to keep 20 to 40 percent until they managed to steal all the money from advertising. And of course most went bankrupt.
Three of the four Greek banks have been sold and are bought by Albanians. Cellular companies as well. Internal corruption and the attempt to steal money from advertising made them the model of abuse in the private sector in Albania. Today, one of Greece's largest advertising marketing companies in Albania, may stop giving you ads if you curses the LSI party, but not when you curse Cipras.
The same story clearly appears to be the fundraiser of the Greek Foreign Ministry. The debate in the Greek Government is not why the Albanian or Macedonian press was funded, as the money for that kind of job is available, but why the money is not well spent. This implies, without mentioning the names, that the money was kept in a close circle of the Foreign Minister, who similarly as CEO of Greek banks or Greek companies in Albania created a traffic network to recover the money themselves. And as far as information from Greek state offices is concerned, there are several anonymous portals without any impact on Greek or Albanian language, run by people working or working around the Greek Embassy, or directly connected with senior officials in Athens.
So it's just a corruption issue of the Greek state and not a matter of corruption in the Albanian press.
The Albanian press is far worse than this story. Most of the Albanian portals are paid in black, either by corrupt Albanian officials, or by the Albanian mafia, which are worse than the money of Greece.
The Russian Foreign Ministry published several months ago its complaint that the funds spent in the Albanian press (and these portals were prescribed by names) were ineffective. But there was no noise in the Albanian press. For Albanians this seemed normal. For Greece it is maid a noise, not because they are not patriots, but that no one has taken any money and they think of who is the "son of a bitch" is, who got them the money from their hands.
The Albanian press is simply a fine collector. It is worse than to be funded by Greece, or Russia. And if there should be any debate on this issue, let's have for informal funding in the Albanian press. Let us know where the inregistered portals find the money that work in black, without ads, and keep up to ten workers. They are not paid by Greece, calm down! Neither Russia. Are paid from some Albanians, invisible for the state and society.
Greece has lost its significance and, moreover, its influence on the Albanian press for many reasons. Greece has become irrelevant to the Albanian press, not only that it is not a source of income for it, but Greece itself has no interest in engaging in this story. Greece's influence on the Albanian press can not be achieved with blogs, which do not affect Greeks either.
Greece has lost its importance also because of the people who works for its causes. Some individuals waving the Greek flag in Albania, offend twice the Greece, because they abuse with this for their own interests. For example politicians like Nerënxi, are made anti-Greeks, in pro-Greeks depending on Himara's regulatory plan. Others have used Greece's funds to personally enrich themselves to arrange scholarships or houses.
Greece lacks its heroes in Albania, because, unfortunately, has chosen them as we were to choose ourselves, with our own hands, mostly fraudulent. And to cover their corrupt stories, they pretend to represent in Albania, the "Golden Dawn" and not the normal Greek politics. And as such, they cannot affect the Greeks of Albania, imagine Albanians.
The funding of the Albanian press from Greece should be taken into consideration whether would touch the main media of the country, and whether it would create sustainable marketing mechanisms that the Albanian press had a kind of dependence on them. Then it was to be taken into consideration, as the Albanian press, which is not ashame of getting black money by killers, the same even when getting money from Greece. But calm down, that is simply, the Greece does not need the Albanian press and the Albanian press does not need Greece.