ISSN: 2560-1601 Vol. 15, No. 3 (Al) February 2019 Albania social briefing: Albanian diaspora - an essential social stronghold for the entire nation Marsela Musabelliu 1052 Budapest Petőfi Sándor utca 11. +36 1 5858 690 Kiadó: Kína-KKE Intézet Nonprofit Kft. [email protected] Szerkesztésért felelős személy: Chen Xin Kiadásért felelős személy: Huang Ping china-cee.eu 2017/01 Albanian diaspora - an essential social stronghold for the entire nation The end of February 2019 marks the start of the Second Diaspora Summit in Tirana and the event is being highly promoted by the Government, especially from the State Ministry for Diaspora (SMD), as the highlight of a comprehensive platform for Albanians living and working abroad. The very term Diaspora implies “a community of migrants whom maintain material or sentimental ties with their homeland, by adopting themselves in the environment and institutions of the host society”. Global migration trends, especially form developing countries to wealthy ones, indicates the phenomena as complex, multidimensional, ever- changing, dynamic and many times, unpredictable. In the Albanian case, there are some common features of displacement factors and some common attitudes of migrant communities; now that the diaspora is again in the national spotlight, its role, purpose and contribution to the entire Albanian society is being (re)evaluated. Albanian diaspora – causes and consequences The role and activities of Albanians living abroad have had deep ramifications for Albania in the national context. It was the lobbying of important Albanians in the USA (for example Vatra –the Pan-Albanian Federation of America, with the key figures of Fan Noli and Faik Konica) whom activism and lobbying, achieved the support of President Woodrow Wilson in recognizing the Albanian nation at the end of World War I. The Albanian diaspora can be subdivided into three main historical waves: 1) 19th century to end of World War II; 2) the fleeing of anti-communists during the Cold War; 3) massive wave of migration after the regime change in 1991. With focus on the third wave, it can be considered as intensive, irregular and evolving because of the combined action of economic and political push factors. As of 2019 there are no reliable estimations of Albanians living abroad due to the informality, as a widely-present phenomenon in the Albanian migration, with a large number of undocumented Albanian migrants, whose numbers is impossible to determine. Nevertheless, according to the United Nations sources, the number of Albanian migrants that currently live and work abroad is estimated at 1.15 million, around 90% of Albanian migrants live in Europe, the rest in the US. Albanian migrants have mainly migrated in neighboring countries, Italy (455,468 or 40% of 1 migrants) and Greece (429,428 or 37%). The geographical vicinity, similarities in culture and lifestyle and the creation of migrants’ networks make Greece and Italy the two most preferred destinations. Greece used to be country with the highest number of Albanian migrants, until 2010. Due to the global financial crisis in 2009 that hit the labor market in the main countries of destination for Albanian migrants, and in particular Greece, a part of these migrants returned to Albania or migrated to other destinations. Currently, Italy has the highest overall number of Albanian migrants. The United States are another preferred international destination, outside Europe, for Albanian migrants. Displacement factors The main cause for Albanians leaving their homeland is for economic reasons, namely: lack of employment opportunities, poor living conditions, extremely low wages, impossibility of financially sustaining the family core etc. Another important factor for leaving the country is weak institutions. The fragility of the bureaucratic apparatus leads to a lack of trust in citizens to improve the situation in the country where corruption and organized crime paralyze the normal functioning of state institutions. Poor institutions and difficulties in law enforcement also affect immigrants' efforts and perspectives to return and settle in the country, especially when they face difficulties in building private activities or in dealing with public administration. Last, public safety; this has been more accentuated during the first decade of transition, especially 1996-1997 when the country was thrown in total anarchy. The National Strategy of Diaspora and Action Plan 2018 - 2024i The State Ministry for Diaspora (SMD) is trying to highlight the importance of Albanian communities living abroad. This is a very well received initiative by the public opinion in Albania as well as in the members of diaspora. The complexity of this phenomenon and the geographic distribution of Albanian nationals’ worldwide require the coordination of many institutions in a multitude of levels. It is estimated that approximately 30% of the total population, or over 40% of the workforce, have emigrated. The National Strategy of Diaspora 2018-2024 targets a future where Albania will be considered a country capable of managing migration flows. This strategic goal is related to the economic and social development of society and the image of the country. 2 SDM is trying to establish a single diaspora database based on the free will of the person, in accordance with the applicable legislation on personal. The Albanian Development Fund of Diaspora (ADFD) aims to provide and distribute financial means for concrete projects that will be assessed as a priority and have an impact on improving the living conditions. Publishing Center of Diaspora (PCD) is responsible for publishing and distributing the approved educational textbooks and supplementary literature that will serve to teach and preserve the national identity in the Albanian Diaspora communities. The State Committee for Diaspora (SCD) is a consultative body of the Council of Ministers for the coordination of policies and state activities in the diaspora field. The Diaspora Summit and its aims The Second Diaspora Summit is expected to return into a nationwide event trying to emphasize the positive achievements of distinct Albanians living abroad. The summit will gather prominent figures of business, science, art, culture, sports and successful students living abroad. They will evaluate achievements and exchange experiences in discussing national challenges and overcoming them. The SMD believes that it will increase the sense of respect for the Diaspora and will foster practical conclusions in its coordination and engagement at home and abroad. The First Diaspora Summit was held in 2016, had a large participation of prominent Albanians living in 40 different foreign countries. It was acclaimed by the media as success message of unifying different personalities, from all paths of life, under the same auspices: preserving national identity and contributing in the development of their homeland. Remittances and their significance to the Albanian economic survival The economic significance of remittances lies beyond what official statistics of the balance of payments suggest, for both sending and recipient countries. The economic significance of remittances may be defined as the transfer of monetary or in-kind “income and wealth” from workers in one country to their country of origin. Remittances are a crucial item in the statistics of the balance of payments of Albania. This is shown by the relative share of this item in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and other macroeconomic indicators. During 2008-2018, the remittances to GDP ratio averaged 9.1%. This share fell slightly only once after the global crisis, yet it did not affect the important contribution of this item to the macroeconomic framework of the country. Remittances accounted for around 9.8% of disposable income. At the same time, remittances contributed by 0.5 % to the average growth 3 of 3.7% of disposable income for the period 2014-2018.ii The dependence of the Albanian economy on remittances is significant. They consist in 9-15 percent of GDP and about 15 percent of family income. Albania ranks among countries with a high dependence on remittances. However, due to the informality of remittances, there are many economists that suggest that the number is much higher; some estimate that 25% of Albanian GDP is relying on remittances. There have been three different stages of remittances flows since the regime change: a) growth stage, 1991-2007; b) fall stage, 2008-2013; c) revival stage, since 2014. The decline of remittances to Albania occurred mainly due to the economic crisis in the main host countries such as Greece and Italy. However, it’s worth to be mentioned other causes such as the maturity of the migration process, the aging of the first generation of migrants, the expenditures’ increase towards the second and third generation of migrants, the crystallization of migratory projects, the cost’s increase of public services and living in the host countries, modification of behavior as well as individual and family projects due to uncertainty and anxiety that cause financial crisis. Table 1 – Structure of remittance-receiving households (main group of consumption, % to total) 48% 11% 5.9% 5.3% 5% 4.8% 4.5% 3.3% 3.2% 3.2% 3% 2.7% Source: Bank of Albania (own graphic elaboration) Migrants’ remittances have mainly contributed to the daily consumption and economic survival of Albanian families. They have met basic living needs for food, clothing, healthcare, childcare or housing construction