In the view of the obligation deriving from the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the European Union, Albania has adopted State aid legislation and has established a State Aid Commission. The paper analyses the effectiveness of State aid control in Albania. It assesses the institutional position and the degree of “operability” of the Albanian State Aid Commission, as well as the ability of the State aid rules to achieve a long term reduction of aid and a shift from vertical to horizontal aid. The paper argues that Albania’s institutional set-up of its State Aid Commission is inadequate. The Albanian State Aid Commission’s lack of independence and weak authority made it an ineffective player in blocking subsidy schemes. Consequently, the Albanian State Aid Commission has issued positive decisions approving almost every notified State aid scheme and has not been able to interfere in politically sensitive cases. The paper concludes that the introduction of a system of State aid control in the Albanian legal order has not been effective in accomplishing a systematic decrease of State aid.
Keywords: State Aid, EU Candidate Countries, Albanian State Aid Commission