EU donates €55bn to Albania

The European Empire has managed to find an innovative new way to lose money to fraud and corruption - by giving €55.6bn to Albania, a country that somehow manages to be more openly corrupt than the bent eurocrats in the EU.

One project funded by our taxes is the almost €1.1m "Works for Reconstruction of roads of Village Marqinet 1 and Llanaj neighbourhood" awarded to an Albanian company, Albavia sh.p.k.  Marqinet is a village north west of the Albanian capital, Tiranë whilst Llanaj is in a forest in the mountains with no major roads.  How does this benefit us here in England?

Another is almost €2m for the "rehabilitation of infrastructure" around the mediæval castle on Rrugë Murat Toptani in Tiranë.  Which is nice but the castle is just ruins, literally a few stones above ground level (page 14 of this PDF). What infrastructure is there around a few lines of stones in the dirt that can absorb €2m in infrastructure costs?  How does that benefit us here in England?

The highest paid public official in Albania is the President who is on a salary of $12,612 (£8,166).  The GDP of Albania is only $12.39bn (€9.54bn) but the EU has "invested" €55.6bn into the Albanian economy.

There are some quite serious questions that have to be asked about all this money that's being pumped into Albania.  Firstly - and most importantly - why is the EU giving our money to Albania when Albania isn't even part of the EU?  Secondly, why has the EU pumped six times the GDP of the entire country into just 97 projects in one year?  Finally, with €55.6bn of our money being spent in just one year in Albania, why is their GDP still only €9.54bn?  Even RBS would struggle to make losses of that magnitude on a €55.6bn investment.

H/T: Old Holborn
See for yourself: European Commission > Beneficiaries > Financial Transparency System