00:01

Rinas airport in Tirana one year ago.  Apache helicopters prepare for military action in Kosovo. NATO is building a base here and Albania  hopes that it will bring money as well as troops into the country.

00:14

This is how it looks a year on now NATO has left. Tirana's airport is falling further into ruin despite NATO's intentions of investing and setting up a long-term base here. Fatmir Mediu, leader of the opposition Republican party explains:

00:36

Voiceover (originally in English) Insert: Fatmir Mediu, Republican Party

During the Kosovo crisis, NATO wanted to buy some land and a building next to the airport.   It didn't work out because two owners had both claimed the land. That's typical for Albania - even the government doesn't respect the constitution.

00:59

The soldiers of the Albanian army are left with few weapons after the plunder in 1997 and officers' illegal arms sales to the Kosovo Liberation Army.  The army can't even summon  half of its' conscripts, and the rest refuse to do their military service. Due to the corruption, the army is a shambles.

01:23

General Aqif Cikalleshi (pronounced Achif Chikalleshi), and  the Albanian press have brought public attention to this fact. The general was suspended as a consequence.

01:36

Voiceover (translated)

Insert: Aqif Cikalleshi, suspended general

I alerted people to the corruption which affects everything  -  even deliveries of shoes, rice, tinned fish and uniforms.  I proved it with documents, but they wanted to shut me up, so I passed it all on to the media.

01:51

The general has been silenced, but many of the army have been silenced by death. This army barracks near Tirana is deserted. Corruption is widespread - even the donations collected for Kosovar refugees went astray.

02:04

Goods stolen from the emergency aid packages are sold openly in the shops.  It's so commonplace that even this policeman turns a blind eye as he makes his illegal purchases.

02:14

With anarchy all around it is virtually impossible to enforce traffic laws. Everyone totally ignores the new one-way system in Tirana.

02:25

This policeman issues an official fine, but the next motorist simply drives straight past him in the wrong direction.

02:33

The police are taken no more seriously than the law. The motorist in the Mercedes at this crossroads is not only driving against the one-way system, but also goes through a red light.

02:48

Voiceover (translated) - no insert

One of the problems is that a lot of motorists have special status, and are exempt from traffic rules.  We police are the first to break the traffic laws and the army, the secret service and others all have special permits, so people ask ‘why  should I stick to the rules?'.

03:13

Politicians are the same. This government convoy is determined to drive against the one-way traffic, when they could drive up a parallel side street.

03:23

Why bother with the electricity meter when you can help yourself?

Tapping into the electricity supply has been a common occurence in Albania recently.  The problem is that this illegal and rather unconventional method of controlling the flow means that the voltage is either too high or too low.

03:48

A state electrician, who wishes to remain anonymous, explains a few of the discoveries criminals have made which have led to increasingly longer  and more frequent power cuts.

04:06

Voiceover (translated) - no insert

This is the electricity meter linked to the transformer. People steal the copper elements because they can sell the copper, which means that instead of a current of 220 volts flowing through there, there's 340 or more, which soon blows up TVs, videos and other appliances.

04:25

Electrical goods retailers benefit from the chaos and

can hardly keep up with their deliveries. The dealers association has long been suspected of bribing power plant workers to deliberately overload the voltage to blow up appliances to boost  their business.

04:41

This Chinese man imports electricity regulators from his homeland, which are supposed to control and defuse the voltage.

04:55

The manager of the state electricity plant chose not to give us an official interview, so we visited him unannounced. He invited us into his office but was not prepared to make any kind of statement in response to allegations that he has been tampering with electricity levels.

05:27 (translated) insert: Farudin Hoxha, Tirana Electricity Company

I really don't know . I have no idea whether that actually happens - I couldn't say for sure.

But the management of the electricity company do know that copper from the transformers is stolen and sold on.

05:49

Student Dritan Toska has learned to live with the power cuts and studies by candlelight.

05:58

Voiceover (in German) Insert: Dritan Toska, student

We haven't had any electricity for 2 weeks. I just have to study without it, as usual - it's crap.

06:10

Lots of young Albanians are learning a foreign language. They want to emigrate, because they see no future in Albania.

06:27

This production of Don Giovanni took place in Tirana six months ago, when it was still possible. It's all gone quiet now. The soloists are leaving both the theatre and the country. This group of young opera singers are planning to leave for Austria and are picking up their immigration papers from the Austrian embassy.

06:42

There was only one opera performance this season. These singers, who were in the performance, have had to deal with  the consequences.

06:52

VO (translated) Insert: Adrian Xhema, opera singer

Our colleagues went on a hunger strike. The opera and the theatre here have virtually closed down due to circumstances and  we've got no performances at all.

Now we're going to Austria as choir singers. The main thing is to just get away from here.

And now we are learning German.

07:13

The five young singers are rehearsing for their next performance in Vienna in March. They are singing in the choir in the chamber opera's premiere of ‘Orpheus and Eurydice'  They would rather give up their solo performances than stay any longer in Albania.

07:41

They won't be the first.  The queues are getting longer at the visa counters. The only ones staying behind are the old, the sick and the weak - and those who will benefit from Albania's fall.

Report: Paul Flieder

Camera: Fatmir Mullai

Edit: Katrin Cebul

Speaker: