by Laurent Geslin
Why do you do politics? “Because I’m afraid of death,” Edi Rama once told one of my fellow journalists.
The Albanian Prime Minister’s Socialist Party (PS) secured a resounding victory in last Sunday’s parliamentary elections, winning over 50% of the vote according to near-final results. Edi Rama will now calmly embark on his fourth term as Albania’s leader – a record since the return of democracy in the early 1990s.
And there’s no doubt his triumph will please quite a few people.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for one, who feared a change in government could jeopardise the operation of the detention centre Rome has set up near the Albanian port of Shëngjin.
Then there’s Donald Trump’s son-in-law. In March 2024, Jared Kushner confirmed his intention to build a massive hotel on the island of Sazan — a natural paradise at the mouth of the Bay of Vlora, still untouched by construction due to its status as a protected former military zone.
Brussels diplomats will be pleased too, as they have always viewed Edi Rama favourably. It helps that the towering two-metre-tall leader, often seen in white trainers, never tires of repeating that Albania’s only possible path is EU integration — carefully steering clear of cosying up to the Russians, unlike his neighbour, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić.
The Americans will be pleased as well. Back in the summer of 2021, after the fall of Kabul, Rama was quick to volunteer to host Afghan evacuees flown out by US aircraft. As luck would have it, just months earlier Edi Rama’s main political rival, veteran Sali Berisha, had been blacklisted by the United States for his alleged involvement in corruption.
Yet none of these parties needed to worry. In a well-managed country, election results are entirely predictable.
Never mind that the OSCE — usually so restrained — flagged “pressure on public officials,” “intimidation,” and a lack of “independent reporting” in Albanian media in its report on Sunday’s vote.
Never mind that Rama’s close allies have an unfortunate habit of ending up in court. Just this February, the Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, was placed in pre-trial detention on charges of corruption and money laundering. In 2022, it was former Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri who received a prison sentence for his ties to drug traffickers.
Never mind, too, that Albanian citizens have long given up hope of seeing their living conditions improve and continue to leave the country in droves for Western Europe.
According to the electoral commission’s register, 3.7 million people were eligible to vote on Sunday – even though Albania’s 2024 census puts the population at just 2.4 million, down 420,000 from 2011.
None of this matters.
European leaders will have the chance to congratulate Edi Rama at the European Political Community summit on 16 May in Tirana, where a “House of Europe” has been erected in the shadow of the statue of Albania’s medieval hero Skanderbeg, in the capital’s city centre.
Edi Rama might even be wearing his trademark white trainers.
Roundup
Farmers organise "flash action" – Farmers and their lobby groups will protest next week against a plan to merge the Common Agricultural Policy into a megafund managed at national level.
"Pfizergate" decision looms – The verdict is unlikely to affect Ursula von der Leyen, much to the indignation of MEPs and NGOs.
Russia ignores calls for ceasefire – The EU pledged to ramp up sanctions on Russia on Tuesday after the Kremlin ignored the bloc’s ultimatum to agree to a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine.
Across Europe
Poland presidential election fight – The hard-right is poised to splinter the country’s political right in the first round of voting on Sunday.
Depardieu guilty of sexual assault – The colossus of French cinema received an 18-month suspended prison sentence for sexually assaulting two women while on set.
Merz stays vague on defence spending – Germany’s new chancellor has been busy meeting EU leaders but his defence policy is still unclear.
Vučić insists on Serbian commitment to EU – Serbia’s President claimed his country was committed to becoming an EU member, despite having shaken hands with Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week.
*first published in euractiv.com
By: N. Peter Kramer
