I spoke with Alexandra Karppi about recent political developments in #Albania, the opposition protests, the May 2025 parliamentary elections, and the country’s EU integration process.
You can listen to our conversation by clicking this link: talkeasterneurope.eu/episodes/are...
…have a connection with, and entry bans stretching to 10 years or more – with the Council now pushing for home raids.”
“The Return Regulation is a decisive acceleration in a long-running direction: detection operations inside EU territory, expanded detention (including for children), forced deportation across a wide range of cases, cooperation penalties, return hubs in third countries that people may not…
Edi Rama is protecting a key political ally from accountability while simultaneously escalating his attacks on the country’s justice institutions.
The Socialist Party of #Albania is officially granting political protection to former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Belinda Balluku, opposing the request made by the Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) to arrest her.
🔔 New BiEPAG blog
✍️ Gresa Hasa
🔹 Corruption Is Terrible, If You’re Not the One Doing It
Anti-corruption protests in Albania reveal a deeper political rivalry, as opposition actors compete to reclaim legitimacy amid corruption scandals and institutional reshuffling.
Read here⬇️
tinyurl.com/5n75zxvr
Thus, ministerial turnover should be understood as nothing but a substitute for structural reform, where responsibility is individualized while the core decision-making structure and authority within the executive remains intact.
His ministers (extensions of Rama’s authority) operate under the constant anxiety of their replaceability, a dynamic which continues to reinforce vertical loyalty over autonomous political agency throughout his thirteen years in office.
Since assuming office in 2013, Rama has repeatedly reshaped his cabinet before the end of each governing term.
This cabinet reshuffle comes just six months after the old-new-government was formed in the wake of the May 2025 elections.
…the Special Structure Against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK), whose case has precipitated Rama’s sustained, months-long public attacks on justice institutions in #Albania.
Edi Rama dismissed seven members of his cabinet today, among them Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Belinda Balluku, a loyalist facing corruption allegations and an arrest request from…
🥳 🥳 🥳
He wakes up in the morning and he gets… ideas! 👀
www.reuters.com/world/albani...
This is not a “people vs. Edi Rama” scenario, but rather Berisha protesting the corruption he can personally no longer carry out—right after having been released from house arrest on corruption charges himself. We’re a serious republic, please do not mistake us otherwise. 😌
Tirana has recently been covered in tear gas and Molotov cocktails. Foreign media coverage of Sali Berisha’s cartel-party protests has been lazy, to say the least.
Mass protests in #Albania followed corruption allegations that deepened public distrust.
In this interview, Gresa Hasa explains why no political force commands enough trust to unite popular demands for accountability and reform.
Read more: web.civicus.org/Gresa-Hasa
#CIVICUSLens
In my interview with @civicusalliance.bsky.social, I discuss the so-called anti-corruption protests in #Albania, the actors behind them, why they have sparked controversy, and what sets them apart from other anti-corruption protests in the #WB6. 👇🏻
Thus, the face of this performative anti-corruption rage is a defeated criminal, back on the streets right after serving time on corruption charges himself.
This is not about democracy or the rule of law, but about negotiating power. Berisha and everyone else playing his game aim to project political relevance while being politically irrelevant.
Behind all the molotov cocktails and violence stands a cartel-party desperate to weaponize outrage against corruption while being one of its most notorious symbols.
The Democratic Party of #Albania continues to hijack and co-opt genuine political causes, alienating citizens and most members of civil society, except for those who find tactical cooperation with it temporarily useful for their own narrow political interests.
I gave a long interview about this topic that will be published soon, but all you need to know about the current anti-corruption protests in 🇦🇱 is that they are largely performative & an attempt of the opposition led by former Prime Minister Sali Berisha to launder his legitimacy and return to power.
…entangled in such a network. This does not call for moralizing or merely judging the perversity of these abusive transnational elites; it demands political organizing and the dismantling of the core structures that allow such power to operate with impunity.
What the Epstein files reveal is the depth and scale of this criminal enterprise on an international level, spread like a virus across borders, reaching even peripheral countries like the ones in the Balkans or Central Europe, and public figures one would never have imagined being…
Not all heroes wear capes… Wait, what?! 😎
He looks like he gets outfit inspiration from Göbbels. 👀
My latest article for @biepag.bsky.social looks into the 56th World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, and the challenges of small countries in the WB6 in navigating power and diplomacy in an era of unstable alliances.
I invite you to take a look! 👇🏻
