Rama against Berisha, in Trump’s shadow: Albania’s elections are « Battle of History »

In Albania, a new era begins on Sunday – with a workplace for each graduate, with real freedom after 12 years « drug record ». Or the same era of bold progress to the EU and complete energy independence continues, both by 2030, with skillful foreign policy … and good relations with the United States.

Chris Lassivita, Tony Fabrizio and Paul Manafort arrived in Tirana. The first was among the leaders of Donald Trump’s successful campaign to return to the White House. The second is the Republican strategist behind many polls close to the president. And the third was led by the 2016 campaign before being condemned for crimes, including lobbying for the fled Maidan in Ukraine, President Victor Yanukovych, in Ukraine, in Ukraine.

Thus, the elections, which otherwise should be a major esteem for what has been done by Eddie Rama in the last 12 years, has added a transatlantic taste. Such will also have the overseas participation in the vote, as for the first time about 250,000 voters from the diaspora will be involved and some of them live in the United States. But the interest in the emigrants turned out to be small.

And it could have been much more

Rama has a convincing lead in the studies so far, but the election can cost him some of his 74 seats in parliament – a majority in the legislative body with 140. The defenders of the former mayor of Tirana, known for different interests – from painting to basketball – believes that at his time the capital was transformed, alba. Economic growth (over 4% for 2022-2024), led by EU trade, tourist boom and high production of hydroelectric energy.

Albania was also removed from the gray list of the Global Special Financial Action Group (FATF) in 2023 because of its work on dealing with money laundering, led by the SPAK Specialized Prosecutor’s Office, which shows results from 2019 on. Rama is on good terms with Western Europe, including Italy, after adopting a controversial (and non -working) scheme for migrant accommodation, and the United States, from where he accepted Afghans waiting for visa processing. Of course, well with Berlin, he insists that the EU door is open despite the notes; Last year, his country was separated from Northern Macedonia and was practically ahead in the negotiations.

« Make Albania again Great »

Relations between Rama and Berish – who was prime minister eight years before Rama and President, a term at the end of the last century – are strained. And the bet rose after Berisha took control of the Democratic Party, in a dispute with her leader a few years ago, Lulsim Basha. When it was ordered under house arrest, the opposition convened protests.

Angel Petrov

Reuters

Reuters

List of problems

2.4 million people live in the country by 2023, when it was the last census. At the beginning of the last decade, they were 2.8 million.

This emigration continues along the low standard of living. The gross domestic product is $ 27 billion (nominal) for last year, compared to 115 billion for Bulgaria (but GDP per capita, albeit smaller than Bulgarian, is larger than the Macedonian).

Berisha claims that the average salary in the country will reach 1200 euros in the course of its rule, and pensions will increase by 20 percent in an attempt to convince the uncertain in the country’s economic future.

Albania is also considered the center of criminal activity related to the laundry of billions of euros acquired by drug and weapons trafficking. As a result of washing, expensive jeeps and luxury empty apartment blocks in Tirana are often referred to (one -third of the homes in Albania are considered uninhabited, according to data collected by Reuters.

In a report, the agency told of an impromptu landfill near Elbasan (not far from Tirana), where there was to be an incinerator installation for electricity powered by garbage, and it turned, along with two other similar sites of a project worth hundreds of millions of euros, a symbol of suspected corruption. According to prosecutors at the anti -corruption SPAK, the contracts for incinerators were awarded illegally, ministers accepted payments, and contractors falsified invoices for work that had never been done. There was also a prison for corruption – eco -minister Lefter Coca, from the previous (2017-2021) government A Albania. Ahban Akhhatti, who was deputy prime minister in the present year before leaving the country, was accused of.

Reuters

The unfinished inspinerator near Elbasan

Reuters

The most important test

But beyond the internal political strife and the American « intervention », the most important thing for Europe in these elections is that they have been the first since Tirana formally began membership negotiations.

European integration is key to the Rama Socialist Party campaign. Rama’s election battle officially began on April 12, on stage, conceived to look like an EU flag with its 12 gold stars.

Observers of European politics and expansion often doubt that Albania will be in the block by 2030. But these elections will be partly a test of how strong the premiere’s message is that only his party « holds the European future of Albania in his hands. » And to what extent voters believe this message after the unequal path of the last 12 years.

The vote will also be a test for several new players on the political scene trying to challenge Rama and Berisha’s dominance in Albanian politics. How honest will their result look like? The answer will inevitably affect the eproves.