Last Tuesday, Edi Rama was in Luxembourg, from where, filled with joy and national pride, he announced that he had closed the 20th chapter of the accession negotiations. He recalled that Albania, under his leadership, is only one step away from the European “tap”, from which his compatriots will soon drink the “water of immortality”.
Shortly before he was to broadcast this joyful news, his associates informed him that in Tirana, students had taken to the streets and were clashing with the police, demanding his resignation.
In the familiar contemptuous and arrogant tone with which he addresses those who oppose his views, he hastened to comment that, while he himself was fighting to bring the country into the European Union, some others, incited by the opposition and foreign circles, were trying to sabotage his efforts.
When he returned in the evening, he found the center of Tirana in a state of war. Protesters were setting fire to government buildings, smashing and looting shops, erecting barricades, and clashing with the police with unprecedented ferocity. Unperturbed, he continued on the same lines, trying to separate the students from those throwing stones, sticks, and Molotov cocktails, and accusing Sali Berisha, now very old but politically neutralized, of being behind the acts of violence.
As with the “flamingo uprising” in June, he was quick to pepper his account of the violent protests with a bit of conspiracy theory — hinting at a foreign hand. The protests continued with unabated intensity until yesterday.
The growing mobilizations and escalating violence did not come out of nowhere. The students took over from the young people who, at the beginning of the summer, actively opposed the granting of use of coastal areas of high environmental value in Zvërnec, Vlorë.
Now, just like in June, the protests are spreading to other cities, marking, according to experienced Kosovo analyst Veton Surroi, in an article published in Lapsi, “a new phase of the Albanian political uprising, which is leading the government towards complete delegitimization.”
The case of the “flamingos”
For his part, Rama is once again following the strategy he implemented in the case of the “flamingos”. So, he expects the protests to exhaust themselves and lose strength. If he succeeds, he will have another victory to mark and will continue to present himself as a modern Moses, leading “his people” towards the “Promised Land”, that is, the European Union.
Ultimately, this is also the strong card on which he has bet his political survival and continuity of power.
The truth is that "he is doing well abroad." He has managed to convince Europeans and Americans that only he can guarantee stability not only in Albania, but also in the rest of the Albanian space in the Balkans. He brought the country into NATO and now the European Union has opened its arms, except when...
Domestically, the socialist leader is careful to showcase the country's modernization and rapid economic development, supported by tourism and real estate. But here, there are gray areas that could be dangerous for him.
The successive revelations about drug barons' investments in skyscrapers in Tirana, Durrës, Vlora and other cities, as well as in gigantic, almost pharaonic luxury hotel complexes in the south of the country, have become his nightmare.
In every scandal that the Independent Special Prosecution Office, SPAK, has investigated so far, party and government officials have been found to be involved.
Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku is suspected, according to the Prosecution, of being involved in the construction of the Llogara tunnel in the south of the country, a multi-million euro project. The Director of the National Intelligence Service, Vlora Hyseni, appointed by Rama himself, has already been placed under house arrest, under investigation for close ties to a known figure in the construction mafia. Meanwhile, the Mayor of Tirana and a figure from his party are in custody.
The opposition, but also the international media, insist that an extremely powerful network of organized crime actors supports Rama and is supported by him, and that, in the event of his fall, this entire system would collapse with him.
The Albanian leader's biggest nightmare is that SPAK investigations will cut off the flow of "dirty money" into the booming economy. But now he also has to face the challenge of the students. His concern is that the powerful protests will deepen the rift between him and society.
One solution to get out of this deadlock, according to analysts, would be to try to break the deadlock through elections in the spring.
Since, in reality, he does not have an opposition that can seriously challenge him for removal from power, it is considered possible that he will choose this scenario to seek political legitimacy through the vote.
However, for his political opponents and revolting students, elections held with Rama's system intact — the same system with which he won the three previous electoral races — are unacceptable.
