That there is something wrong with the Albanian government's relations with the Western international community is a little, but it is safe to say. From the happy meetings with Marta Kos in Brussels to the party decoration of Jurgis Çyrba and Engjëll Agas in Durrës, a great paradox lies in between. Just as the participation in the inaugural meeting of the Gaza Peace Board in Washington creates confusion, if we consider the public fact that Rama has not had a single high-level bilateral meeting with the US government, since the time of Anthony Blinken's visit to Tirana in 2024. So, for a full two years! But it is equally true that the list of contradictions in our prime minister's relations with partner governments is much longer than that. The point is, every time Rama attacks SPAK, even by defending his associates accused of various criminal offenses, the EU and the US react immediately in defense of the independence of the judiciary. But if we continue with other similar cases, which are extended with a list of reports from the State Department, the European Commission, the European Parliament, in which Albania clearly seems to be in a very difficult situation, and on the other hand, negotiations for EU membership continue, and meetings with some US ambassador as well, to say that we are in a paradox sounds very mild. So, something is seriously wrong.
Therefore, we need to investigate the possible reasons for this deviation in the object of relations between the Albanian government and the West. Rama's decorations in Durrës, which resemble an open challenge to the largest US-EU investment, SPAK and GJKKO, were just the latest example of the Prime Minister's spectacular courage. Just as the defense and exoneration of Karçanaj constitutes a scandalous and courageous stance at the same time. And for these reasons, we must ask where Rama gets this courage from. The first variant is that of using Berisha as a permanent "gogol". Most likely, even without saying it and only implying it, this prolonged hypocrisy accepted by the West is related to Rama's threat, that "if I leave, here's your alternative". And of course, since 2021 this blackmail has worked. Not only has Berisha been declared non-grata by the US and the EU, but because the list of those who no longer accept Berisha extends to Ankara and why not Tel Aviv. For this reason, no one wants to throw away a “grenade” and pick up a “bomb”, with the intention of escaping without “being killed”. But even if that were the case, the fact that Rama and Berisha have been so exposed in their partnership, both secret and open, makes Berisha’s threat worthless, since everyone knows that “every time you pay for Rama, you buy Berisha” and vice versa! So this argument is hardly valid for internationals.
The second option that circulates quite a bit in the corridors of Albanian politics has to do with Rama's great lobbying ability, to say nothing of it. Clearly, the heavy blows in the cases of the migrant camp in Shëngjin, participation in the Peace Board in Gaza, the declaration of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization, and the two floating gas plant and investment projects of Sazan and Zvërnec, are clear indications that in the case of strong lobbying, "where there is a voice, there is a reason". But on the other hand, several projects in the areas of critical infrastructure such as Porto-Romano, the giant evasion of Bankers, Smart City, the AKSHI issue, the AZHBR file and the Vlora Airport have also emerged, which have caused great concern for the violation of the strategic interests of Albania itself and of Westerners in our country. And since our country's national security is inextricably linked to that of NATO and the EU, there is no way not to notice a major discrepancy between these simultaneously positive and negative episodes in the triangular relations between Albania-US-EU!
But the surprises don't end there. For those with a short-term memory, Rama's public mockery of President Trump in Paris, his unfounded advice on Europe's approach to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, or worse yet, strange flirtations-threats between Tirana and China ("we are the honeypot for China", as the US Ambassador put it), lead us to a third scenario of Rama's bravery and Western hesitation. Perhaps Rama uses the card of threatening to secede from the West to the East, if his power is violated by the international community. And of course, having the warm shoulder of Berisha's helplessness or cooperation, it is not excluded that this option is also true. Especially since his fellow traveler, Aleksandar Vučić, is also successfully playing this blackmail-reward "sport" for his own survival, who on the one hand organizes joint exercises with China and threatens the region from Kosovo to Bosnia, and on the other hand seeks to accelerate Serbia's integration into the EU!
However, it is not certain that one of these variants is the true one. Perhaps all three are valid or used simultaneously. What is being shouted about is Rama's "bravery" for playing high-risk prestige games without getting a thorn in his side. Will this game last long? No one knows. But that this bravery is at least absurd and at most extremely perfidious is an irrefutable fact. Until then, Europeans and Americans, since Albanians are not even discussed, would do well to applaud the group decoration of the convicted or detained prisoners of the Peqin and Durrës prisons, on charges of corruption and involvement in organized crime activities. Because the next day somewhere in Tirana or in a Western chancellery, Rama will also receive a medal of gratitude for valuable international services!
