EU Integrity for Sale: Tirana Edition

Europe congratulated a contested strongman, not a democracy. Either blind, compromised, or complicit. Brussels has chosen Balkan autocracy over integrity. The price? Their own credibility.

On the first of May, I crossed the border into Albania beneath a sky that gave no sign of the political tempest looming just over the horizon. Tirana, its skyline caught somewhere between post-socialist entropy and capitalist sheen, pulsed with pre-election anxiety. A capital in rehearsed order, a republic in managed chaos. Beneath the freshly repainted façades and floral arrangements of public parks, the cracks in Albania's democratic theatre had already begun to show. By May 11, the curtain rose not on an act of democratic triumph, but on a polished charade, meticulously staged and resolutely unchallenged by those who were meant to see through the illusion.

Edi Rama, the towering statesman-turned-showman, secured what officialdom called a "historic" fourth term in power¹. With 52 percent of the vote and 82 seats in the 140-seat parliament, the Socialist Party claimed victory amid allegations of vote buying, abuse of public office, and systemic intimidation. The opposition cried foul; …