Rama’s Fourth Term, Kosovo’s Ticking Clock

Albania’s foreign policy on Kosovo, under Edi Rama, increasingly echoes Vucic’s agenda, eroding sovereignty, legitimising Serbian narratives, and sidelining Pristina in critical regional decisions.

Edi Rama’s tenure as Albania’s prime minister has been defined by a flamboyant diplomacy that, for all its pro-European declarations and ostensible solidarity with Kosovo, has often undermined the very sovereignty it professes to uphold. Now entering a fourth consecutive term, Rama’s continued reign poses a distinct and potentially irreversible risk to the fragile balance of sovereignty, security, and justice that Kosovo has fought to maintain since its independence. What has become unmistakably clear is that Rama’s legacy in regional policy cannot be separated from a series of decisions, initiatives, and alliances that have by design or neglect, favoured Belgrade’s long-standing aim: the weakening, delegitimisation, and eventual reintegration of Kosovo into Serbia’s strategic orbit.

The so-called Open Balkan initiative, a scheme touted as a framework for regional economic integration, was Rama’s pet project, marketed under the banner of cooperation but fundamentally conceived on Serbia’s terms. From its inception, Kosovo was excluded or pressured to join on “status-neutral” grounds, effectively invalidating its sovereignty.