Belgian newspaper: Protests exposed Rama's image as a gangster

Nga Louis Seiller,  LE SOIR

Could Edi Rama be one of the next collateral victims of Trumpism?

By offering Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner the island of Sazan and several thousand hectares of wild coastline, the 61-year-old socialist prime minister, in power since 2013, probably thought he would strengthen his status as the most powerful man in the country and win the sympathy of the American president.

But the images of angry Albanians being mistreated by private security guards during the construction site's deployment, under the watchful eyes of a passive police force, sparked one of the largest protest movements since the fall of the dictatorship in 1991.

These images also drew international media attention to the way Edi Rama governs.

For more than a month, every evening, crowds of Albanians have marched below his windows, chanting: "Albania is not for sale" and demanding his resignation.

These gatherings, cheerful and completely peaceful, were quickly dubbed the "Pink Flamingo Revolution".

This bird, present in its thousands in the lagoon of the Vjosa-Nartë protected area, has become a symbol of protest. It is there that a giant luxury tourist complex, linked to the Trump family, could be built.

It is about an investment of 4 billion euros, which the prime minister calls "a historic opportunity."

However, the project has been tarnished by suspicions of money laundering, linked to Albanian criminal groups, which have become major players in international drug trafficking.

The artist who became Minister of Culture and then nonconformist mayor of Tirana, Edi Rama, has long been presented as the only man capable of bringing Albania into the 21st century.

But today, in the protests, he appears disguised as a gangster, ready to sell the country's most precious natural and cultural assets.

For the Albanian Generation Z, which is filling the streets of the capital with its voice, the former professional basketball player is the embodiment of a political system rotten with clientelism and mafia interests.

A system that pushes young people to leave the country: 160,000 people are thought to have left Albania between 2021 and 2026, while today Albania would have only 2.3 million inhabitants (compared to just over 3 million according to the 2001 census).

"The artist who plays the role of the prime minister"

Faced with the scale of the protest, Tirana's most powerful man denounces a "hybrid war", which according to him is being waged by foreign interests, sometimes Greek, sometimes Iranian, and sometimes Kosovar (although Kosovo is inhabited by about 92% Albanians).

He also questions the integrity of foreign journalists and attacks several figures in the protest movement on social media.

In an interview with the Financial Times on June 23, he told the protesters simply: "Go f*ck yourself."

He then added: "It's not my job to prove I'm not the godfather; it's their job to prove I am."

This polyglot, who cultivates his eccentric image during international summits, has usually shown much more finesse in his communication.

In recent years, from Emmanuel Macron to Giorgia Meloni to Ursula von der Leyen, everyone has hailed "dear Edi", who has aligned Albania with the geopolitical positions of the European Union, while EU membership has been mentioned time and time again as possible in 2030.

Re-elected last year for a fourth term, he now sees his power faltering.

As skyscrapers and luxury hotels are added to the country, in a country where the minimum wage barely exceeds 500 euros, SPAK, the Special Prosecution Office against Corruption – created in 2019 under pressure from Brussels and Washington – is increasingly opening investigations into these real estate projects, suspected of being linked to money laundering from cocaine trafficking.

Several important figures of the Socialist Party have been placed under investigation.

It is precisely these connections that protesters denounce when they chant: "Government of crime!"

But Edi Rama, at least for the moment, dismisses these accusations with a wave of his hand.

For more than a decade, the "artist who plays the role of prime minister" has promoted the image of a progressive and modern Albania, open to investors and on the path to the European Union.

Today, the narrative constructed by Edi Rama is clashing with the "Pink Flamingo Revolution" and a youth that persistently demands justice, democracy, and profound political change.