"Le Courrier des Balkans": Edi Rama and the megalomania of power

"Edi Rama or megalomania in power" - with this title, the French media "Le Courrier des Balkans" dedicates a long article to the book "The Albanian Files", presenting it as a mirror of an Albania filled with gigantic architectural projects.

The article raises debates over the country's development model, the role of the prime minister in selecting projects, and criticisms of the lack of transparency.

Article:

Edi Rama is accused of turning Albania into a personal space for experiments. In the voluminous book “The Albanian Files”, an 800-page work published by the Lars Müller publishing house in Zurich, Edi Rama is presented not only as the head of government, but above all as the main architect of an Albania transformed into an open art gallery.

This monumental catalog summarizes the projects of 60 international architecture studios and reveals a well-organized mechanism: the state paves the way, architects unveil their ideas, while private investors – often mentioned in sensitive investigations – finance the projects.

The book includes a total of 523 projects. Of these, 57 have been completed, 53 are in the implementation process, while 47 are awaiting permits. In 41% of cases, the name of the project's client or financier is not disclosed.

Between giant marinas, resorts spanning hundreds of hectares, and 40- to 70-story towers rising in the heart of Tirana, the country is awash with spectacular projects. These interventions affect both the capital and the most coveted coastal areas, especially around Tirana's artificial lake and coastline.

Edi Rama personally recruits many architects, a practice he followed even when he was mayor of Tirana.

The case of American architect Sam Chermayeff is cited as a significant example. On May 1, 2024, at 10:00 PM, he receives a call from his friend Pablo Bofill: “Edi will call you.” Moments later, Adelajda Roka, director of the Territorial Development Agency, proposes two projects in Tirana, respectively with areas of 15 thousand and 30 thousand square meters.

Chermayeff accepts “without fully understanding what was happening.” A few weeks later, he is met on the airport tarmac and taken to a villa called the “House of Comrades.” There he meets three businessmen with G-Wagon cars, Richard Mille watches and Cartier bracelets, who give him complete freedom to design a 44-story tower. The American proudly calls them “our guys.”

Rapid modernization prompts criticism

This accelerated modernization has drawn strong criticism. According to its opponents, it shows a deviation of power, which ignores the voice of citizens and privatizes the country's most valuable territories.

On the coast, the projects are gigantic in size:

Orikum Oasis – 500 thousand square meters;

Livadh Resorts – 242 thousand square meters;

MVRDV's masterplan for the Narta lagoon – 639 hectares.

Protected areas – lagoons, deltas and national parks – are directly at the focus of these projects, despite often worrying environmental assessments.

SPAK investigations have previously highlighted links between some of these developments, drug trafficking, and the forgery of property documents.

"A government conceived as a permanent spectacle"

Beyond the numbers, “The Albanian Files” presents a way of governance constructed as an ongoing performance. Festivals, renovated villas, and international interviews serve as part of a scenography that aims to attract a foreign audience.

Edi Rama describes architects as "God's privileged children", the only ones allowed to "play as if they were God".

For citizens who have been protesting for weeks against the concreting of Narta and the privatization of the coast, this book is seen as an official celebration of the disappearance of the word "no".

According to critics, it presents an Albania where the voice of citizens is hidden in the face of a spectacular, but not transparent, vision of modernization.

“The Albanian Files” is not just an architectural catalog: it is the manifesto of a government that sees itself as the curator of a gallery-place, while civil society remains a mere spectator.

The latest reaction came last week, when protesters officially handed over the book to SPAK, calling it "Rama's cursed book" and presenting it as the first material evidence in a suspected criminal case related to these urban projects.

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