Elections in Albania Focus on the Economy and the Tensions Between the EU and the US

As Albanian voters head to the polls to vote in parliamentary elections on May 11, crime, corruption, jobs, and the economy are on their minds, as they usually have been in elections over the past decade.  

What’s new this time around, however, is the country’s push for membership of the European Union, which is not only impacting the race but also drawing interest from Trump administration officials, say analysts.  

Albania submitted its formal application for membership in the bloc in 2009 and was awarded candidate status in 2014, but its accession has yet to come through. Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama has made taking the country across the finish line one of his most important campaign promises.  

EU membership would not only bring more aid and investment to the country of 2.7 million, it would also allow Albanians who have emigrated abroad and those who remain at home the freedom to travel, study, and work across the continent more easily — an attractive idea to voters. 

Many stakeholders, especially Albanians involved in business and civil society, want the kind of reforms that often come before actual accession, purely as a result of EU membership talks, added the Tirana Times. These reforms often help crack down on corruption and improve the investment climate. 

One of Europe’s poorest nations, Albania has struggled with widespread corruption and the alleged influx of illicit money from organized crime.  

Rama, who has been in office for 12 years, says he wants Albania to join the bloc by 2030. “We will not rest until we step into the door of the European Union and sit around the same table that the European Union does,” Rama said. 

Marta Kos, the European commissioner for enlargement of the bloc, said she is hopeful about that timeline, adding that “there is a realistic prospect that we can bring one or more enlargement countries to the finish line,” including Albania. 

Meanwhile, running against Rama is Sali Berisha of the center-right Democratic Party, a former president and ex-prime minister who has been sanctioned by the US for alleged corruption. Berisha’s party also supports the country’s bid to join the bloc. 

However, with Chris LaCivita, the former co-manager for US President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, advising him, Berisha has labelled Rama as a tool of George Soros, the billionaire who backs liberal civil society initiatives. Trump and his allies also tend to express skepticism about countries giving bureaucrats in Brussels more power to regulate their economies. 

Critics at Mother Jones wrote that Democratic Party of Albania leaders might have hired Trump team folks in order to persuade the American president to remove the “persona non grata” designations imposed on them under President Joseph Biden. Albanian anti-corruption prosecutors, meanwhile, are looking into other hires related to Trump, too, added bne Intellinews. In the crosshairs is the party’s $6 million lobbying contract with US-based Continental Strategy, represented by Carlos Trujillo, a former lawyer for Trump. 

Ivana Stradner, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Politico it should come as no surprise that some with links to the White House warned prospective member countries against joining the EU, considering that Trump has claimed the bloc exists “to screw the United States” on trade. 

However, she added, the administration would be better off “fully supporting Albania’s EU accession as it would contribute to the rule of law in the country and protect US investments and businesses in southeastern Europe.” 

Despite his party’s support for accession, Rama also criticized the bloc during the campaign as becoming “too self-referential” and “selfish,” adding that it must learn to stand up to other powers at a time of US-triggered trade wars and global disruption. 

“When Trump says that God saved him to Make America Great Again, he tells only half of the story,” the prime minister said. “The other half is that He saved Trump also to make Europe wake up and get its act together.” 

All that may be little more than sound and fury, say analysts, who argue that voters have known the two parties and their two candidates for years, and the election offers little that is new in politics or personality. Instead, the primary impact will be on Rama’s and Berisha’s personal ambitions, said Afrim Krasniqi of the Institute for Political Studies in Tirana. 

“These elections do not have any historic importance, they are more of a test – (to see) if Albania manages to hold better elections than in the past,” Krasniqi told BalkanInsight. He added that the two main political parties in the country have not reformed themselves and “have not managed to create better alternatives” to deliver meaningful change. “The two alternatives are not real alternatives,” he said. “They are a confirmation of the status quo.”