By Ben Andoni
In these dark times, marked by the unpredictability of international developments and, above all, the erosion of moral principles everywhere, the promises of a different kind of governance in Albania appear nothing more than a beautiful illusion. And such illusions, we have had plenty of since the very beginning of the Albanian state. By now, we are used to them, and we know we will repeat them again. After all, it is a familiar phenomenon—Hegel himself laid out the logic of history when he wrote: History teaches us that man learns nothing from history.
And so it happens again. Just days before the announcement of Rama’s fourth government, speculation began about names, the new configuration, and the ideas of the longest-serving prime minister of the democratic period. In a recent interview dedicated precisely to this topic, the prime minister himself outlined the directions of his governance, leaving the public in suspense about his cabinet and presenting his goals in a visionary manner. Across three mandates, despite the country’s achievements and his catchy slogans—first “New Justice,” then “the steering wheel and the pan,” and finally EU integration—Albania has seen prosperity remain distant from the grand promises, while ordinary and middle-class Albanians continue to leave the country. At the dawn of his third term, when Rama basked in victory, he spoke of strategic plans and major investments, sending his militants into ecstasy. In reality, yes, airports in Kukës and Vlorë have been reconceived, but they are not functional. The ports remain problematic, and infrastructure languishes. Still, in his latest interview Rama insisted on tourism, a sector that indeed sees rising numbers, but also faces a mountain of problems that will take another generation to fix: prices, services, hotels, cultural heritage, infrastructure, and raw greed—enough to shatter illusions and remind us that in post-democracy, one often ends up with an empty spoon.
The military industry is a novelty for the country, now sweeping across the region where Serbia presses ahead to frightening levels. Albania, in its own way, is also engaging, and that is good. Paradoxically, just a few years ago we dismantled it all with no plan, out of a terrifying shortsightedness, merely to appease foreign and domestic bureaucrats with no vision, and to comply with senseless conjunctures.
Most striking among Rama’s promises has been the use of artificial intelligence in public administration—envisioned as the tool for the future procurement system. In recent days, this has made international headlines, placing in the hands of algorithms what “Homo Albanicus” has now completely shredded: transparency, and an insatiable appetite for corruption. But can you entrust a still-immature technology with the credibility of a state? Only Rama knows, since his subordinates merely shrug their shoulders at everything.
Meanwhile, Rama forgets—or pretends to forget—the way he took hold of local power, where the disgrace of leaders caught red-handed forced them to lower their heads. To resign en masse, as they did, is something you could only envy in North Korea. Likewise, much can be said about services to citizens, where the Territorial Reform has now proven itself a complete failure, incapable of serving people. The incompetence of municipal leaders and their blind obedience to the prime minister’s orders has shown this clearly. Ironically, local power should have been independent.
Worse still, citizens are disheartened when they hear talk of artificial intelligence while education remains unreformed and scientific research receives only crumbs. And throughout Rama’s fine-sounding rhetoric, nothing was said about how to stem the exodus of Albanians, or what will be done to restore hope. Taken together, these arguments—even leaving aside agriculture, healthcare, and more—make it clear that the fourth mandate will be packed with charts but devoid of substance.
The latest Eurostat data are alarming. Albania ranks first in Europe for the share of population at risk of poverty and deep social exclusion. In 2023, around 42% of Albanians—over one million citizens—lived in conditions of severe poverty, unable to afford at least 7 out of 13 indicators of economic and social deprivation: rent or loan payments, basic annual holidays, food essentials, heating, or replacing worn-out furniture (Altax, 2025).
But numbers do not always reflect reality, nor can they capture the fact that Prime Minister Rama is one of the luckiest leaders the country has ever had. If Albania, as the EU’s High Representative hinted at Bled, does indeed make it into Europe, Rama will be remembered as a statesman (!), even though much of the population grew poorer and many others abandoned the country.
Yet at a time when Donald Trump’s America mocks and challenges everyone—most of all Americans themselves—when American democracy is at one of its lowest points, and when Putin’s Russia, mask off since February 24, 2022, cynically snubs Europe while asserting itself as a military, nuclear, and energy power, we must be aware that Rama IV is—and remains—a beautiful illusion in dark times!
(Javanews)