“Our [Albania’s] road to the EU has been hindered by the very wounds we protest against today: widespread corruption, organized crime, politicized institutions and oligarchic seizure of public property”
By Ditmir Bushati
Tirana, 09 July 2026, dtt-net.com – Wherever I have travelled these weeks for work reasons, in meetings or calls with friends around the world, I have been proud of the good words I have heard about Albania. The review of several weeks of protests by prestigious international media has presented our country as a society with civic consciousness and in solidarity.
There is no better image than the one created without money, but with the living spirit of a society that stands up for its country.
Protesters
Protests in Albania reflect deep concerns that require serious reflection and meaningful action on the democratic and developmental model of the country.
Firstly, most protesters are children of the transition that started in 1990 and is not ending. They did not grow up with the fear of communism nor with the paranoia of an outside enemy. Therefore, the use of divisive rhetoric produces the opposite effect. In our region, the only countries that have not yet overcome the generation of symbolic leaders of the transition are Albania and Serbia, albeit for completely different reasons. Unlike Serbs, Albanians are clear that their country belongs to the European family.
For children of transition, the model of a normal life is not the Albania of communism. Not even that of kiosks and pyramid signatures. Nor that of concrete, which creates interdependence relations between political power, profit and architectural imagination, but does not produce social welfare. On the contrary. It is the Albania of equal opportunities and reducing the intolerable gap between expectations and reality. It is Albania where democracy is neither negotiated nor alienated.
Secondly, during these weeks Albania is experiencing a collective emotional liberation that is not mediated by parties, leaders or institutions. People are not only protesting against arrogance, excessive personalization of power and the harmful alliance between politics, oligarchy, organized crime and the media. They are experiencing a sense of solidarity, dignity and awareness of the public interest.
One of the most important products of this protest, no matter how diverse it is, is social catharsis. Along with it, a new basis is being created for a more credible democratic exercise, which can turn the energy of the squares into a political reality.
Thirdly, Albania has never had so much international sympathy. During the war in Kosovo, the attention to our country was mainly related to the generosity of Albanians in housing our sisters and brothers from Kosovo. Today this attention is on something completely different: the fact that citizens are seeking to break away from a political and economic model that has crippled competition and meritocracy. A model that has been built on the backs of past and future generations: the first eating their contribution, the second ruining their legacy.
Fourthly, the daily review of protests in Albania by the most prestigious international media, focusing on the real causes of civil outrage and mobilizing our diaspora like never before, is the best investment in our image as a people and on our road towards the European Union.
Reasons of protests
Our road to the EU has been hindered by the very wounds we protest against today: widespread corruption, organized crime, politicized institutions and oligarchic seizure of public property. What is happening today is the most powerful counterattack that ever existed. Albanians are seeking the revival of European standards. They are persistently fighting for democracy, freedom, equality, justice and sustainable economic and social development. They are doing what responsible citizens do in every European democracy: project the change from the bottom up, towards a new model for a new Albania.
Lastly, but not least, the spirit of protest cannot be extinguished, because it is already greater than the anger on the streets of Albania or in the digital space. The denial of this condition only increases the cost of a change that is inevitable. Albania has overcome great challenges by staying united. This moment requires more patriotism, responsibility, ethics, ideas, concentration of forces and courage.
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Ditmir Bushati is former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania (2013- 2019). He previously chaired the Parliamentary Committee for European Integration.
This opinion was published first at his Facebook account.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of dtt-net.com.
