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Edi Rama held a secret meeting in Tirana with Hungarian oligarch Gellért Jászai, owner of the 4iG group and the main shareholder of "One Albania", at a time when political and media pressure is increasing in Hungary against companies linked to Viktor Orban.
Prime Minister Edi Rama has moved to save Viktor Orban’s friends. As political pressure mounts in Hungary against the economic network built during Orban’s years in power, opposition leader Peter Magyar has warned of investigations and funding cuts for companies that have benefited from state ties. One of the most exposed names is Gellért Jászai, the main shareholder of the 4iG company, which owns “One Albania” in Albania.
Magyar has warned of the cancellation of state contracts won by 4iG and the placing of the company under investigation. Some Hungarian media outlets write that the withdrawal of political and financial support could lead the company to a crisis, due to the high level of debt created by aggressive expansion. Within eight years, 4iG went from a company worth about $20 million to a group that is now valued at over $3.5 billion.
But at this moment it seems that Edi Rama has entered the game. The Albanian Prime Minister received Gellért Jászai in a meeting, a meeting that was not made public by the Albanian government. The details were initially reported in the Hungarian media and later confirmed by the Hungarian businessman himself.
According to the announcement published by 4iG, the meeting focused on further expanding the company's presence in Albania through "One Albania" and new projects in digital infrastructure. In practice, this shows that while in Hungary there is talk of investigations and the risk of bankruptcy, in Tirana the expansion of the Hungarian group's business is being negotiated.
One of the main topics of discussion was the EAGLE project, the submarine cable that aims to connect Egypt with Albania and then with Europe. The project envisages the creation of a major data transmission corridor between North Africa, the Middle East, the Western Balkans and the European market.
In his statement, Jászai himself described the project as a "critical digital bridge" for the region, emphasizing that Albania is seen as a strategic point for the transition of data infrastructure in the Mediterranean.
" Our discussions also covered the planned EAGLE submarine cable project between Egypt and Albania, a strategically important initiative for data connectivity in the Mediterranean. The project is designed to create a critical digital bridge between North Africa, the Middle East, the Western Balkans and Europe, while also supporting the development of a next-generation optical network in the Balkans ," said Jászai.
But the most important part of the meeting seems to be related to another much more profitable sector: Data Centers. According to the Hungarian businessman, the possibility of investments in large data processing and storage centers in Albania was discussed with Edi Rama.
This is today one of the fastest growing businesses in the world following the explosion of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the demand from global companies for server capacity and data storage.
“ We reviewed future opportunities regarding data center investments in Albania, which form an important pillar of our regional digital infrastructure strategy ,” Jászai stated.
Essentially, Rama is not only guaranteeing the Hungarian group the Albanian telecommunications market through "One Albania", but is also paving the way for its entry into a strategic sector related to the control of digital infrastructure in the region.
The meeting is also important for the fact that it was held in silence by the Albanian government, while it was only announced by the Hungarian side. This is happening at a time when Hungary is openly talking about auditing companies linked to Viktor Orban and about the collapse of the financial model that has sustained the economic empire of his closest people. / Pamphlet
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