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"National Interest" raises the alarm: Albania, the new risk for American investments
A lengthy analysis published by the American magazine “ National Interest ” places Albania at the center of a serious American alarm for the Western Balkans, describing the country as a critical case where the weakening of the rule of law and the concentration of power are pushing democracy towards a form of functional autocracy. Unlike other regional analyses, this article does not treat Albania as a peripheral problem, but as a key test for the credibility of American policy in the Balkans and for Europe’s energy and geopolitical security.
According to the authors, the Western Balkans remains a strategically unstable space, where states oscillate between formal democracy and practical authoritarianism. Although most of the countries in the region are members of NATO and some are candidates for the European Union, the lack of real reforms, the capture of institutions and the selective use of justice are creating conditions for democratic regression. In this panorama, Albania emerges as the most contradictory case: a strong ally of the US in the strategic plan, but with increasingly fragile internal institutions.
The article emphasizes that the main problem is not simply corruption, but the way in which the fight against it is being transformed into a political instrument. This is a familiar pattern in hybrid regimes, where justice maintains its institutional form but loses its democratic function. In these systems, executive power is strengthened, parliamentary control is weakened, and the courts are used to neutralize political opponents or discipline institutional actors who step out of line. This dynamic, according to the National Interest, is a warning sign of modern autocracy, which manifests itself not through coups d’état, but through the gradual consumption of democracy from within.
In this context, Albania is directly mentioned in relation to the assessments of Freedom House, which classifies the country as a "hybrid regime", on the verge of de-democratization. The centralization of power, the weakening of independent institutions and the lack of a real balance between powers are considered typical elements of a system that is moving away from Western liberal standards.
A central part of the analysis is devoted to the case of the Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, who was held in pre-trial detention for months without formal indictment and without procedural transparency. According to the article, this case is not treated as an individual criminal case, but as a symptom of a justice system that operates without sufficient mechanisms of control and accountability. Keeping an elected official in prolonged pre-trial detention, without a final judicial decision, is seen as a practice that contradicts Western standards of due process.
The analysis notes that the political involvement in his dismissal from office, initiated by Prime Minister Edi Rama, and the subsequent correction by the Constitutional Court, exposes an institutional chaos where the executive branch dominates and other institutions react late. This situation reinforces the perception that justice is not functioning as an independent arbiter, but as part of an increasingly centralized power mechanism.
According to the National Interest, this development has consequences that go beyond Albanian democracy. Albania is becoming an important node in the region’s energy and infrastructure architecture, including ports, transit corridors, and energy projects related to the diversification of Europe’s supply. But American and European investments in these sectors require legal certainty, institutional predictability, and protection from political interference. In a system that is sliding toward autocracy, these conditions disappear.
The analysis warns that Russia has historically exploited these very weaknesses in the Balkans, using corruption and politicized justice to seize strategic infrastructure and expand its influence. In this prism, Albania is no longer seen simply as an ally, but as a potential point of weakness for American interests and NATO security on Europe’s eastern flank.
State Department reports and debates in the US Congress on justice reform in Albania reinforce this concern. The question that is openly posed in Washington is whether the reform, after more than a decade of implementation, is producing impartial justice or consolidating a new model of political control, typical of modern autocracies.
In conclusion, the National Interest argues that the United States cannot treat Albania simply as a formal NATO ally, ignoring its internal democratic degradation. Without stronger diplomatic engagement and clear conditions on the rule of law, Albania risks turning from a Western success story in the Balkans into a cautionary tale of soft but functional autocracy. And in a region where energy, security, and geopolitics are closely intertwined, this is not just an Albanian problem, but a direct challenge to American and European interests. / Pamphlet
Mos i jepni shume rendesi. Autoritaret jane trima. Ky eshte nje hajdut ordiner qe eshte i trembur ne mbrojtje te gjese se vjedhur.
Fiks nje hajdut i trembur eshte ky i gjati yne.