FLASH NEWS
Rama barricades Balluku, another slap from Brussels, integration in question
2026-02-08 12:30:13 / POLITIKË
The defense that Edi Rama has given to the defendant Belinda Balluku is no longer just an internal political issue in Albania, but has long since reached Brussels and the European chancelleries that monitor our country on the path of integration.
While on Monday Prime Minister Edi Rama will travel to Brussels to meet with the President of the Council of Europe, Antonio Costa, this meeting comes at a time when Albania has not yet been able to receive the Report on the Assessment of Standards for Judicial Reform for Chapters 23 and 23, called IBAR. Without the approval of this report by the member states, the process of closing the group of chapters cannot begin, a diplomatic source told Lapsi.al.
In the meetings so far at the ambassadorial level, there have been requests for concrete evidence of senior officials convicted with final decisions and sequestration of their assets. So, clearly the EU expects concrete examples of the fight against corruption, but with the unexpected turn that has been made regarding the Belinda Balluku affair, Edi Rama is already viewed with suspicion in Europe.
If SPAK and the Special Court are further hampered in the “Balluku” dossier, EU integration is in serious question and it is no wonder that we are back to square one. With the new negotiation methodology, it is possible that an EU member state in these circumstances may request their return to the starting point. Chapters 23-24 on the judiciary were opened first and closed last.
The Balluku affair and Rama's frontal resistance to the judiciary to release his government's number two was also widely discussed at the meeting of the Enlargement Working Group among European diplomats. Although it was a meeting with complete discretion, as Lapsi.al has learned, the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, broke the rule and contacted Prime Minister Edi Rama to inform him of the difficult climate of the discussions.
Kos conveyed to Rama the not-so-calm positions of representatives of key countries such as Germany, France and the Netherlands, mainly on the SPAK issue against the accused Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, who, despite facing charges and being caught in compromising wiretapping, continues to be held in office.
Although Edi Rama's lobbying power is known in Europe, it seems that his clash with SPAK to protect Belinda Balluku is considered a red line in Brussels and if there is no turnaround from the head of the Albanian government, the EU integration process could stop immediately. This would also be a major failure for the European Union itself, which has supported the enlargement policy in the Western Balkan countries.
It remains to be seen how things will move from Monday when Rama will talk in Brussels with Antonio Costa. A new development in this clash is now the decision last night of the Constitutional Court, which left in force the suspension of Belinda Balluku from office while the ball is in the hands of the Parliament to remove or not the political immunity of Edi Rama's right wing./ LAPSI.al
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