Sunday 16:09
Daily Briefing
The debate around the reform has become political. The legal question before the Supreme Court is simpler: whether detention decisions must finally be justified by facts rather than formula. by Elis Zenelaj (Tirana) More than half the people currently sitting in Albanian prisons have not been convicted of a crime. As of December 2025, 2,569 …
Daily Briefing
The Prime Minister spoke for over an hour. We publish the complete text in English and Albanian. Translator’s note: This is an English translation of Prime Minister Rama’s address to the Socialist Party parliamentary group on 9 March 2026. The translation is based on the official verbatim Albanian text and has been prepared with care …
Daily Briefing
by Besa Ruka (Tirana) Albania’s opposition leader Sali Berisha on Monday accused Prime Minister Edi Rama of obstructing justice and undermining the country’s path toward European Union membership after the ruling Socialist majority refused to authorize the arrest of former Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, who is under investigation by Albania’s Special Anti-Corruption Structure …
Daily Briefing
the Tirana Examiner Gazment Bardhi, head of the Democratic Party’s parliamentary group, on Monday accused Prime Minister Edi Rama of political captivity, following the Socialist Party’s decision to oppose SPAK’s request to lift Belinda Balluku’s parliamentary immunity. “The decision of the ‘Supreme Court of the Republic – the Socialist Party’ not to allow the …
Daily Briefing
For the first time since Albania’s justice reform created SPAK, the ruling Socialist Party has used its parliamentary majority to block an arrest request from the special anti-corruption prosecutor. The case concerns Deputy Belinda Balluku, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure, who has been under a travel ban since November 2025 while investigated …
Daily Briefing
On 9 March 2026, the Socialist Party parliamentary group convened ahead of the Assembly’s plenary vote on whether to authorise the Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organised Crime (SPAK) to arrest Deputy Belinda Balluku. SPAK had submitted its request on 16 December 2025, seeking to replace an existing travel ban with pre-trial detention, on …
Daily Briefing
Branch elections, diplomatic meetings, and an internal critic combine to expose the gap between the DP’s European posture and its domestic reality. by the Tirana Examiner (Albania) Democratic Party parliamentary group chairman Gazment Bardhi met Spain’s Ambassador to Albania, Gabriel Cremades, on Sunday to discuss bilateral relations and Tirana’s EU path — using the occasion to …
Daily Briefing
The honest answer: we still do not fully know An explainer for the Tirana Examiner On the morning of February 21, 2026, a hillside at Arrat e Gurrës near Dragostunjë collapsed, severing one of Albania’s most important internal transport corridors. Approximately 1,500 square metres of terrain slid downward, destroying a section of the national …
Daily Briefing
SkyECC messages helped prosecutors uncover a criminal organisation that trafficked nearly 1.9 tons of drugs into EU markets — and allegedly relied on a serving Albanian police officer embedded inside the system. by Eris Zenelaj (Tirana) Albania’s Special Anti-Corruption and Organised Crime Prosecutor’s Office (SPAK) has issued arrest warrants for eight people in connection …
