Playing the part of the West’s leader of choice

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama believes that the West will not sour relations with his country over an issue like the imprisonment of the mayor-elect of Himare, Fredi Beleri.

Rama still believes that he has cornered Greece into a diplomatic impasse on this issue. He gives the impression that he is not deterred by Athens’ threats to freeze European funds and to use its veto against his country’s accession process.

He feels that his Western allies have “anointed” him their partner of choice on the eastern shores of the Adriatic, the leader who, he alone, can keep separatist tendencies in check in the Albanian arc of the Balkans – especially in Kosovo – and will, therefore, hardly stand against him over a case like the Beleri dispute, particularly as they are not convinced about its merits.

He is not wrong either: So far, the reactions from European and American officials have been lukewarm at best, with the exception of a highly critical statement made by European Commission Vice President for Protecting the European Way of Life Margaritis Schinas, which Rama tried to dismiss as coming from “a Greek official” in Brussels.

Moreover, it did not go unnoticed that while the protest rally in support of Beleri was being held in Himare and Greece was protesting to its NATO and EU allies over the violation of minority rights, former British premier Tony Blair and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni traveled to Albania for a holiday, as Rama’s guests.

Rama believes that his western allies will hardly stand against him over a case like the Beleri dispute, particularly as they are not convinced about its merits

Rama, a master of public relations, gave a lot of publicity to the visits, which overshadowed the Himare issue. As a good host, he even provided Blair with a helicopter to tour the coast, while Meloni and her family, who stayed in Vlore, were declared as his “guests.”

Were these trips a leisurely jaunt to the Albanian coast? Officially yes, but there were reports in the Albanian press according to which Rama has hired the law office of Blair’s wife, Cherie, to handle the case of the delimitation of Albania’s exclusive economic zone with Greece when it reaches the court in The Hague.The firm is allegedly being paid a sum of 3 million euros.

At the same time, Meloni is reportedly seeking to secure a deal to bring drinking water from the minority region of Finiq in the south to Italy and also to construct a nuclear plant in Albania.