Albania is a country on the Adriatic coast of south-eastern Europe, with a population that has shrunk from 2.9m to 2.4m under the current government. Its prime minister is Edi Rama, who leads the governing Socialist Party and was elected to a fourth consecutive term in May 2025. GDP has grown by 160% in euro terms since Mr Rama came to power in 2013. If admitted, Albania would be the EU's first majority-Muslim country.
After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Albania became a kingdom under King Zog. Italy occupied the country in 1939, followed by Germany. After the war, Enver Hoxha established a communist regime. The Sigurimi, the communist-era secret police, maintained surveillance on the population. After communism collapsed, the subsequent turmoil brought the country to the brink of civil war in 1997.
Ismail Kadare, who died in 2024, was Albania's grand man of letters, with at least 80 novels, plays, essays and story collections. Lea Ypi, a political theorist at the London School of Economics, has eclipsed him internationally as the world's best-known Albanian writer, with her prizewinning memoir "Free" (2021) and "Indignity" (2025).
The Special Structure against Corruption and Organised Crime (SPAK), an independent anti-corruption unit, began work in 2019. Opinion polls show 76% of Albanians trust it, making it the most popular institution in the country. In 2023 SPAK placed Sali Berisha, a former president who leads the country's main opposition party, under house arrest; he is on trial for corruption. It also arrested Ilir Meta, another former president and opposition leader, on corruption charges. Former ministers in Mr Rama's governments have been arrested, and in February 2025 SPAK arrested Erion Veliaj, the Socialist mayor of Tirana, on charges of laundering money from developers. All deny the charges.
In late 2025 SPAK indicted Belinda Balukku, the deputy prime minister, for allegedly rigging a tender for an infrastructure project; a court suspended her from office. She denies the charges.
SPAK has also scored major successes against organised crime, working with police abroad. Typically, an Albanian drug kingpin might operate from Dubai, with buyers in Ecuador shipping to Europe, and profits invested in construction in Albania.
Some 62% of those in Albania's prisons are in pre-trial detention, a far higher proportion than elsewhere in Europe.
Mr Rama has promised that Albania will join the EU by 2030. European officials say negotiations might wrap up as early as 2027. A track record in fighting corruption is a vital criterion for membership. Some EU members on the populist right oppose admitting a majority-Muslim country. Mr Rama has offered to temporarily forgo Albania's veto on EU proposals and give up its right to a European commissioner, if that would help win over sceptics.
On November 13th 2025 Albania and Italy signed 16 agreements on subjects ranging from energy to security. Mr Rama collaborated with Giorgia Meloni, Italy's prime minister, on her stalled plan to ship asylum-seekers to camps in Albania.
Under communism Albania received about 5,000 tourists a year. Tirana, the capital, had two hotels for foreigners. By 2014 the country had some 3.4m foreign visitors a year. The official figure hit 11m in 2024, though this is inflated by diaspora Albanians with foreign passports who visit several times a year and are counted anew each time.
Hotels and villa complexes are mushrooming along the coast. A new airport is being built to serve Vlora, a southern beach destination. Hotels, lacking skilled staff, are recruiting Filipinos. Over-tourism is becoming a worry, as once-small resorts like Saranda and Ksamil grow crowded.
The tourism boom is straining water supplies. After a century of underinvestment, Albania's towns are running short of water. Coastal construction has led to pipes being laid to divert water from the interior to fill swimming pools for tourists. One high-profile case concerns plans to divert water from the Shushica river—most of which is inside a national park—to the resort region of Himara.
Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, plans to build a resort in Zvernec, an unspoiled beach area between the Adriatic and the Narta lagoon, a haven for flamingos. He also wants to develop Sazan, an island 10km away. Shortly before Trump's inauguration in January 2025, Albania approved initial plans for Kushner to invest €1.4bn on Sazan. Zvernec lies in a protected area; EcoAlbania, a campaign group, is fighting the government in court over a new law permitting luxury developments in such areas.
A sequel is an admission that you've been reduced to imitating yourself.