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"Partizani" case/ A former president and a former minister testify in the upcoming session

Today's court session on the "Partizani" case at the Speci...

By Ditmir Bushati/ The future is here

2026-07-06 12:24:00, Editorial Ditmir Bushati

Wherever I have traveled during these weeks for work reasons, in meetings or phone calls with friends around the world, I have felt proud of the good words I have heard about Albania. The coverage of the weeks of protests by prestigious international media has presented our country as a society with civic conscience and solidarity.

There is no better image than one created without money, but with the living spirit of a society that stands up for its country.

The protests in Albania reflect deep concerns that require serious reflection and meaningful action for the country's democratic and developmental model.

First, most of the protesters are children of the transition that began in 1990 and is not ending. They did not grow up with the fear of communism or the paranoia of an external enemy. Therefore, the use of divisive rhetoric produces the opposite effect. In our region, the only countries that have not yet overcome the generation of leaders symbolizing the transition are Albania and Serbia, although for completely different reasons. Unlike the Serbs, the Albanians are clear that their country belongs to the European family.

For the children of transition, the model of a normal life is not the Albania of communism. Nor that of kiosks and pyramid firms. Nor that of concrete, which creates interdependent relationships between political power, profit and architectural imagination, but does not produce social well-being. On the contrary. It is the Albania of equal opportunities and the reduction of the unbearable gap between expectations and reality. It is the Albania where democracy is not negotiated and is not alienated.

Second, during these weeks Albania is experiencing a collective emotional liberation that is not mediated by parties, leaders or institutions. People are not only protesting against arrogance, excessive personalization of power and the harmful alliance between politics, oligarchy, organized crime and the media. They are experiencing a sense of solidarity, dignity and awareness of the public interest.

One of the most important products of this protest, however diverse it may be, is social catharsis. Along with it, a new basis is being created for a more credible democratic exercise, one that can transform the energy of the squares into political reality.

Third, Albania has never had so much international sympathy. During the war in Kosovo, the attention paid to our country was mainly related to the generosity of Albanians in sheltering their sisters and brothers from Kosovo. Today, this attention is for something completely different: the fact that citizens are seeking to break away from a political and economic model that has stifled competition and meritocracy. A model that has been built at the expense of past and future generations: the former by eating up their contribution, the latter by destroying their heritage.

Fourth, the daily coverage of the protests in Albania by the most prestigious international media, focusing on the real causes of civic anger and mobilizing our diaspora like never before, is the best investment for our image as a people and for our path towards the European Union.

Our path to the EU has been hindered by the very wounds against which we are protesting today: widespread corruption, organized crime, politicized institutions, and the oligarchic seizure of public assets. What is happening today is the most powerful counter-evidence that has ever existed. Albanians are demanding the implementation of European standards. They are fighting persistently for democracy, freedom, equality, justice, and sustainable economic and social development. They are doing what responsible citizens do in every European democracy: they are projecting change from the bottom up, towards a new model for a new Albania.

Last but not least, the spirit of protest cannot be extinguished, because it is now greater than the anger on the streets of Albania or in the digital space. Denying this state of affairs only increases the cost of a change that is inevitable. Albania has overcome great challenges by remaining united. This moment requires more patriotism, responsibility, ethics, ideas, concentration of forces and courage.