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The "Balluku" dossier arrives in Brussels/ What happened at the meeting that alarmed Edi Rama
2026-02-05 19:44:06 / POLITIKË
A dialogue forum on the topic "A few more steps towards the EU" that took place in Vlora passed without a hitch last weekend. Edi Rama was expected to be part of the activity where the Rapporteur for Albania in the European Parliament, Andreas Schieder, French Ambassador Catherine Suard, Foreign Minister Elisa Spiropali, etc. were waiting for him, but the Prime Minister suddenly canceled his trip to Vlora and as a figure who usually dominates panels of this nature, his absence overshadowed the entire activity.
The cancellation of the trip to Vlora came at the last minute, but a source told Lapsi.al that the reason was strong concern regarding developments in Brussels regarding the SPAK investigation into Belinda Balluku and the institutional tensions it has produced.
These developments related to a meeting on Friday, January 30, in the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels for a meeting of the Working Group on Enlargement and Countries Negotiating EU Membership, a technical forum of the EU Council where representatives of member states discuss enlargement issues in a closed session.
But Lapsi.al learned that after hearing the strong positions of diplomats and experts on the situation in Albania, the Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, has contacted Prime Minister Edi Rama with concern to inform him about the 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.
It should be said that France and the Netherlands are two countries that are often mentioned in this context, also because of the interest of their companies in the tender for the new port of Durres, a competition that ended with the disqualification of companies from these countries without an effective appeal route. These are examples that feed the conviction about the problems in the investment climate and the functioning of the rules of the game in the procurement system in our country.
It was after this conversation with Marta Kos that Rama was alerted and canceled his trip to Vlora to make a series of phone calls to European chancelleries in order to soften the tone and avoid a diplomatic escalation.
Caught in an emergency situation, the prime minister has completely ignored the confidentiality relationship between diplomats in Brussels, putting Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos in a difficult position.
It is not known whether Rama has managed to repair anything in the relationship with the chancelleries of the European Union countries, but it is certain that with his phone calls he has called out Commissioner Marta Kos' bluff, who has broken the code of ethics by relaying to Rama, thread by thread, what was discussed about SPAK, Balluk and the Albanian government.
Since mid-December, the majority has been dragging out the vote in the assembly on the arrest of Belinda Balluku, in the hope of managing to beat the deadlines stipulated in the assembly's rules of procedure. It stipulates that if the request for authorization of arrest is not voted on within three months, then SPAK cannot arrest the relevant MP or minister.
Rama conditions the vote in parliament on a decision by the Constitutional Court that reviewed the suspension of Belinda Balluku from her position as deputy prime minister. However, the case in the Constitutional Court is simply a pretext, as the separation of powers has nothing to do with the Socialist Party's position on Belinda Balluku's corruption case.
What remains is that the Balluku issue has already exceeded the dimensions of an internal political development and that foreign ambassadors accredited in Tirana have taken the issue to Western chancelleries.
In this sense, the issue of Belinda Balluku's immunity has become a test of Albania's credibility in relation to the European Union, which if it fails will have consequences.
In Tirana, diplomatic smiles and balanced statements continue. But according to sources who informed Lapsi.al, the messages at the meeting that ruined Edi Rama's weekend were clear: if SPAK stumbles on a symbolic issue for the fight against corruption, then the path to integration may become longer and instead of a few steps, it may require several more kilometers towards the EU./ Lapsi.al
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