Albania: the flamingo revolt holds Europe to its promises

On Saturday 24 October, for the twelfth day in a row, young Albanians filled central Tirana. According to Reuters, protesters gathered at around 2 p.m. outside the Ministry of Education before riot police responded with tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets. A fire was set at the door of the Ministry of Agriculture. According to the authorities cited by Euronews and Al Jazeera, more than 300 protesters and police officers were injured, and dozens of people were detained. Some 2,500 police officers had been deployed in the capital.

The facts: from a lagoon to an entire generation

As the Fondation Jean-Jaurès recalls, it all began in the spring with a luxury tourist resort project at Zvërnec, in the protected Vjosa-Narta lagoon, backed by Affinity Partners, the company of Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law. In January 2025 the project obtained "strategic investor" status, a procedure its critics consider opaque. Protesters waved cardboard pink flamingos, the emblematic bird of the lagoon, and chanted that Albania was not for sale.

In mid-October, students joined the protest. Their demands, reported by Euronews, are concrete: lower tuition fees, more public investment in education, an end to corruption in the university system. Reuters sums up the underlying grievances: perceived corruption at the top of the state, a lack of jobs, poor standards of education. The marches spread to Elbasan and Shkodër and, according to Albanian Daily News, won the support of academics, doctors, trade unions and artists. Some protesters are now demanding the resignation of Edi Rama, prime minister since 2013 and returned for a fourth term in 2025.

The violence is real: according to Euronews, buildings have been set on fire and Molotov cocktails thrown at the security forces.

The positions at stake

Edi Rama holds a clear line: protesting is a right, violence is a crime. According to Euronews, he promised a "prolonged and persistent" state response and said rioters would pay the legal and financial price. He says he is open to dialogue, except with rioters and parties that do not condemn violence, and symbolically placed red cushions outside his office as an invitation. He also attributes part of the unrest to "foreign actors" and accuses Russia and Iran of fuelling online disinformation, Al Jazeera reports. The sources consulted do not, at this stage, make it possible to verify these claims.

Not all of his arguments should be dismissed. A government that emerged from the ballot box has a duty to protect institutions and property, and as early as 15 October, in remarks to Reuters cited by Al Jazeera, Edi Rama recalled that governments change through elections. That is a principle no democrat can brush aside.

But the protesters' answer also deserves to be heard. On Saturday, according to Euronews, supporters of the opposition Democratic Party burned those cushions. The students, for their part, refuse to be co-opted: their placards target both Edi Rama and the leader of the centre-right opposition, Sali Berisha. For researcher Afrim Krasniqi, cited by Al Jazeera, the students protested peacefully for nearly three months without being heard, with the authorities responding mainly through smear campaigns.

Finally, the European Commission took a position on 18 October. It condemns the arson and the attacks on institutions, demands that the state's response remain lawful and proportionate, and calls for grievances to be settled through peaceful dialogue, given Albania's commitment to the path of accession.

Analysis: stability is no substitute for democracy

Albania is one of the most advanced candidates for EU membership, along with Montenegro. The Fondation Jean-Jaurès notes that European support has long favoured stability and cooperation with the government in place, at the expense of democratic concerns, and considers France's voice too discreet.

That criticism hits home. A Gaullist tradition of foreign policy has always held that a people's sovereignty is not up for negotiation, neither in the face of powers nor in the face of private interests. The flamingos' slogan says exactly that. That a protected coastline could be opened to a private project linked to the family of the American president, through a contested procedure, raises a question that Paris and Brussels cannot dodge for the sake of good relations.

Albania's young people are calling neither for the end of Europe nor for a providential leader. They are asking for affordable universities, jobs so they do not have to leave, institutions that are accountable. According to the Fondation Jean-Jaurès, more than 1.2 million Albanians have emigrated since the fall of communism. These are demands for social justice and equal opportunity, the very ones the Union claims to embody. If accession is reduced to a technical timetable negotiated between governments, it will lose those who should be its first defenders.

None of this excuses violence. But a democracy is not judged solely by its ability to restore order. It is also judged by its ability to listen to those who are not rioters.

Conclusion: what should France do?

France should step out of its reserve. It can unambiguously support Albanians' right to protest peacefully, ask that any investigation into the violence, on both sides, be conducted by an independent judiciary, and argue for the next accession reports to take a serious look at the transparency of major investment projects. Because the real question Tirana raises is this: does Europe want to enlarge to states, or to peoples?

Article written with the help of artificial intelligence.