Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has commented on the protests held in Albania, stopping by the potential influence of foreign actors and claims of interference in domestic developments in the country. During the European Commission’s 2026 progress report conference, Rama declared that Albania has faced a hybrid war and that, according to him, foreign actors do not want the country to advance towards membership in the European Union.

Rama stressed that he has not claimed that the protests were organised by Iran, but said that, according to him, the influence of Tehran’s regime is present in developments on boulevard.

He also accused some actors of trying to join these developments in the function of an agenda that, according to him, is aimed at ousting the government by force.

I’ve listened very carefully to everyone else who came under my office every day. I have not heard any programme and no option for Albania, but only: There’s dialogue. The involvement of foreign actors from June to today’s protests is real. Albania has been part of this hybrid war. I never said the protests were Iran organized, but I said that the hands of Tehran’s criminal regime are there, on boulevard, and these are facts.

The same hands that were active in distributing social networking videos also appeared active in Paris. The reason is for us, and our job is to address the causes. There are foreign actors who do not want Albania to be in the EU and do not want negotiations to be successfully closed for Albania in 2027, but want to deal with the countless history that is driven every day, in a vortex where the most scandalous thing has been the justification in the chorus of violence.

It is clear that Albania has made great progress, which, unfortunately, Albanians cannot tell from public deinformation screens and channels. On the other hand, I want to say that the government is in charge of office and continues to work every day on this goal, not allowing it to lose a historic opportunity, which we have created with a lot of work and has also been helped by listing the stars in favour of Albania. Others are like the sound of cars going and coming to the boulevard, Rama said.

Asked whether the protest movement in Albania could take the same form as the Student Movement in Serbia, the prime minister named two situations as completely different realities, arguing that the European Union’s stance on developments in both countries is different.

Situates in Serbia and Albania are two realities that have nothing in common with each other. You can see this by comparing the EU’s stance on developments in Serbia with the attitude towards major changes Albania has made this year. These are two completely different realities, despite efforts to unite in the function of an agenda that is neither of the EU nor of the government, but the agenda of those who want to bring down the government by violence, Rama said.

Commenting on civic mobilization, Rama made a distinction between the June mass protests and violent protests on boulevard. The prime minister said the government has taken steps to address citizens’ concerns.

As far as mass mobilization is concerned, I’ve made my own distinction between the mass protests in June and the subsequent degradation of the boulevard in a solar and raven arena. This could not bring violence, for it was violent, and saw it from the beginning, with stones, and with Molotos in hand, and the placard was: ) No dialogue, resign. In the function of mass protests, we have made significant steps to address what we have read as reasons for civic mobilization. We have taken steps towards transparency and have directly addressed issues related to economic concerns of people, such as lowering basket food prices and lowering the flow tax on fuel prices.

There is no return to ideological left, but to redistribute the citizen by boosting the economy. It is not the left or right that makes the egg red; it is just the economy that gives us the opportunity. Our economy grows, unlike what it can say, and its growth has given us the opportunity to massively distribute, with a new package that would be impossible and has been impossible under other conditions, Rama said.