EditProtesters shout “No EU with Rama” as von der Leyen comes to back Albania’s EU bid
Albania is shaken by its Flamingo revolution, the country’s biggest civic uprising since the fall of communism
Tensions flared outside Albania’s government headquarters in Tirana on Wednesday as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met Prime Minister Edi Rama, with protesters demonstrating the her host and clashes breaking out with police.
Large numbers of demonstrators gathered outside the prime minister’s office as heavily reinforced police units deployed around the building and along Dëshmorët e Kombit Boulevard. Police established security cordons to prevent protesters from approaching the government headquarters, while some demonstrators attempted to cross the barriers, leading to clashes with officers.
Von der Leyen met with protests in Albania. For the first time in the country's history, a top EU official's visit was met with public backlash over EU silence on corruption in 🇦🇱.
"No EU with Rama" was the message on Day 123 of the protests, as von der Leyen met with the 🇦🇱 PM. https://t.co/gkef2aXhv7 pic.twitter.com/dMWofBLTXt— Tirana Report (@Tirana_Report) September 30, 2026
Security measures were significantly tightened around the government complex as von der Leyen held talks with Rama inside.
The protests came as von der Leyen began a four-country tour of the Western Balkans, with Albania’s progress towards European Union membership at the centre of her visit. She was formally received by Rama at the prime minister’s office before holding talks with the Albanian leader and later meeting President Bajram Begaj.
Albania is shaken with its Flamingo revolution, the country’s biggest civic uprising since the fall of communism. It began in late May 2026 against luxury resorts linked to Jared Kushner on Sazan Island and in the protected Vjosa–Narta wetlands, home to the flamingos that named the movement, then widened into nightly Tirana marches demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama’s resignation over corruption and land deals. Four months on it has not stopped. Yesterday, as Ursula von der Leyen met Rama in Tirana, protesters were again outside his office, held back by fences, police and water trucks.
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Speaking at a joint press conference with Rama, von der Leyen offered strong backing for Albania’s accession ambitions, describing the country as one of the frontrunners in the EU enlargement process.
“Albania is among the frontrunners in our accession process,” she said, adding that the country had made “remarkable progress” since her previous visit.
Rama said that he had informed the Commission president about “progress on the major investment project that has attracted so much interest, to use no other word.” He said a detailed environmental study was expected shortly, and that within a day or two the government would launch a “Transparency Mirror” putting all documents on the “much-discussed project” online. He then moved on to crime, corruption and EU chapters. Coverage in Albanian media treated that passage as a reference to the Kushner-linked plan in the south. Von der Leyen’s public remarks, in the same reports, stayed on accession, not the resort.
Von der Leyen highlighted the opening of the final negotiation clusters and the closure of the first three chapters in July. She also pointed to Albania’s alignment with the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy.
She also praised the broader public commitment to European integration, saying that Albanians “hold Europe in their hearts” and that the country’s “European dream” was now within sight.
Roadmaps for EU membership
Von der Leyen’s visit comes as the EU considers how to manage future enlargement and whether candidate countries can be brought progressively closer to the bloc before full membership.
The Commission is preparing accession roadmaps for countries it considers frontrunners. The proposed framework is intended to turn the path towards membership into more concrete steps, setting out priority reforms, indicative timelines and objectives for advancing accession negotiations.
The roadmap being promoted during the visit covers Albania, Montenegro, Moldova and Ukraine.
The EU is also preparing a broader review of its pre-accession policy, expected on 6 October. EU leaders are then due to discuss enlargement and internal reforms at their 15-16 October meeting.
The discussions come as the bloc faces questions over how to accommodate future members without blocking decision-making at EU level.
The Commission president is continuing her Balkan tour after Tirana, with visits in Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
Sources: EUalive’s partners Albanian Daily News and BGNES
Caption: Screenshot from video posted by Tirana Report. The banner reads “No EU with Rama”.
Updated: October 1, 2026 - 05:10
