European Central: Albania Is Fighting To Leave Corruption In The Past
Oscar M
In recent years, Albanian citizens concerned with rampant corruption have developed a cautious optimism. An independent judicial entity, the Special Structure against Corruption and Organised Crime (SPAK), has been working diligently to purge the government of corrupt officials. SPAK has been especially effective in the last year, with multiple former and current high-level government officials being arrested or put on trial.
SPAK has targeted members of both the ruling Socialist Party and the opposition Democratic Party, contributing to its legitimacy as a politically independent entity, and now 76% of Albanians support SPAK, despite a heated political atmosphere.
SPAK, coupled with other government initiatives, indicates that the future of Albanian politics may look a bit more accountable and transparent in Albania, and SPAK is even clamping down on international crime. But while Prime Minister Edi Rama enjoyed SPAK targeting his political enemies, the group has now turned its sights on his own government, and their toughest battles may be yet to come.
An Epidemic Of Extortion
Albania’s corruption woes have long plagued the nation. Since 2017, it has not scored higher than 38 or ranked better than 90th in the world in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, reaching a low of 35 in 2021.
Government corruption has been the main driver of instability, with previous attempts to fight corruption ending up highly politicized and ineffective. However, international organized crime has also been an unchecked problem, with Albania being one of the largest producers of cannabis (and other drugs) in Europe, as well as playing a part in human and arms trafficking.
Corruption and crime have often coalesced in Albania’s construction and tourism sectors, with journalists sometimes being restrained from going after criminal stories and investigations into criminal cartels often never getting off the ground.
It was not until 2024 that the nation earned a Corruption Perceptions Index score of 42, a high since 2012, and a corruption index score of 59, putting it around the average between Denmark’s leading score of 10 and South Sudan’s trailing score of 92.
SPAK has been a huge driver of this change, ever since it entered the scene as part of Albania’s judicial reform in 2016. Albania’s joining the EU will be conditional on implementing these reforms, something the nation has been vying for since 2009. Alongside SPAK, the Rama government has backed public education campaigns on business ethics and corruption-prevention mechanisms, actively participates in the Regional Anti-Corruption and Illicit Finance Roadmap, and has pushed for increased access to digital government services, something that observers say is key to increasing transparency by removing physical interactions and cutting queues.
Why Has SPAK Succeeded So Far?
There are two main reasons behind SPAK’s success. Firstly, it enjoys a high degree of cooperation from both European and other global anti-crime and corruption agencies. On the training front, SPAK has received support for its investigators from the United States, Brazil, and Europe’s OSCE.
The 2018 Winter School on Fighting Corruption, an anti-corruption conference held in Rome, is a good example of how cooperation with other agencies improves all parties’ understanding of corruption, joint legal cases with outside agencies, and frameworks to devise efficient anti-corruption strategies.
All of this coordination is in both Albania's and, more broadly, Europe’s best interests. For Albania, it both bolsters the rule of law that is needed in order to join the EU as well as making Albanian society more fair and just. For European nations, they have a vested influence in curbing the reach of international criminal organizations, many of whom have a foothold in Albania.
Between its beginning in 2019 and 2023, SPAK confiscated assets and cash worth more than £100 million, in addition to prosecuting cases of corruption and bribery in the government, something that was a rarity before.
There have also been a slew of high-level operations in conjunction with Europol and Interpol. In 2024, SPAK and the Albanian police took down a drug trafficking network worth $74 million. More recently, in May and August, SPAK worked with Europol and Italy to take down a pair of multinational drug trafficking networks.
Drug trafficking and international crime may not have been the impetus for SPAK’s founding, but the agency has played a major part in combating its spread through Albania and Europe. However, there’s another reason that SPAK has thrived.
Fundamental to SPAK’s structure is a high degree of independence from political influence. It has an entire independent ecosystem, consisting of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Special Prosecution Office (SPO) and the Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime Special Courts. The NBI acts as judicial police, giving bite to SPAK’s bark.
Furthermore, none of its prosecutors are appointed by a politically influenced body (these prosecutors then appoint SPAK investigators), and it also has its own courts. Finally, SPAK has a degree of independence regarding its budgetary relationship with parliament, answering first directly to the finance ministry while still being able to make its case to MPs. Its budget is still determined by politicians in the end, but the ability to essentially appeal it gives SPAK some leeway.
Taking The Fight All The Way To The Top
SPAK’s resume of high-level arrests and trials is second to none. In October 2023, SPAK began investigating former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Democratic Party Sali Berisha for allegedly abusing his post to help his son-in-law privatize public land. In 2024, he was formally charged, alongside three others, with corruption.
Another highlight was the arrest of former Albanian President Ilir Meta in 2024 under similar charges. Meta, the founder of the leftist Freedom Party, was accused of using his authority to influence various businesses in which he had connections to. He also was suspected of failing to account for money he used to lobby in the U.S. and buying property with illegally obtained money. Additionally, the former attorney general, the former minister of interior, and a host of other high-profile cases await trial.
But until recently, those charged with corruption were predominantly members of the opposition parties. This fact sparked outrage, concern, and protests in Albania against charges that some see as politically motivated, despite SPAK’s hand in them. It was not until early 2025 when the mayor of Albania’s capital, Erion Veliaj, was arrested by SPAK on suspicion of involvement in corrupt activities.
Veliaj is seen by many as a hugely important figure in Rama’s Socialist Party, and a possible successor to the prime minister. In addition, another Socialist Party MP was accused of organized crime ties by SPAK, signaling that SPAK truly does have enough independence to combat corruption in any party, and that Albania is trying to leave politicized anti-corruption agencies in the past.
But SPAK has a long way to go before it realizes this dream. Following Veliaj’s arrest, Rama began slamming the agency online and accused it of human rights abuses. Additionally, he has previously pushed to set up an alternative anti-graft initiative that fell apart in late 2024, something that critics saw as an effort to sideline SPAK before it found his party’s abuses of power.
All of this is happening with the backdrop of a recent May election that both the opposition and international observers say was possibly unfair. It is not set in stone that Rama will clamp down on SPAK; after all, he has backed other government transparency measures. But if he does, then SPAK may find itself fighting the most powerful person in Albania. For SPAK, that is the battle that the agency was built to fight.
