Albania: As corruption cases multiply, experts question whether the anti-corruption drive is addressing the causes or just the symptoms

Vlora Hyseni, former head of Albania's State Intelligence Service, leaves the offices of Albania's Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK), where she answered questions about her alleged involvement in a major corruption scandalImage: Armando Babani/Matrix Images/picture allianceAdvertisementOn September 22, the head of Albania's State Intelligence Service, Vlora Hyseni, was in Baku, Azerbaijan, attending an international conference of intelligence service chiefs. Back in Tirana, the Special Court had ordered her house arrest over two suspected criminal offences: supporting the perpetrator of a crime and disclosure of investigative secrecy.

The investigation into Hyseni emerged from a wider corruption case involving the National Agency for Information Society (AKSHI), the agency responsible for much of Albania's digital public infrastructure.

Prosecutors suspect that she used information available to her as intelligence chief to help a person wanted in that investigation.

Hyseni turned herself in to the Albanian authorities later that day and remains under house arrest as the investigation continues. She has since been dismissed as head of the intelligence service.

Hyseni's case is the latest in a series of criminal proceedings that have reached unusually high into Albania's political and state establishment.

A former president has spent almost two years in detention, a former prime minister is on trial, the mayor of Tirana has been behind bars since early 2025, two former deputy prime ministers under Prime Minister Edi Rama have also faced criminal proceedings, and investigations have been launched into senior officials in agencies controlling large areas of public spending and state infrastructure.

These are all separate cases, but they all involve alleged abuse of public power.

For years, the problem was completely the opposite: High-level corruption in Albania was widely associated with impunity.

This is why bringing senior political figures accused of wrongdoing before the courts became one of the central expectations of the justice reform launched in 2016.

"The expectation was that the new justice institutions would focus on high-level corruption and 'VIP' cases," says Afrim Krasniqi, a political scientist and executive director of the Institute for Political Studies in Tirana. "There were individuals who stood above the law, and impunity was pronounced," he told DW.

The reform fundamentally reshaped Albania's justice system and created new institutions to investigate corruption and organized crime, including the Special Anti-Corruption Structure, SPAK.

But the change was not immediate. Building the new institutions took years, and older cases were often more difficult to investigate.

For Dorian Matlija, a lawyer and executive director of Albanian civil society organization Res Publica, the number of senior officials now facing criminal proceedings does not necessarily mean that corruption is more widespread today than it was in the past.

"What has changed significantly is the institutional reaction," Matlija told DW. "Today, SPAK is a specialized structure with greater independence, stronger capacities and international support, as well as the willingness to undertake investigations that have broken the myth of the untouchability of senior officials."

But bringing senior officials before the courts is only one measure of whether institutions are working.

By the time a corruption case reaches prosecutors, the alleged abuse has already taken place. For Matlija, this is where Albania's progress is far less clear.

"We are becoming more effective at punishing corruption after it has occurred, but much less capable of preventing it," he said.

Matlija points to the institutions and mechanisms that are supposed to act before a case becomes criminal: administrative controls, audits, conflict-of-interest rules and asset declarations. In his assessment, these have often proved ineffective.

The European Commission's 2025 report on Albania reaches a similar conclusion. It said that SPAK has made "tangible progress towards a solid track record in the fight against corruption." At the same time, the report says that corruption remains widespread and that "the institutional framework for prevention of corruption continued to have a limited impact."

The problem is also visible in citizens' encounters with public officials.

In a 2023 survey by the anti-corruption and good governance coalition SELDI (Southeast Europe Leadership for Development and Integrity), 52% of respondents in Albania said they had experienced corruption pressure from public officials, while 40% reported having paid a bribe.

Krasniqi sees the problem in broader political terms. Albania has been governed by Rama's Socialist Party since 2013, and the party currently holds an outright majority in parliament. He argues that this prolonged political dominance has weakened the checks and balances that should constrain the executive.

"We have a deformed system," he said. "The head of the executive controls the executive, parliament and institutions."

He argues that this concentration of power has been accompanied by informal networks of influence, with people outside state institutions able to shape political decisions, legislation and the use of public assets.

Rama has repeatedly maintained that criminal responsibility is individual when investigations have reached senior officials. Responding to the Hyseni case, he returned to the same position.

"When a senior official has opened an account with justice, the case of the former intelligence chief is an individual matter between her and the justice system," Rama said.

In May, the EU confirmed that the country had met the interim benchmarks for the "fundamentals" cluster, which includes the rule of law, and moved into a phase focused on implementation and lasting results.

Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index shows Albania improving from 33 points in 2012 to 39 in 2025 but still ranking below all EU member states.

For Matlija, Albania's efforts to advance EU integration helped create the conditions that allowed institutions such as SPAK to become stronger and more independent.

"The EU no longer demands only the adoption of laws and reforms, but also concrete and sustainable results. This creates constant pressure for justice institutions to be genuinely effective and independent of political power," he said.

For Krasniqi, this is also where the meaning of European integration lies. Membership, he argues, should not be judged only by Albania's progress through the formal accession process, but by whether the country itself changes.

"The essence should be for Albania, Albanian society and Albanian institutions to change and improve, so that we become worthy of integration," he said. For him, that change should also be felt by citizens through greater social security, prosperity and independence, rather than being just a series of formal achievements.