Many progressives and internationalists on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean support European Union expansion. Increasing membership does not always bring peace. The Kremlin justified Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia, as well as Moscow’s 2014 and 2022 invasions of Ukraine, in its own paranoia about Western efforts to expand EU membership eastward.
The logic behind membership is that the EU is an exclusive club whose entry requirements bring peace and create security. The problem is European officials often prioritize wishful thinking over reality. Hence, Germany for ages thought dependence on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and its Russian gas was a good idea, and Brussels thought that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was an enlightened democrat who had left support for radical Islamism behind him. Three decades ago, European officials wrested the Iran file from Washington, arguing that Europe’s enlightened “critical dialogue” could do more to constrain Iran’s nuclear ambitions and human rights abuses than American-style cowboy diplomacy. Iranian leaders treated Europeans as useful idiots who assumed the sincerity of calls for a dialogue of civilizations and knew they could drive forward with their covert nuclear and missile programs.
None of these wrongs makes a right, but Europe refuses to recognize those who feign liberalism in pursuit of power. While progressives often criticize conservative leadership in Hungary for illiberal and anti-democratic tendencies at odds with the EU, they remain blind to growing abuses among aspirant left-leaning members.
The latest case is Edi Rama, the four-term Socialist Party prime minister of Albania. Once a pro-American country on a trajectory to take its place in the world as the Singapore of Europe, Rama has instead chosen an autocratic path modeled after Erdogan’s Turkey. He has used a United States- and EU-funded anti-corruption force to imprison political opponents, overturn elections, and confiscate properties, all while he and his cronies monopolize both real estate dealings with everyone from Alex Soros to Jared Kushner and Albania’s new legalized marijuana industry.
Freedom House labels Albania “partly free,” a ranking on par with Hungary. Transparency International, however, which ranks perception of corruption, now ranks Albania lower than Cuba after a plunge in rankings last year — hardly a quality the EU should seek in a member.
Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, is blind to Albania’s backslide into dictatorship and kleptocracy. He has said that Albania “belongs” in the EU. In May 2025, Costa said Albania and Montenegro are “showing the way as enlargement frontrunners.” Such sycophancy does not help Albanians or the EU, but makes the hurdles tougher as Rama concludes he can double down on dictatorship.
The EU’s latest delegation to Albania came a year after Rama arrested Erion Veliaj, the mayor of the country’s capital, Tirana. Veliaj has been held in “pretrial detention” ever since. Veliaj is not alone, as 58% of imprisoned Albanians are technically in pretrial detention, five times the rate of the broader EU. The Council of Europe recently reported that “the use of pretrial detention against sitting mayors [in Albania] constitutes a serious risk to democratic governance.”
Veliaj is not the only high-profile politician Rama has targeted. He has exaggerated allegations against opposition leader Sali Berisha, former Deputy Prime Minister Arben Ahmetaj, and former Defense Minister Fatmir Mediu.
RESIST THE LYNCH MOB AGAINST JEREMY CARL
For too long, European leaders have indulged Rama. So too has the U.S. State Department, where career bureaucrats in the Europe bureau have pursued their own self-dealing policies to the detriment of broader American interests. The resulting disaster was on full display at last week’s Board of Peace meeting, where Rama went off script to deliver a diatribe about the trial of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci in The Hague — a rich tangent given Rama’s own attitude toward independent justice.
A quarter century ago, the EU and U.S. ignored Turkey’s descent into dictatorship, whitewashing Erdogan’s increasing corruption and assault on democracy. Today, Europe has a terror sponsor on its border. The question now is whether Brussels will repeat its mistake, embracing a leader who shows disdain for everything for which the EU says it stands.
Michael Rubin is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential. He is director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.