The new political season in Tirana, inaugurated by the new U.S. ambassador

By Ylli Pata

The arrival of the new American ambassador to Albania, General Eric Wendt, is a real political event, both for the country and the region.

After Ambassador Yuri Kim, who carried out a mission defined by the State Department, Tirana saw a major vacuum of American policy in Tirana. A vacuum that has been filled by other factors and actors. American policy in Tirana is not merely official protocol; it is a political culture that has marked this country since the fall of communism.

Albanians consider the American embassy one of the most trusted institutions in the country — one that, for years, political actors pursuing personal interests tried to undermine. They failed.

The American Embassy in Tirana has been the gravitational center of politics since 1991, from William Ryerson to Yuri Kim. The vacuum that followed Ambassador Kim’s tenure created a gap that, although others have tried to fill, has not been filled in public.

This happened because Albanians see themselves as orphans without America. Even though Albanians are quite open and friendly with everyone, starting with all the Western states — Italy, France, Germany — in the U.S. they have seen the political power that has protected them. This relationship is not folklore at all; it is a real political development that many Europeans have studied carefully.

Our Italian neighbors, who know us better than anyone, even though they were shocked in 1999 by Albanians’ love for Washington, understood early on this relationship, precisely as a result of the unique American assistance to the Kosovo Albanians who were at risk of extermination by Milošević’s Serbia.

Thus the arrival of such a high-profile ambassador as General Eric Wendt will, in all likelihood, shake things up — or rather open Tirana’s new political season.

His speech at the October 2 event will be the political path Albania follows. That stance will show what the U.S. thinks, especially on the issues where dilemmas are greatest: NATO, the American commitment in the Balkans, and most importantly American investments in Albania. Sazani and Zvërneci — where Albania made international news with the Flamingos — will very likely also draw an official stance, especially on the harsh and inappropriate attacks against two family members of the U.S. President.

It is no coincidence that the inaugural event of the American embassy to introduce the new ambassador is set precisely one day before an important event of another Western embassy that for two years has been the catalyst of developments in the country. From October 2, we appear set to have a more present factor in Tirana.