“The U.S. in Albania has changed!” Çipa: It is not the same as in Trump’s second term

A guest on the “Review” programme with Greta Topjana on Euronews Albania, journalist Aleksandër Çipa analysed the important changes in the approach and structure of the embassy of the United States of America in Tirana after the new ambassador, Eric Wendt, took office.

According to Çipa, a stereotype of the so-called “ambassadorocracy” has been created in Albania over the years, but according to him a fundamental transformation is now noticeable, both in the ambassador’s profile and in the embassy’s institutional structure and focus.

He stressed that the embassy has undergone changes both in structure and in the number of staff, especially after developments in the American administration during President Trump’s second term.

“Albanian society has created a negativist model in relation to the relationship with embassies, because when we spoke of the regime, in quotation marks, of ambassadorocracy, we had in mind the way lobbying, influence, communication, information and so on were built with the staff of the American embassy or other embassies.

But the American embassy is important because of the specific strategic weight it has in relation to Albania and to Albanians in general, because in fact it is not only with Tirana. This thing also happens with Pristina, it also happens with Skopje in the communication part. So it has a role that has been accepted specifically.

Today we are in another model, in an approach where it seems the ambassador has the focus of his institutional interest and contribution and no longer deals with that other part, and in numerical terms the embassy is not the same as it was before the president’s term — that is, the second term of President Trump; it has changed both in structure and in staff, in a kind of way also in interpersonal relations.”