The United States of America has focused its attention on the Western Balkans and especially on Albania, where a high level of corruption and distortion of competition is observed, to the point of criminal interference and the implication of certain politicians or officials.
A second wave of “Non grata” sanctions and a 90-day investigation are also being announced in sectors of strategic importance and recently rumored or investigated for abuses by SPAK, such as: AKSHI, KESH, OST, etc.
The Western Balkans Democracy and Prosperity Act, of the US Congress, highlights the problems in our country and provides ways to solve them, to clean up and crack down on criminal phenomena before the 2027 elections in Albania (local).
“By naming economic backers, business figures, and ‘middlemen’ who facilitate corruption, the US is effectively providing a roadmap for SPAK to move from asset freezes to high-level arrests, with the aim of ‘cleansing’ the market of distorted competition ahead of the 2027 elections,” the report states, among other things.
It also provides a roadmap for SPAK to move from freezing assets to high-level arrests, in order to cleanse the market of distorted competition.
The focus will also be on NAKSHI contracts, energy, money laundering, organized crime, supervision of KESH, OST, luxury coastal projects and towers, PPPs, monitoring of banks, and review of projects with strategic status.
Excerpt from the US Congress report:
“The 90-day deadline (ending in March 2026) following the passage of the Western Balkans Democracy and Prosperity Act marks a shift from targeting individual politicians to dismantling the financial networks that support them. In Albania, the most likely outcome is a “second wave” of sanctions that links political non grata status to criminal prosecution. By naming economic backers, business figures, and “middlemen” who facilitate corruption, the US is effectively providing a roadmap for SPAK to move from asset freezes to high-level arrests, with the aim of “cleansing” the market of distorted competition ahead of the 2027 elections.
Main sectors under observation:
–The State Department’s 90-day review targets sectors where the flow of “gray money” is highest:
-Technology and digital infrastructure: Focus on NAKSHI contractors and the “corruption tax” on digital state services.
-Real estate and construction: Review of luxury coastal projects and high-rise towers in Tirana.
-Energy and public utilities: Supervision of state energy corporations (KESH, OST) and concessions in renewable energy.
-Public-Private Partnerships (PPP): Audit of contracts for waste management and infrastructure.
-Banks and finance: Monitoring of domestic banks to ensure their disengagement from new sanctioned “facilitators”.
-Strategic Tourism: Review of projects that have received “strategic” status through political favoritism.