Albania’s PM says 2027 NATO summit will not be held in Tirana

NATO will not be holding a summit in Albania next year as planned, Prime Minister Edi Rama has said, as his government faces criticism over its defence spending and protests at home.

Speaking in Dublin on Thursday ahead of a gathering of European leaders, Rama said there was “not yet [a] common position on when the summit will happen, for sure not in 2027”.

He added: “And in 2028, if it will be a summit, it will be in Tirana.”

A NATO official said the next summit “will be held in Albania”, with a decision on the date yet to be made.

Summit doubts

Reuters reported in June that plans for a summit in Albania had been thrown into doubt by resistance from the administration of US President Donald Trump and dissatisfaction among NATO members with Tirana’s low defence spending.

NATO leaders said in a declaration at their June 2025 summit in The Hague that they looked forward to meeting in Turkiye in 2026, “followed by a meeting in Albania”. But the declaration from the July summit in Ankara made no mention of a time or place for the next meeting.

NATO has been considering ending its recent practice of holding annual summits, which could avoid a potentially tense encounter with Trump later in his term.

Diplomats say the alliance could still hold a summit at short notice this year, but not in Tirana, Reuters said.

Domestic pressure

Rama, who has been in office for 13 years, has faced months of protests.

They began in May after he gave preliminary approval to a luxury resort backed by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, in the protected Vjosa-Narta wetland at Zvernec, on Albania’s southern coast, and on nearby Sazan Island.

Dubbed the “Flamingo Revolution”, they grew into wider anti-government protests demanding Rama’s resignation over alleged corruption, and into violent student protests in October over conditions at universities.

Opposition lawmakers led by Sali Berisha disrupted a session of parliament with flares and smoke bombs on October 29 in support of the protesters.

Rama has refused to resign and says the resort complies with Albanian and European Union law. His government has dismissed the protests as orchestrated by political rivals.