REPUBLISHED

Balluku’s departure: Cabinet reshuffle or management of political costs?

Erblin Vukaj · Originally published: 27 February 2026

After providing her with political protection for around four months against requests by the Special Prosecution Office (SPAK) for her arrest, Prime Minister Edi Rama decided on Thursday to dismiss Belinda Balluku as deputy prime minister and minister of infrastructure and energy.

She had been suspended by a decision of the Special Court, which remained in force despite the government’s challenge before the Constitutional Court.

Has Rama really withdrawn his support for Balluku?

Balluku’s departure from government was no ordinary cabinet reshuffle.

The announcement followed a long meeting with the Socialist Party’s parliamentary group, dominated by criticism of the Special Prosecution Office and the justice system. This immediately shifted the development from an administrative decision to an institutional event.

That same evening, the infrastructure and energy portfolio was entrusted not to a new political figure or an outside technocrat, but to a direct subordinate of Balluku: Enea Karakaçi, who headed OSHEE Group.

This detail may be the most revealing. Rama changed the minister, along with ministers elsewhere, but not the structure running the government’s largest sector in financial terms.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy brings together the largest public projects: national roads, concessions, energy, airports and ports. In practice, most of the government’s capital investment passes through it, as do the political costs.

For this reason, any change in its leadership is usually accompanied by a change of course, a shift in policy or investment approaches, or a review of contracts. In this case, none of that has happened.

On the contrary, even on her way out, Balluku is being praised as the government’s most successful minister.

The decision therefore looks more like distancing from an individual than a review of the policies Balluku directed, even though Rama did not state this clearly on Thursday.

The government preserved the administrative machinery and continuity of projects, suggesting that this is about managing the public cost, rather than taking political responsibility for how the sector has been governed.

This is reinforced by the promotion of Ermal Nufi, formerly chief of staff to Deputy Prime Minister Balluku, to defence minister in place of Pirro Vengu.

The context makes these developments even more significant. Balluku’s departure comes at a moment of open tension between the executive and SPAK. For the first time, criticism of the justice system has gone beyond isolated political statements to become part of the government’s institutional communication.

In this sense, the move looks less like a response to her performance as minister, which has been seriously called into question after major damage to several national roads, and more like a response to the legal risk the criminal investigation into her creates at high levels.

A few days earlier, the government proposed amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure aimed at limiting the suspension of senior officials from office during investigations, one of the main tools SPAK used to prevent the possibility of Balluku tampering with evidence.

With the Balluku case, judicial reform has for the first time created a real risk of criminal liability for government officials, and politics appears to be adapting to this new reality.

This “letting go” of Balluku by the government does not strip her of parliamentary immunity. SPAK therefore still cannot arrest her.

Through this move, the government implies that her suspension or removal from senior posts is enough to prevent obstruction of the investigation, even though SPAK has reported to parliament’s Council on Mandates that witnesses in the case have been threatened.

* This article was reviewed and corrected on 8 October 2026.