Albania was once a socialist backwater with just 1,265 cars in the whole country. And though living standards have improved considerably since that time, it’s failure to transform into a true market economy has handed power to drug lords and driven the brightest and best to emigrate, says Rainer Zitelmann

I was in Tirana, the capital of Albania, in May 2022 and October 2023. Albania is an increasingly popular tourist destination. In 2022, 7.5m holidaymakers visited the small country, which is home to just 2.8m people, and the numbers have continued to rise, reaching around 10m in 2023 and around 14m in 2024. The Mediterranean weather and low prices make the southern European coastal state extremely attractive.

A friend sent me a Whatsapp message before I left for the airport: “Don’t let yourself be robbed in the rogue state of Albania”. In Tirana, I met Adri Nurellari, an impressive individual who shaped the libertarian movement in Albania and studied in London. He was an advisor to the Democratic Party in Albania and now advises the Democratic Party in Kosovo. On the subject of security and crime, he explained that, yes, there is a high level of crime in the drug sector. But precisely because criminals can earn huge amounts of money from growing and selling drugs, petty crime is not worth it: “Why steal a few hundred euros from a tourist when you can make millions from illegal drugs?”

At dinner I asked Bjorna, a member of Students for Liberty, how people make a living here. “Do you really not know that?” she asked me and laughed, “on the cultivation and sale of marijuana”. Of course she didn’t mean........

© City A.M.