“My generation’s struggle is not to look for a place to live, but to make Albania livable,” ‘Neomalsorja’ takes a swipe at Rama in the “Financial Times”: It’s personal for me too

In a post on social media, MP Marjana Koçeku, now independent, shared an interview she gave to the “Financial Times”. Speaking about the protests, ‘Neomalsorja’ said parents had raised their children with the idea that happiness lies beyond the borders, while the protests showed that Albanians are beginning to see their land as a place to live.

In her post, she writes that she expressed what she has felt for a long time, that the struggle of her generation is not to search for another place to live, but to make the country where they live livable, thus indirectly accusing the “Rama” government of having made the country difficult to live in.

“In this article, in the Financial Times, I expressed what I have felt for a long time and what I have also lived as a personal story: the struggle of our generation is not to look for another better place to live, but to make more livable the place to which we belong,” she declared.

The part of the article dedicated to Marjana Koçeku:

“After the outbreak of protests in Tirana, work appears to have stopped. Last week, no trucks, materials or construction workers were visible in the area, and the new fence had been removed.

The European Parliament, which has a say in Albania’s membership application, in mid-June called for a moratorium on all work and new construction permits in the country’s protected areas and demanded that the ‘five-star’ amendment be repealed.

For Marjana Koçeku, a 25-year-old lawmaker in Tirana, the protests show a shift in how young Albanians see their country.

Albania experienced mass emigration after the end of communist rule in 1991, but that flow is beginning to slow. Many members of the diaspora also returned to Tirana for the demonstrations, Koçeku said.

“Our parents raised us with the idea that happiness lies beyond the borders, but the protests are showing that Albanians are seeing their land as a place to live, instead of a place to leave.”

Koçeku’s life reflects this shift. Raised in an isolated mountain village in northern Albania, accessible only by boat, she left for Italy to study. But she returned to Albania to develop a sustainable tourism project at her family home before entering politics.

Last month, she left Rama’s ruling party over the Zvërnec coastline project, becoming the only independent MP in Albania’s parliament. Since then, she has received threats,” the article states.

For more than a month, Albania has been gripped by massive anti-government protests that began after violence was used against a citizen in Zvërnec, in Vlora, following protests in the area against construction.

The incident was followed by major protests, which have continued every day in front of the Prime Minister’s Office since the end of May.

In addition to the protests, there have also been figures from within the Socialist Party who have now joined the protesters, one of them being MP Marjana Koçeku, known to the public as “Neomalsorja”.