Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama (center) during the 2026 NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8. [Filip Singer/EPA]
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was among the leaders who emerged from the NATO summit in Ankara with a significant public relations win. Wearing his trademark white sneakers and standing confidently in the front row beside US President Donald Trump for the traditional group photograph at the close of the meeting, Rama once again attracted attention. The moment when NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, laughing, pointed out Rama’s unconventional footwear to Trump quickly became one of the summit’s most widely circulated images.
Back home, however, Rama’s taste for the unconventional appears to be losing some of its appeal, with critics increasingly dismissing his eccentric gestures as political theatrics. They point to episodes such as his kneeling to kiss Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hand, his proposal to create a sovereign microstate in Tirana for the Bektashi Order, a Sufi Muslim community, and now his all-white sneakers at a gathering of NATO leaders.
Beyond the lighter commentary, Rama has also faced sharp criticism from prominent political observers. Among them was Orgen Peci, writing in the pro-government daily Dita, who offered a particularly harsh assessment.
