In a political move that has captured both local and international attention, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has introduced a sweeping new government following a decisive victory in the May 2025 general elections. Among the most headline-grabbing changes is the appointment of the world’s first AI-generated government minister, a virtual entity named “Diella,” tasked with overseeing public tenders in a bid to eradicate corruption from Albania’s public procurement process.
At a meeting of his ruling Socialist Party on September 11, 2025, Rama unveiled the new cabinet lineup, which primarily features established party figures with a few notable returns of former ministers. While the reshuffling of ministerial posts was anticipated, Rama’s announcement of Diella—the AI minister—sent ripples through both the Albanian political landscape and the broader international community. According to France24, Rama declared, “Diella is the first (government) member who is not physically present, but virtually created by artificial intelligence.”
The creation of Diella, whose name means “sun” in Albanian, is more than a symbolic gesture. Rama has entrusted this AI entity with the responsibility of all decisions on public tenders, insisting that its artificial intelligence will make the process “100-percent corruption-free and every public fund submitted to the tender procedure will be perfectly transparent,” as reported by AFP and echoed by Digital Journal. This bold experiment is part of a broader campaign to address corruption—a persistent issue that has long plagued Albania’s public sector and remains a key hurdle in the country’s ongoing bid to join the European Union.
Diella is not a completely new presence in Albanian public life. The AI was launched in January 2025 as a virtual assistant designed to help citizens navigate the official e-Albania platform, which provides a range of digital documents and government services. The AI, which appears as a woman in traditional Albanian costume, has already proven its utility: official figures cited by BBC and Balkan Insight indicate that Diella has helped issue 36,600 digital documents and provided nearly 1,000 services through the platform as of September 11.
Prime Minister Rama’s decision to elevate Diella from a virtual assistant to a government minister is as much about symbolism as it is about functionality. In a country where accusations of nepotism and conflicts of interest have dogged public procurements for years, Rama is betting that a non-human, algorithm-driven official might finally break the cycle. “Diella will be entrusted with all decisions on public tenders, making them ‘100-percent corruption-free and every public fund submitted to the tender procedure will be perfectly transparent,’” Rama told his party, according to AFP.
Yet, this high-tech appointment is only part of the political drama unfolding in Tirana. In a move that caught many by surprise, Rama also formally dismissed Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj, who was arrested in February on charges of corruption and money laundering and is expected to face trial soon. Rama thanked Veliaj for his twelve years of service to the capital and acknowledged the acting mayor’s efforts over the past seven months. “But today we must make a political decision, to pave the way for elections for the mayor of Tirana,” Rama announced, as reported by Balkan Insight.
Rama then named Ogerta Manastirliu, the former Minister of Education, as his candidate for the new mayor of Tirana—remarkably, she was unaware of her own nomination at the time. “I am sorry,” Rama said, apologizing to Manastirliu for the surprise. This top-down approach to decision-making has drawn criticism from opposition leaders and even some within his own party, who see it as evidence of Rama’s increasingly autocratic tendencies. Dorjan Teliti, a coordinator for economic issues in the opposition Democratic Party, remarked, “Tirana is being run by the Prime Minister and not by the Municipal Council. It is useless to wait for decisions from official offices … when the answers always come from a single office, away from the public eye. Every movement, every project, every decision, has a single signature.” Teliti further argued, “This situation clearly shows us that democracy has turned into a play, where the actors change, but the director always remains the same.”
Despite these criticisms, Rama’s Socialist Party is riding high after securing an unprecedented fourth term in office, winning 83 out of 140 seats in the May elections. The opposition Democratic Party, meanwhile, has chosen not to recognize the election results but will still take its seats in the new parliament—a compromise that underscores Albania’s ongoing political tensions.
Rama is not content with simply reshuffling ministers and introducing AI into government. He has also called for significant structural changes to Albania’s legislative branch, proposing a reduction in the number of parliamentary seats from 140 to 101, or even fewer if possible. “Even fewer, if it is possible,” he stated, suggesting that a smaller, more efficient parliament would be more in line with Albania’s aspirations as a candidate for EU membership. He also advocated for a new parliament building that would “be worthy of an EU candidate country,” according to Balkan Insight.
The fight against corruption remains front and center in Rama’s vision for Albania’s future. As BBC and other outlets have reported, tackling graft in public administration is a key criterion for EU accession, and Rama has set an ambitious target for Albania to join the political bloc by 2030. With a population of about 2.8 million, Albania’s road to EU membership has been long and fraught with obstacles, but the prime minister’s recent moves—however controversial—signal a determination to address the country’s most persistent challenges through both technological innovation and political maneuvering.
As Rama prepares to present his new cabinet to lawmakers in the coming days, all eyes are on how these changes will play out. Will Diella, the AI minister, live up to its promise of perfect transparency and a corruption-free procurement process? Or will the experiment expose new vulnerabilities in a system already viewed with skepticism by many Albanians? Only time will tell, but for now, Albania stands at the center of a fascinating experiment in governance—one that could have implications far beyond its borders.
With the world watching, Albania’s embrace of artificial intelligence in public administration marks a bold, if untested, step toward transparency and reform. The coming months will reveal whether this gamble pays off, or whether the old challenges of politics and power prove too entrenched for even the most advanced algorithms to overcome.