Blendi Klosi

Blendi Klosi (born 17 January 1971) is an Albanian politician and senior member of the Socialist Party of Albania (PS). He has served as General Secretary of the Socialist Party since 2023 and as a member of the Parliament of Albania for several legislatures. Klosi has held several ministerial posts, including Minister of Tourism and Environment from 2017 to 2021, Minister of Social Welfare and Youth from 2015 to 2017, and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports from 2003 to 2005.

A long-serving figure in the Socialist Party, Klosi has been closely associated with governments led by Fatos Nano and Edi Rama. His political career has also generated controversy. Opposition parties and environmental groups have accused him of responsibility for environmental mismanagement, procurement abuses and failure to protect protected areas during his tenure as environment minister. In 2020, the Democratic Party of Albania filed a complaint with the Special Structure against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK), accusing Klosi and several environmental officials of abuse of office and environmental crimes in connection with alleged damage to Dajti National Park. Klosi has not been publicly convicted in relation to these allegations.

Early life and education Klosi was born in Tirana on 17 January 1971.

Political career

Early government posts Klosi's political career began in January 2000, when he was appointed Deputy Minister of Local Government in the government of Prime Minister Ilir Meta.

From December 2003 to September 2005, Klosi served as Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in the government of Fatos Nano. In the 2009 Albanian parliamentary election, he was elected in Durrës County, and in the 2013 Albanian parliamentary election he was again elected as a Socialist Party MP for Durrës.

In the 2017 Albanian parliamentary election, Klosi led the Socialist Party list in Berat County and was elected to parliament. The Socialist Party won four of the county's seven seats.

During the 2025 Albanian parliamentary election, Klosi was assigned as a leading Socialist figure in Dibër County. He remained a member of parliament after the formation of the new legislature.

Minister of Social Welfare and Youth On 29 April 2015, Klosi was appointed Minister of Social Welfare and Youth, replacing Erion Veliaj, who left the post to run for Mayor of Tirana in the 2015 Albanian local elections.

On 13 March 2017, Prime Minister Edi Rama announced the replacement of four ministers, including Klosi, saying they would be involved in the Socialist Party's election campaign ahead of the June 2017 parliamentary election. Olta Xhaçka replaced Klosi as Minister of Social Welfare and Youth.

Minister of Tourism and Environment On 13 September 2017, Klosi was appointed Minister of Tourism and Environment in the Rama II Government, replacing Lefter Koka. He held the post until 18 September 2021, when he was replaced by Mirela Kumbaro in the Rama III Government. BIRN reported that Rama's reshuffle came shortly after Gjiknuri's name appeared in SPAK case files connected to former deputy prime minister Arben Ahmetaj and businessman Klodian Zoto, one of the figures linked to the incinerator concessions. Gjiknuri denied wrongdoing.

Role in the Rama era Klosi has been part of the Socialist Party's senior political leadership during most of Prime Minister Edi Rama's long tenure. He served in Rama's cabinets, represented the party in several counties, and later became General Secretary of the Socialist Party after Rama secured a third term and before the party's fourth consecutive mandate.

His rise and continued influence have occurred in a political environment that international assessments have described as competitive but affected by clientelist politics, corruption and weak institutional checks. Freedom House has described Albania's national governance as democratic but dominated by clientelist party politics and individual personalities, and stated that elections are competitive but frequently marred by vote-buying, manipulation, fraud and gerrymandering. The Bertelsmann Transformation Index stated in 2026 that patronage networks embedded in state institutions continued to affect Albania and that high-level corruption undermined institutional credibility. The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights reported that the 2025 parliamentary election was competitive and professionally managed, but held in a highly polarised environment without a level playing field, citing misuse of public resources, pressure on public employees and intimidation allegations.

Opposition figures have described Klosi as part of Rama's governing network and have linked his offices to broader accusations of state capture, patronage and corruption. Klosi and Socialist Party officials have rejected such characterisations, arguing that the party has supported justice reform and anti-corruption institutions.

Controversies and allegations

SPAK complaint over Dajti National Park In September 2020, the Democratic Party filed a complaint with SPAK against Klosi, then Minister of Tourism and Environment, and several officials from environmental agencies. Euronews Albania reported that the complaint accused Klosi and other officials of abuse of office and environmental crimes.

The organisations wrote that the project would cause irreversible damage to the ecosystem and risk opening the area to uncontrollable and unsustainable development. Klosi said that the municipality paid one fee and had later been ordered to accept a second fee, and argued that builders should take inert waste and soil to the landfill. AP reported that several other officials and businessmen were also sentenced and that all defendants had played a role in the concessionary procedures for the Fier incinerator. The Rama government had awarded three incinerator concessions to companies linked to the same businessmen.

When Klosi replaced Damian Gjiknuri as General Secretary of the Socialist Party in 2023, BIRN reported that the change came amid the broader fallout from corruption investigations involving the incinerators and former deputy prime minister Arben Ahmetaj. He said that the Socialist Party had no intention of becoming involved in judicial processes and would not hinder investigations.

Klosi also said that the government was ready to discuss concerns related to Zvërnec and that fencing around the contested area had been removed, while people responsible for the problem had been punished. He argued that the protests should remain peaceful and said that some new political actors were using the demonstrations to increase their own political strength.

Critics of the government viewed Klosi's position as part of the Socialist Party's wider attempt to contain and delegitimise the protests, while Klosi presented the government's stance as openness to dialogue on specific environmental issues but refusal to accept calls for resignation.

Personal life Klosi was married to Nora Klosi (Gega), with whom he has two children. Albanian media reported in March 2025 that the couple divorced after eighteen years of marriage.