Albania’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Ferit Hoxha, addressed the conference “Countering Information Manipulation and Foreign Interference: Albania and the Enlargement Context,” stating that protecting the information space has become one of the key challenges facing European democracies.

Hoxha said that foreign information manipulation and interference are no longer simply matters of competing narratives, but have evolved into hybrid pressure tools designed to undermine public trust, exploit social divisions, and interfere with democratic processes.

“Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference is no longer merely a matter of competing narratives. It is increasingly being used as a deliberate instrument of hybrid pressure, designed to erode trust, exploit social divisions, weaponise algorithms, amplify public discontent, and distort people’s perception of reality,” Hoxha said.

The minister stressed that the objective of such interference is not always to persuade citizens to accept a particular narrative, but often to undermine confidence in public institutions, independent media, and democracy itself.

“In a world increasingly dominated by social media and rapidly transformed by the fast-paced and largely unregulated development of artificial intelligence, no country is immune to these threats,” he added.

Hoxha also underlined that Albania, mindful of its own history of living without freedom, remains committed to defending democratic values. However, he noted that freedom also requires responsibility and respect for truth, citizens, and democratic institutions.

“In Albania, we understand better than most the price of freedom because we have experienced its absence. That is why we will spare no effort to protect the democratic values that we have earned through sacrifice,” the minister said.