EU’s Solana urges Albania to elect consensus president

LUXEMBOURG — EU security chief Javier Solana met with Albanian Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha on Tuesday (June 19th) and urged the various Albanian political parties to reach consensus on a candidate to succeed outgoing President Alfred Moisiu. Solana added that both the ruling coalition and the opposition should work constructively, to ensure reforms necessary for NATO and EU integration are implemented.

Parliament had hoped to vote on Moisiu’s successor Wednesday. But without a single candidate to consider, the vote was put off. Talks continue among the various parties.

In other news, ruling Democratic Party candidate Iris Hoxha won Sunday’s special election to fill a parliamentary seat left vacant by the sudden death of lawmaker Bujar Jacell. Hoxha won with 50.55% of the vote, edging out opponent Samir Kodra.