Albania: PACE official to join political deadlock negotiations

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) President Mevlut Cavusoglu will head a delegation to assist President Bamir Topi in mediating political negotiations between the government and the opposition in the ongoing boycott of parliament. Cavusoglu’s delegation will support the process to restore political dialogue in Albania, the office of the Council of Europe in Tirana announced on Thursday (February 18th).

In other news, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Joao Soares is urging the opposition Socialist Party (SP) to end the parliamentary boycott. Soares has welcomed the idea of setting up a parliamentary commission to investigate alleged irregularities in the June 2009 general elections. Soares made the statement in Vienna, after meeting on Thursday with Albanian Parliament Speaker Jozefina Topalli and SP leader Edi Rama.