Albania

Efforts to strike a deal in the parliamentary commission tasked with improving the electoral code have run again into the sand without a comprehensive agreement on reforms.Speaking to fellow Democratic Party MPs, Prime Minister Sali Berisha said on Tuesday that the ruling centre-right coalition had made efforts to accommodate opposition …

Albanian courts continue to issue lenient verdicts in cases involving corruption in the judiciary, hobbling Albania’s fight against the phenomenon.A court in the city of Fier earlier this week freed three suspects found guilty of a an attempt to bribe Albania’s Supreme Court. Although prosecutors proved that the three defendants …

According USAID’s 2011 civil society sustainability index, Albanian NGOs are increasingly shut out of the corridors of power and have little means of influencing public policy.The report by USAID makes grim reading for Albanian NGOs and civil society pressure groups. Despite efforts by NGO’s in 2011 to open up dialogue …

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha has dismissed Dick Marty’s report on organ trafficking during the Kosovo war, saying it was influenced by Belgrade.“When I learned that the major part of the report was written [by Serb Prosecutor Vladimir] Vukcevic, I felt dismayed,” Berisha said, responding to MPs’ questions in the …

Tarrif disputes between the two Albanian countries are hampering the goal of creating a single market – with a row over cement being the latest example.Ever since NATO helped mainly Albanian Kosovo break away from Serbia more than a decade ago, talk of creating a single market with neighbouring Albania …

Albania’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha inaugurated Ashta 1 on Friday, the country’s first major hydro-power plant since the early 1980s.“The Ashta power plant is a novelty because it is the largest one in the world to use advanced tubular turbines technology,” said Berisha during the inauguration ceremony. “This power plant …

Albania’s President-elect, Bujar Nishani, has tried to reassure the public that he is up to the job in spite of concerns about his health.In a statement for the Tirana daily Shqiptarja, Nishani’s personal physician revealed that the President has been previously treated for brain cavernoma, or malformations.

Albania’s parties failed to elect a president in the third round of voting by MPs for the presidency. The main opposition Socialists blamed

The European Commission adopted on 27 May proposals to allow Albanian and Bosnian citizens to travel to Schengen area without visas, if the two countries satisfy a number of requirements. “I know how much visa-free travel means to the people

Albanian PM Sali Berisha discussed on Sunday with opposition leader Edi Rama about agreeing on a candidate for president, but failed to reach any positive results. The opposition rejected Zaganjori’s candidature and asked for talks between