Albania

The campaign for the first Kosovo local elections since the province unilaterally declared independence in February last year will begin on November 15. 74 parties, coalitions and citizens’ movements are taking part in the ballot. They include 37 Kosovo Albanian and 21 Serb lists.

Croatia will testify before the International Court of Justice on behalf of Kosovo in December, a move daily Novi List believes will sour relations with Serbia. Croatia’s appearance before ICJ will not be taken lightly by Belgrade, and that Zagreb is steeling itself for a negative reaction. 

Albania has continued to make some progress in strengthening its government structures. At the same time, it needs to further strengthen the capacity, coordination and strategic planning for EU integration, reads the European Commission’s 2009 progress report for the country.

India’s public is appalled at Albania’s request for transfer of remains of humanist Mother Teresa from India to Albania. The Mother Teresa Humanitarian Mission in India claim that Albania did not accept Mother Teresa during communist-era and that now such a request should be rejected. The reactions in India came …

Albania’s opposition Socialist Party staged a rally in Tirana on Saturday, calling for a recount of the ballots from the June 28 parliamentary elections. The rally was attended by several thousand party supporters and was also backed by several minor opposition parties and various civil society groups. Socialist leader Edi …

Albanian Academy of Science has finally come up with its own stance on the newly-published Macedonian encyclopedia which triggered an avalanche of reactions in Albania.

The European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee has urged the European Commission, EC, to change its plan for visa-liberalisation in the Balkans. The committee asked the EC to tentatively add Albania and Bosnia to the White Schengen list, pending the fulfillment of benchmarks, and to urgently open talks on the visa …

Albania’s Foreign Minister Ilir Meta and his Serbian counterpart Vuk Jeremic, have agreed to strengthen cooperation between their two countries. The pair’s meeting came on the sidelines of a regional conference of the so-called Visegrad states in Budapest on Tuesday, and was followed by a joint press conference. While the …

The Presevo Valley should be a separate region inside Serbia, since existing administrative divisions do not protect minority rights, the president of Bujanovac municipality, Shaip Kamberi, tells daily Politika. “Even though the Serbian government disagrees, we consider that a region, which would recognise language, religious and other diversity, would be …

Albania’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha arrived in Pristina today for a two-day visit, his first since Kosovo’s declaration of independence. Berisha will meet Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, President Fatmir Sejdiu, Assembly Speaker Jakup Krasniqi and other political party heads, as well as leading business figures.