Albania

At the George W. Bush café in the Albanian town of Fushe Kruja, clients were glued to the television screen on Sunday morning as they watched Albania’s parliamentary election unfold. Roughly 3.1 million Albanians are eligible to vote for the country’s next parliament, in one of the most scrutinised elections …

TIRANA, Albania Albania opened a new border crossing with Kosovo on Thursday (June 25th) in the municipality of Dragash. The Glloboqice-Borje crossing is only for pedestrian traffic during limited periods each day. The facility is important for the Gorani and Bosnian minority communities, who are concentrated on both sides of …

A new border point opened between Glloboqice in Kosovo and the town of Borje in Albania on Wednesday. The head of Kosovo Border Police, Bejar Selimi, Albania’s ambassador to Kosovo, Islam Lauka, municipality workers and hundreds of people from both the municipalities of Sharr in Kosovo and Kukes in Albania …

TIRANA, Albania Sweden, which assumes the rotating EU presidency on July 1st, urged the European Commission on Monday (June 22nd) to offer an opinion on Albania’s application for EU candidate status during the second half of the year.

TIRANA, Albania The United States and the EU on Friday (June 19th) once again called on Albania to hold free and fair elections to boost its chances for closer ties with the West, media reported. In a statement, the US Embassy in Tirana said next week’s elections will test the …

Albania’s President Bamir Topi has invited the presidents of neighboring Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro to visit his country next week. Topi is to host Macedonian President Georgi Ivanov, Kosovo’s Fatmir Sejdiu and Montenegro’s Filip Vujanovic in the town of Vlora. They are expected to discuss regional issues, according to Macedonia’s …

Albania has made huge progress despite missing targets to qualify EU visa-free status by the end of the year, according to the country’s foreign minister. “The commission has recognized that Albania is progressing at full speed toward the government’s major goal, lifting visa restrictions within 12 months,” said foreign minister …

TIRANA, Albania Greek authorities are allowing Albanian immigrants to visit their country for the June 28th general elections. The Greek Interior Ministry said on Wednesday (June 10th) that all Albanian immigrants can go home twice this year and come back to Greece legally, between late June and late September.

TIRANA, Albania The OSCE on Tuesday (June 9th) urged political parties in Albania to boost mutual trust to enable free and fair elections later this month, in line with international standards.

Albania is heading a series of NATO led naval exercises in the Adriatic Sea, a first for the newly promoted member of the alliance. The war games which include thousands of marines and officers from Albania, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Italy and Montenegro, aim to strengthen cooperation between naval forces in …