Agim Nesho The establishment of Serbia's new government and the emergence of ultra-nationalist pro-Russian figures like Vulin deal a heavy blow to Western policy and its strategy to bring Serbia closer to the EU. Despite Ambassador Hill's assertion that "Serbia is closer to NATO than Kosovo," Vucic's nationalists responded with unrestrained arrogance by promoting Vulin, a Serbian nationalist advocating for Serbian interests, a recent recipient of Putin's highest decoration, a nationalist openly seeking Serbia's alignment with the Global South alliance and anti-Western agenda. The US policy t ..read more

Albanian businesses and individuals have for years complained that bank transfers -- both domestic and international -- are costly and slow. SEPA membership would help solve the problem.  TIRANA, Apr. 30, 2024 - Albania has started procedures to join the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) -- a move experts say would significantly lower costs and make it easier and faster to make online payments for Albanian businesses and individual bank customers. Bank of Albania -- the country’s central bank -- is expected to file a membership application after its supervisory council clears the way for t ..read more

TIRANA, Apr. 30, 2024 - Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj was summoned on Tuesday to the office of Albania’s Special Prosecutors for Organized Crime and Corruption (SPAK) as part of its investigation into corruption related to the construction of the Tirana waste incinerator.  The move marks the first time Mr. Veliaj has been summoned by SPAK, while he has long been at the center of attacks by Albania’s center-right opposition, which sees the Socialist mayor as a key figure in the Tirana incinerator case and other alleged corruption tied to the municipal government, the country’s largest local go ..read more

AIIS’ international conference gathers decision-makers and experts in Tirana to discuss regional security Two significant anniversaries set the stage for an international conference organized by the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS): the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Albania's 15th anniversary of NATO membership. With a touch of irony referencing Albania's communist history, the event was titled "From Enemy to 15 Years of Membership: Albania's Inspiring Journey in NATO." Against the backdrop of these milestone ..read more

When the newly elected European Parliament convenes this year on July 16 there will be an empty seat in the plenary hall within the Louise Weiss building in Strasbourg. Fredi Beleri, a dual Albanian and Greek national, who will surely be elected on the ticket of Greece’s ruling party, cannot be there as he sits in an Albanian prison awaiting appeal. Possibly Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ New Democracy party aims with this candidacy to shore up support among conservative voters after the adoption of a controversial gay marriage law last February which cost the party support on its right f ..read more

Albania’s parliament, under the control of the Socialist Party, has overturned a decision made by the Constitutional Court that would see to the expulsion of MP Olta Xhaçka from parliament. Xhaçka is a former Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as the Minister of Defence, and is seen as a key figure in the government of the Socialist Party.  According to Albania’s opposition, Olta Xhaçka is in a clear conflict of interest because her husband, former Socialist MP Artan Gaçi, has benefited from state funds through his status as a “strategic investor.” That status comes with competitive adva ..read more

TIRANA, April 8, 2024 - When Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj returned to work last week after a short stay in hospital for a surgical procedure, he faced a nasty surprise: Most of his top management team at city hall had been arrested on corruption-related charges.  On the orders of the Special Prosecution for Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK), the latest group of top municipality officials had been taken to pre-trial detention, home arrest or ordered to make regular visits to prosecutors. They join another group of municipal officials that had been charged late last year in another affair ..read more

TIRANA, April 2, 2024 - Eight people died in the early hours of Tuesday in southern Albania, near the Greek border, as an Albanian driver speed up and fell into a ravine trying to avoid a police checkpoint because he was carrying seven non-European irregular migrants across Albania on their way from Greece to the Western Europe.  Authorities are still trying to piece together the details of the 4:30 a.m. single vehicle crash on the Këlcyrë-Përmet road which hugs the Greek border, but police note that preliminary data suggests that the migrants appeared to have crossed the border illegally ..read more

TIRANA, March 26, 2024 - The Standard & Poor’s (S&P) credit rating agency, one of the three largest in the world, has upgraded Albania's long-term sovereign credit rating by one notch, pushing it for the first time into 'BB-' from 'B+'. "The rating strengthens Albania's external positions and brings tangible benefits to the country's economy," said Finance Minister Ervin Mete, explaining that "now the country will be perceived more positively by foreign investors to invest in Albania, which is expected to translate into higher foreign investments, as well as easier conditions for Alban ..read more

TIRANA, March 25, 2024 - A launch event for the Albanian language edition of “A Concise History of Greece” has generated wide interest in the book, which brings a detailed overview of modern Greece's political, economic and social developments to local readers.  The latest edition of the book by renowned British academic Richard Clogg is part of a well-known series published in English by Cambridge Press and has been published for the Albanian readers by the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS), which held the launch event in cooperation with the Greek Embassy in Tirana and ..read more