Local elections in Albania

The Socialist Party wins most municipalities in Albania's local elections. The opposition accuses the party of electoral fraud.

On 14 May, new mayors and municipal councils were elected throughout Albania. The majority of mayoral posts were won by the Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama. The coalition "Bashkë Fitojmë" of Sali Berisha and Ilir Meta could only win a few smaller municipalities, the Democrats under Enkelejd Alibeaj none.

Albania: Political and Social Impact One Year After the Start of the War in Ukraine

Reliable Partner of the West and Concerns in the Population

One year after the beginning of the Russian war of aggression, Albania is showing itself to be a reliable partner of Ukraine and the Western community of security and values. The government, opposition and civil society have unanimously condemned the Russian invasion.

Der Russische Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine – Reaktionen auf dem Westbalkan

Der russische Angriff auf die Ukraine am 24. Februar 2022 hat in Europa, dem breiteren Westen aber auch weltweit für starke Reaktionen gesorgt – gerade letzteres zeigte sich in einer Resolution der Vollversammlung der Vereinten Nationen vom 2. März, als diese das russische Vorgehen mit einer überwältigenden Mehrheit von 141 gegen 5 bei 35 Enthaltungen verurteilte. Alle Länder des Westbalkan stimmten in New York für die Resolution – jedoch unterhält die Region komplizierte historische, politische, wirtschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Beziehun-gen zu Russland, aber auch zur Ukraine. Wie also haben die Menschen und politischen Institutionen der Region das Handeln Russlands aufgefasst? Welche Narrative herrschen vor? Und was ist für die Zukunft zu erwarten? Die Auslandsmitarbeiter der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Belgrad, Sarajevo, Tirana, Skopje und Zagreb berichten.

Albania Has Voted

Prime Minister Edi Rama was confirmed in office – the Democratic Party is returning to parliament – the big loser in this election is the Socialist Movement for Integration.

Last Sunday, just under 3.6 million Albanians were called upon to elect a new parliament, with Prime Minister Edi Rama having been re-elected once again. Contender Lulzim Basha did not succeed in preventing Rama’s third term of office. Having said that, his Democratic Party are returning to parliament following a two-year boycott and have achieved the best result since 2009. Heavy losses were suffered by the Socialist Movement for Integration led by Monika Kryemadhi, however. Whereas election day in itself ran smoothly, the country experienced a somewhat violent end to the election campaign. Moreover, there were severe accusations of election fraud and irregularities before and after the election.

Albania on the Cusp of Parliamentary Elections

Albania will elect its next parliament on 25 April. Prime Minister Edi Rama from the Socialist Party aims for re-election and his third mandate. Contender Lulzim Basha from the Democratic Party wants to prevent this.

Less than two months before the national parliamentary elections, Albanian parties are starting to position themselves. The opposition is trying to close the political ranks with an alliance of more than one dozen parties. It focuses its electoral campaign on the ailing economy with rising unemployment, mass migration as well as low levels of trust in the judicial system. The ruling Socialists point to the many infrastructure projects taking place across the country and place their hopes on Prime Minister Rama’s charisma. The debate on opening EU accession negotiations still hovers in the background. In principle, the election is also shaped by the special circumstances of the corona pandemic.

Light and Shadows – An Analysis of the EU’s Preconditions for Albania

Entering EU accession talks with Albania is subject to fulfilling the six preconditions – even if progress has been made, central points have not yet been fully met.

After the German Bundestag had established conditions for entering accession negotiations with Albania already in September 2019, the Council of the European Union (EU) followed suit in March 2020. The Ministers for Europe of the 27 EU states adopted and supplemented demands from the Bundestag so that the West Balkan state must now fulfil 15 conditions before the individual negotiations chapters or clusters can be opened. Six of which still need to be fulfilled prior to beginning the 1st intergovernmental conference. Even though great hopes were placed on these six conditions being fulfilled before the end of 2020 and, thus, on the conference taking place as part of the German EU Council Presidency, the chances of this are currently dwindling. A more detailed analysis on the status of fulfilling the six preconditions shows that Albania has made some good progress over the last half year, though some central points have not yet been fully met.

Albania: Autocratic Measures in the Shadows of Corona

Demolition of the Albanian National Theatre in Cloak-and-Dagger Operation

The Mayor of Tirana engaged in a cloak-and-dagger operation to demolish the capital´s historic National Theatre. This is not the only controversial decision taken by the ruling socialists during the Corona crisis.

Balkans: Geopolitics in Times of Corona

Foreign Aid and Public Relations Work and Their Perception in South East Europe

The coronavirus pandemic is a stress test for global value chains, national health systems and the resilience of societies – with no clear outcome. Against the backdrop of the crisis, we are also witnessing a geopolitical, systemic competition to win the hearts and minds of states and societies and to dominate global narratives. True to the motto that every crisis harbours an opportunity, the People´s Republic of China and the Russian Federation in particular are striving to gain sympathies in selected countries through rapid aid and its propagandistic staging, so as to highlight the superiority of their own systems and thus to expand their soft power. It would be naive to assume that their actions are guided solely by humanitarian considerations and international solidarity. What´s more, they are applying illegitimate methods such as fake news and disinformation campaigns as well.

Çelja e bisedimeve të anëtarësimit me BE-në: Një shpresë e re për Shqipërinë

Bashkimi Europian hap dritën e gjelbër për çeljen me kusht të bisedimeve të anëtarësimit për Shqipërinë – Kërkohet kontroll më i fortë nga Komisioni Europian

Bashkimi Europian synon të nisë bisedimet e anëtarësimit me Shqipërinë dhe Maqedoninë e Veriut. Për këtë ranë dakord Ministrat për Çështjet Europiane të 27 vendeve anëtare të martën, më 24 mars 2020 gjatë një videokonference. Tashmë pritet vetëm miratimi formal me shkrim i vendeve anëtare. Ky vendim u përshëndet nga të gjitha palët. Megjithatë si pala gjermane, ashtu dhe opozita shqiptare tërheq vëmendjen për faktin se Shqipëria duhet të përmbushë 15 kushte paraprake, të cilat shkojnë përtej kërkesave të Bundestag-ut gjerman, të formuluara në shtator të vitit 2019. Kështu u bë i mundur edhe miratimin nga ana e vendeve skeptike. Në fillim të herës Komisioni Europian kishte propozuar nisjen pa kushte të bisedimeve të anëtarësimit.

Eröffnung von EU-Beitrittsgesprächen: Neue Hoffnung für Albanien

Die EU gibt grünes Licht für Beitrittsgespräche mit Albanien unter Vorbedingungen – Strengere Kontrolle durch die Kommission gefordert

Die EU will Beitrittsverhandlungen mit Albanien und Nordmazedonien aufnehmen. Darauf einigten sich die Europaminister der 27 EU-Staaten am Dienstag, den 24. März 2020 in einer Videoschalte. Formell müssen nun noch die Mitgliedsländer im schriftlichen Verfahren zustimmen. Die Entscheidung wurde allenthalben begrüßt. Allerdings wurde sowohl von deutscher Seite als auch von der albanischen Opposition darauf hingewiesen, dass Albanien die Erfüllung von 15 Vorbedingungen auferlegt wurde. Damit ging man über die Forderungen des Deutschen Bundestags vom September 2019 hinaus und ermöglicht auch die Zustimmung von Skeptikern. Die EU-Kommission hatte ursprünglich eine bedingungslose Aufnahme von Beitrittsverhandlungen vorgeschlagen.