Albania

The EU wants Albania to resolve its political stalemate by May 10th, for the good of the country’s integration processes. The ruling Democratic Party and the opposition Socialist Party have been at odds for months over the June 2009 general elections. The EU needs facts not promises, Spain’s Ambassador to …

The European Union on Tuesday proposed Georgia be included in its visa facilitation and readmission mechanism, increasing the number of such beneficiary countries to nine. The proposal was made by the European Commission, the executive arm of the 27-nation bloc.

Brussels will lift travel visa requirements for Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in October, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Monday (April 26th), after EU foreign ministers met with EC Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele in Luxembourg.

The European Commission (EC) says Albania has completed just one of four sections of its EU visa liberalisation questionnaire, local media reported on Sunday (April 25th). Government and local integration officials had assured the public that Tirana has met all technical criteria in the process. The section praised by Brussels …

The UN war crimes tribunal announced on Friday (April 16th) it will rule on an appeal by former Macedonian security official Johan Tarculovski on May 19th. He was given a 12-year sentence for a police attack on the Albanian-populated village of Ljuboten, near Skopje, during the 2001 conflict between Macedonia’s …

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha has delivered in Brussels a copy of his country’s completed European Union pre-accession questionnaire, and faced criticism over the country’s deadlocked political situation from the EU enlargement commissioner.

The Albanian government passed a bill on Tuesday that will lift visa restrictions for Serbian citizens traveling to Albania, and parliament is now expected to adopt the measure. The decision follows the visit of Albanian Foreign Minister Ilir Meta to Belgrade in early March. Meta’s trip to the Serbian capital …

Albanian President Bamir Topi on Wednesday kicks off his two-day official visit to neighboring Macedonia. Topi is expected to meet his Macedonian counterpart, Georgi Ivanov, Parliament Speaker Trajko Veljanoski and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. They are set to discuss bilateral issues as well as regional topics.

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha announced on Tuesday that the government had filed the EU questionnaire on the country’s readiness to join the bloc. “We hope to receive an objective evaluation from those who review it,” Berisha said during a cabinet meeting.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini announced on Monday in Tirana that the EU will announce the visa liberalisation decision for Albania on July 2 at the Sarajevo summit.