Himare

There is currently no mention of Albania as a European Union candidate country in the Enlargement chapter of the latest draft of the forthcoming European Council, which starts Thursday.

Fredi Beleri's request to be sworn in as mayor of Himare was rejected by Albania's Special Appeals Court for Corruption and Organized Crime on Monday.

Beleri was arrested in May on voting fraud charges just before winning the municipal election in the predominantly ethnic-Greek southern Albanian region of Himare. He is currently in pretrial detention.

Albania's Special Appeals Court for Corruption and Organized Crime is set to resume the examination of Fredi Beleri's request on Monday. Beleri, the elected mayor of Himare currently in pretrial detention on charges of vote-buying, is seeking permission to be sworn in before the municipal council.

Greece is adopting a firmer stance concerning the conditions for Albania's entry into the European Union over the case of Fredi Beleri, an ethnic Greek elected as the mayor of Himare in southern Albania during the municipal elections on May 14 though prevented from being sworn in due to an arrest on alleged vote-buying two days earlier.

The decision on the request by incarcerated ethnic Greek Fredi Beleri to be sworn as mayor of Himare in southern Albania will be made by the neighboring country's Special Court on December 4, "after six months of procrastination," he told Skai Radio in an interview on Tuesday.

The road to Albania's EU membership negotiations faces an unexpected halt due to Greece's recent action, reported EurActiv. Greece has wielded its influence within the Council of the EU to obstruct the opening of the initial five chapters necessary for Albania's EU membership negotiations to commence.

Greece's decision not to agree to a joint letter of the 27 European Union member-states to Albania on the opening of negotiations of the first package of accession chapters constitutes a substantial escalation of the hard stance toward Tirana due to the ongoing violation of the rights of Fredi Beleri, an ethnic Greek who was jailed just before he was elected mayor of Himare in the neighboring c

The European Commission's progress report on Albania, an EU hopeful, highlights the case of Fredi Beleri, an issue that continues to cause tensions between Athens and Tirana. Beleri has been in detention since May, facing allegations of vote buying, following his election as the mayor of the predominantly ethnic-Greek city of Himare in southern Albania.

Defense attorneys in the trial of ethnic Greek mayor-elect Fredi Beleri on vote-buying charges in Albania are highlighting what they call the different standards deployed by the Albanian judiciary.

Members of the ethnic Greek community allege charges against Beleri are linked to investments around the town of Himare, whose tourist development has been rapid in recent years. 

Fredi Beleri, the mayor-elect of Himare, in southern Albania, currently held in detention pending trial on corruption charges, has accused judicial authorities of intentionally delaying the case for political convenience.