Albania

The European Commission's progress report on Greece's neighbor Albania, which opened accession negotiations with the EU in 2022, noted a determination to implement the required European reforms and some progress, but also urged Tirana to undertake further efforts regarding "freedom of expression, minority issues and property rights, as well as in key areas of the rule of law, such as the fight

Albania will hold a maximum of 3,000 migrants at any one time under a deal announced this week allowing Italy to build two migrant reception and detention camps there, official documents showed on Wednesday.

The scheme is the first example of a non-EU country accepting migrants on behalf of an EU nation, and is part of an bloc-wide drive to clamp down on irregular immigration.

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.

Italy's government is hailing as "historic" a plan to send seaborne migrants to Albania, but experts and opposition politicians warn that it could face significant bureaucratic and human rights obstacles.

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. 

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called on North Macedonia to finish the changes to its constitution.

She gave a joint briefing with Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski in Skopje, where she is visiting as part of her tour of the Western Balkans.

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic received a farewell visit from Albanian Ambassador to Belgrade Ilir Bocka on Monday.

Vucic thanked Bocka for his cooperation and the personal contribution he made during his nine-year tenure to building better Serbia-Albania relations.

FOTO TANJUG/JADRANKA ILIĆ

FOTO TANJUG/JADRANKA ILIĆ

FOTO TANJUG/JADRANKA ILIĆ

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.

BELGRADE - Serbian MPs on Thursday approved several agreements, including a FTA with China and an agreement on food security mechanisms in the Western Balkans.

The FTA with China pertains to 10,412 Serbian products and 8,930 Chinese products.

The case of Fredi Beleri, the ethnic Greek elected mayor of Himare, in southern Albania, who is being tried by a special court on charges of corruption, is stoking tensions on the domestic political scene.