Albania

An event under the title “103 years since the Autonomy of Northern Epirus” took place on Monday March 27th in the European Parliament in Brussels. The event was organized by the Greek European MP Notis Marias and the “European Conservatives and Reformists” (Anti-federalists) and it was co-hosted by the “National Association North Epirus 1914”.

Photo: Tandem Post [email protected] / Twitter

FYROM (Macedonia) has accused neighboring Albania of interfering in its domestic affairs, saying that Tirana is trying to influence the Balkan country's ethnic Albanian minority, RFE/RL reporting.

Trade between Albania and Kosovo is not meeting targets set by representatives from both countries, with Albania's exports falling in value in 2016 from around 157 million euros to 125 million euros annually.

The drop is fuelling concerns that small and medium-sized businesses are receiving inferior treatment. 

The Albanian ambassador in Skopje was on Monday "called to a meeting at Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs," the ministry has announced.

The reason are "the frequent offensive statements and comments by officials of the Republic of Albania, addressed to the Republic of Macedonia and its citizens."

Former Prime Minister of Albania Salji Berisa boasted publicly for the first time about giving a great assistance in weapons to the former so-called Kosovo Liberation Army.

Berisa said that after the fall of communism in Albania he decided to open the doors of military arms depots, and one of the reasons was to arm Albanians in Kosovo, reported MIA in Macedonian language.

Few people automatically think of Albania when it comes to arranging their holidays, but data showing that Albanian tourism is growing fast has speeded up a drive to formalize the touristic market, codify hotel ratings and promote growth by hunting for foreign investments.

Albania's Ministry of Economy and Tourism told BIRN that the main focus now is to continue the upwards trend.

Albania hopes to be a major player in the distribution of gas in the region as a result of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, TAP, which will start bringing natural gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe in 2020.

The project, work on which will start within the next three years, will run through Albania with 215 kilometres on land and 37 km offshore in the Adriatic Sea.

Industry in Bulgaria has one of the highest profit rates in Europe but pays some of the lowest salaries in the EU, an expert analysis  of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria shows, cited by BNR.

The results were presented at a national conference titled ''Social Dialogue for Fair Pay'' organized by the trade union.

Albanian opposition leader Lulzim Basha, from the centre-right Democratic Party (PD) gave an interview to controversial American media outlet Breitbart during a visit to the United States to raise awareness about the political situation in the country.

Albania's government has made public the files of the sinister Directorate of State Security Sigurimi from the time ofthe communist dictator Enver Hoxha, reported BGNES.

There are millions of documents collected in tens of thousands of files of people persecuted by the regime.

During the rule of Hoxha, over 100,000 people were arrested and thrown into camps.