Ilir Meta

Demolition workers bulldozing the National Theatre in Tirana, Albania, on May 17, 2020. Photo: Nensi Bogdani/BIRN

The demolition was bitterly opposed by activists, opposition politicians and artists who wanted the buildings originally constructed during World War II during the Italian occupation to be renovated.

Bulgaria's and Albania's common aim is to achieve security, stability and prosperity in the Balkans. To this end, we should show solidarity and compassion in hard times such as the time of the devastating earthquake in Durres.

At a meeting with Ilir Meta in Tirana, Rumen Radev voiced our country's expectation that a quick progress will be achieved in enforcing the rights of the Bulgarian national minority

Albania Prime Minister Edi Rama speaking in parliament on 30 January. Photo: Malton Dibra/LSA

The head of the Socialist parliamentary group, Taulant Balla, said the vote would be postponed while the Council of Venice, the advisory body to the Council of Europe, carried out an express evaluation.

Pressure is growing on the Albanian government over its "anti-defamation" laws, after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, CoE, said it had asked its advisory body, the Venice Commission, for its opinion.

Albanian President Ilir Meta speaking to the media in Tirana on 20 December 2019. Photo: Malton Dibra/LSA

The new laws "could place the Albania on the brink of authoritarianism and endanger its [EU] integration and the very existence of democracy in the country," Meta wrote in the explanatory note accompanying his decree.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama (left) and the now resigned Mayor of Shkodra Valdrin Pjetri, during the Socialist Party election campaign. Photo: Facebook

Albania is in the grips of a deep constitutional and institutional crisis driven by a deliberate plot to hijack the state in the service of vested interests, the country's president, Ilir Meta, tells Kathimerini in an interview.

She added that there is no room for provocations.
Albanian President Ilir Meta, who spoke on the plenary session of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) right before Serbian Prime Minister, called on Bosnia-Herzegovina to recognize "the fact that Kosovo is an independent and sovereign state".

Albania President Ilir Meta at a press conference in Tirana on Tuesday. Photo: Gent Shkullaku/LSA

The Albanian president accused billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros of being responsible for what he called "a conspiracy aimed at totally capturing the state".