Ilir Meta

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".

The elections were held in the tense atmosphere due to the fear of potential incidents, that were avoided.
Apart from the low turnout, those elections will be remembered by the boycott of the opposition that happened for the first time after the fall of the Communist regime in the country back in 1990, Macedonian web portal a1on reports.

An unknown number of Albanians will go to the polls this Sunday to elect 61 Mayors and 1,590 members of local councils in the most contested elections held in the country since the collapse of Communism almost three decades ago.

Albania opposition supporters protesting against Prime Minister Edi Rama in Tirana on June 21 2019. Photo: Gjergj Erebara/BIRN

The attack occurred on Thursday evening when about 200 people assembled at the election centre of the Municipality of Vau i Dejws, an opposition Democratic Party stronghold.

President Ilir Meta (left) and Prime Minister Edi Rama during a ceremony of remembrance for WWII heroes on May 5 2019. Photo: LSA

After the failure of the meeting requested by the President, Meta said he was setting a new date for the local elections, due on June 30.