Ilir

Albanian Police building. Photo: EPA-EFE/MALTON DIBRA

Unidentified gunmen early on Monday shot dead a 60-year-old security guard at the premises of national television station Top Channel, Albanian police announced. The event happened under unclear circumstances, they said.

Wrong Direction

The House of the National Assembly in Belgrade, Serbia, 28 April 2020. EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC

Serbia's existing legislation on access to information provides a good framework - at least in theory - for those seeking to hold government to account. In practice, of course, it is routinely undermined and ignored by authorities determined to undermine transparency.

Albanian MPs on Wednesday voted to oust the country's president, Ilir Meta, though the final decision on the issue must go to the Constitutional Court, which will conclude if Meta will be removed from office before his term ends in until 2022.

Some 104 lawmakers in the ruling Socialist-dominated chamber voted for dismissal while seven voted against. Three abstained.

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.

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.

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.

The rift between Albania's ruling Socialist Party and President Ilir Meta widened on Sunday after Prime Minister Edi Rama accused Meta of acting as the head of the opposition - after he urged the government to cancel a project to demolish homes to make way for a new stretch of road in the capital. 

The acrimonious aftermath of the Macedonia name deal has prompted the government to defer efforts to resolve bilateral differences with Albania. According to reports, the Prime Minister's Office is reportedly waiting for the name deal's ratification in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Greece before it tackles the Albanian issues.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's official visit to Albania, where he was scheduled to meet his counterpart Edi Rama, has been postponed until after Greek Orthodox Easter, with no precise dates released as yet.

The Albanian authorities continued on Friday talks over the delimitation of the maritime border with the neighboring Greece, an issue which has sparked strong reactions among Albanian politics and public opinion.