Prime Ministers of Albania

"The European perspective of the Western Balkans, which has been the basis of US engagement in the region for more than 20 years, has not changed and will not change", Matthew Palmer, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and US Special Representative for the Western Balkans said.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama speaking at his party headquarters on 30 June 2019. Photo: Gent Shkullaku/LSA

The Commission statement came after the final report of the Commission, expected to be published on Monday, was partially leaked to the Albanian media.

Some student activists, however, say they will not rest, seeing in the demand for change in education a thirst for broader societal change in Albania and in the way the country is run.

"Things won't change overnight," said Mema, a member of the left-wing pressure group Movement for the University.

Abanian Prime Minister Edi Rama at his party headquarters in June. Photo: Gent Shkullaku/LSA

However, Irfan Hysenbelliu, the owner of News 24, a local station based in Tirana, denied he was pressured by the government, while Rama's office called the allegations "fake news".

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

The Greek Foreign Ministry has condemned the destruction of a monument dedicated to early 20th-century warrior chief Thymios Liolis in the village of Krania in southern Albania.
"Provocations against the ethnic Greek minority and, ultimately, against Greek-Alabnian relations, must be immediately investigated," the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Albania media microphones. Photo: BIRN

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.

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".

Ambassador Audrey Glover, head of the observers mission, during a press conference in Tirana on July 1. Photo: Gjergj Erebara/BIRN

In a preliminary report presented in Tirana on Monday, the mission said the elections were held "with little regard for the interests of the electorate".