Prime Ministers of Albania

Sigurimi files in an exhibition in Tirana. Photo: LSA.

MPs from the governing Socialist Party on Monday decided to postpone approval of changes in two laws intended to ban people from running for parliament who collaborated with the Communist-era Sigurimi secret service after an intervention by the EU's ambassador to Tirana.

Arben Ahmetaj, a long-time member of Albania's parliament and former Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister is facing a request from prosecutors for his arrest on charges of corruption and money laundering.

Ahmetaj, 54, holds parliamentary immunity, so the Special Structure Against Corruption and Organised Crime, SPAK, has asked parliament for permission to arrest him.

The message from Athens to Tirana in Greek Ambassador Konstantina Kamitsi's statements to the Albanian press by was clear: The ongoing detainment of the ethnic Greek mayor-elect of Himare in Albania will be a thorn in the side of Greek-Albanian relations for some time to come.

Presence on a US sanctions list did not stop two politicians from significantly aiding Edi Rama's election triumph on Sunday.

The Socialist Party led by Prime Minister Edi Rama is ahead in most municipalities in the country after Sunday's local elections and has already won three, Kamza, Vora and Elbasan, where the voting took place electronically and the Central Election Commission was able to declare the results a few hours after polls closed.

A court in Albania decided on Saturday to detain until his trial an ethnic Greek mayoral candidate in the southern Albanian municipality of Himara, Fredi Beleri, after he was charged with vote-buying.

A Greek expatriate mayoral candidate in the southern Albanian municipality of Himara, Fredi Beleri, was arrested at midnight on Thursday by the Albanian police outside his business premises on suspicion of paying people for their votes, causing strong condemnation from officials in Athens.

Albania's Socialist Prime Minister, Edi Rama, has rejected opposition claims of blackmailing voters over access to government funds.

On Wednesday he said his threats to block funds to municipalities run by opposition mayors were a consequence of opposition leader Sali Berisha's designation by the US State Department as "being involved in significant corruption".

Albanian tourist revenues in Greece rose spectacularly by 157% last year compared to 2021 and by 33% compared to 2019, Greek Deputy Minister for Tourism Sofia Zacharaki said after attending "The Future of Environmental Sustainable Tourism in Albania" (FESTA) forum in Tirana on April 3-5.

Two organisations, Europa Nostra and the European Investment Bank Institute, on Monday released a technical report urging Albania to save an endangered bridge built in 1927 under Albania's first and last king. Zog.