Albanian Opposition Rejects Election Results as Socialists Score Major Victory

After Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party won a record fourth term in office with a big majority, opposition Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha said he would refuse to accept the results and announced a street protest.

Original post Here

News
NATO’s Defence Spending Plan Poses Challenge for Balkan States

The Western military alliance’s new national spending benchmark on defence and security may cause problems for smaller and poorer NATO member states in the Balkans who cannot afford 5 per cent of GDP. Original post Here

News
Rule of Law or Rule by Law? Albania’s EU Path Faces a Crisis of Credibility

Jerina Zaloshnja As Albania accelerates the formal process of European Union accession—opening negotiation chapters at a pace that seems to outstrip democratic reforms—it faces an urgent and unavoidable truth: a country cannot genuinely integrate into the EU without first building a functioning rule-of-law society. No volume of technical chapters opened …

News
Balkan Countries ‘Failing to Enforce Freedom of Information Laws’: Report

Freedom of Information laws in the six Western Balkan countries may look robust, but public institutions all too often find ways to obstruct transparency, a new BIRN report has found. Original post Here