Kosovo, Albania may form “economic union”

Source: Tanjug

TIRANA -- Kosovo Deputy PM Behgjet Pacolli and Trade Minister Mimoza Kusari-Lila have come up with an idea to create a common economic space between Kosovo and Albania.

They have presented their idea to Albanian parliament Speaker Jozefina Topalli.

“We have clear ideas for reforms in Kosovo. I am determined to present my ideas in order to economically strengthen and integrate the Albanian people,” Pacolli said during the meeting in Tirana on Friday.

His office said in a statement that the Albanian parliament speaker had welcomed the idea.

“It is very important to establish favorable business conditions. Mr. Pacolli understands this best,” she stressed.

Kusari-Lila called on the Albanian government to take necessary steps in order to facilitate business relations with Kosovo.

Βarroso: task force on Greece

BRUSSELS (ANA-MPA) -- European Commissioner Jose Manuel Barroso on Thursday replied to a letter from Prime Minister George Papandreou on accelerating the disbursement of Community funds to Greece, saying he intends to set up a special task force to provide technical assistance to the EU member-state and to improve absorption of EU structural and cohesion funds.



Barroso also asked Papandreou to name a contact person that will coordinate the efforts of the Commission and Greek authorities to this end, with the Greek prime minister forwarding the name of former top European Commission official Giorgos Glynos. (ANA-MPA)



The first meeting between Glynos and a delegation sent by the European Commission president will take place next week, after the Eurogroup meeting on (ANA-MPA) Monday.

Basha Confirmed Victor in Tirana Mayor Race

After two months of legal wrangling, Albania’s Electoral College has rejected the last opposition appeal challenging the razor-thin victory of the ruling party candidate in the disputed Tirana race.

Besar Likmeta

Tirana

Lulzim Basha \ Photo courtesy of Democratic Party

The court specializing in election disputes on Friday rejected the fifth Socialist appeal over the race for the Tirana mayoralty in the May 8 local elections.

With four votes in favour and two against, the Central Electoral Commission on May 25 had declared for the second time in as many months that Lulzim Basha would be the capital's next mayor with a 93 vote advantage out of a quarter-million.

The Tirana poll was considered the key battleground of the May 8 local elections, pitting Basha - candidate of the centre-right government of Sali Berisha - against the opposition Socialist leader and incumbent Tirana mayor, Edi Rama.

The Socialists had appealed the CEC ruling, pointing to problems in several ballots boxes where security codes were different from those registered by counting centres, or where paper ballots were found outside the various envelopes inside the ballot box.

The CEC refused to hear the appeal on grounds that it had been lodged beyond the legal time limit.

Friday’s Electoral College ruling validated the CEC decision, dashing the hopes of the Socialists of a repeat poll.

The May 8 local elections were considered as key for the country’s EU future, following a two-year political crisis that has stopped the reform process dead in its tracks.

However, after a peaceful and quiet election day, the row over the miscast ballots has heightened the political climate once again, adding to Brussels’ doubts over the country’s EU future.

The opposition leader Edi Rama: Justice is dead

Edi Rama

Although justice in Albania has died, the opposition will launch a large popular action, to get the missing justice. So said the Albanian opposition leader, Edi Rama few hours after the decision of Electoral College.

In his first appearance in the media after the decision of the College, the Socialist Party leader Edi Rama, has appealed to everyone saying that justice has capitulated and it is in the grip of the government.

In his statement Rama accused the College for violations of law by clarifying that the justice in Albania has died.

NGOs of Himara, calling the new Mayor, George Goro, to resolve the property issue

Goro: "We will review the registration of property agreement with the OSCE in Region of Himara"

Some Himara Communities representative, have met with the New Mayor of Himara, George Goro, in an attempt to resolve the issue of property in Himara Region, especially after the local elections of 8 May, 2011.

Representatives of various communities as Community of Himara, The Coastal Association, ecct demanded that the New Mayor George Goro, must renegotiate with OSCE, for the registration of properties, as the previous agreemen was approved under abusive decision, in which OSCE had established involvement with the communist law of land distribution of Nr; 7501, which is contrary to the indigenous inhabitants of Himara Region.

George Goro, replied to Himara interest associations that he would be willing to review the agreement with OSCE, to the best possible, remembering that he will call soon the representatives of Companies that deal with property registration, under OSCE.

Albania Press Review - July 8, 2013

Parliament census vote ‘invalid’. Amendments introduced to new census law. Rama says Socialists can win 2013 parliamentary elections on their own.

Besar Likmeta

Tirana

SHEKULLI
Thursday's parliamentary vote for the disputed census law was invalid because only 69 MPs were present - four less than the minimum quorum of 71 MPs.

SHQIP
Albania’s census law has been amended after the intervention of the nationalist junior government partner, the Party for Justice, Integration and Unity.

GAZETA SHQIPTARE
Albania’s Socialist leader, Edi Rama, says that his party does not need to join forces with smaller left-wing parties in order to win the 2013 parliamentary elections.

Strong military cooperation Greece-Israel in the Eastern Mediterranean 07-07-2011

"A strong strategic axis of Greece and Israel, even stronger than that which exists today will know the Eastern Mediterranean in the coming years as strategic components of the two countries meet and complement each other. In this context we will see the entrance of the Israeli defense industries in Greece very soon "said the supreme defencenet.gr Israeli government source. At the same time in the House, the Greek Minister of National Defence Panos Beglitis characterized "strategic choice" to develop and deepen relations between our country and Israel. One option that was started by the Karamanlis government, especially after 2007 and continued by the current government. In his speech at the meeting of the Standing Committee on National Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, P. Beglitis said exactly the same as leaking the Israelis: That will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding for the development of military, strategic, military, technological and industrial relations with his Israeli counterpart. The NDP is the first goal of the Israelis. The Company believes that it can survive and develop very dynamically, with a total staff number about 500 people. The two programs cluster of 120 and 155 mm., Various other programs ammunition, antitank weapons and etc. are excellent business opportunities for either Rafael-IMI, while the IAI has expressed interest in ODA in the event of a possible privatization of. Also, soon to be signed and the intergovernmental agreement on defense and military cooperation, especially in the field of cooperation in defense industries and defense equipment. Greece will offer Israel the window you want in Europe and Israel the support they need geostrategic Greece and Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean, all of course with profit in mind for all: The exploitation of oil and gas pass through the Eastern Mediterranean the triple strategic relationship between Greece and Cyprus and Israel. Meanwhile, t not a failure of talks on normalizing diplomatic relations between Turkey and Israel, which have deteriorated since the Israeli attack in international waters last May against the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, Israeli sources confirmed. According to the source who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, of intensive talks between the two countries held in New York and Geneva failed to reach a compromise on the request of Turkey for an official apology and Israel's refusal to express something more than regret for the deaths of nine Turkish activists. Neither Turkey nor Israel signed the UN report about the incident, which will be delivered to the Secretary General of the United Nations. The refusal of Israel to sign the report focuses on the investigation concludes that the commandos acted in a manner "disproportionate and unjust" toward Mavi Marmara. According to Israeli sources, the UN Commission affirmed the legality of the blockade of the Gaza Strip imposed by Israel.

Albanian town thanks George W. Bush with statue

People walk near a statue of former President George W. Bush unveiled in the centre of the town of Fushe Kruje, some 22 kms (14 miles) from the capital Tirana July 6, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Arben Celi

By Leon Cika

FUSHE KRUJE, Albania | Wed Jul 6, 2011 2:50pm EDT

FUSHE KRUJE, Albania (Reuters) - A tiny Albanian village that President George W. Bush visited in 2007 has unveiled a shirt-sleeved statue of him, in a square named for him.

The 2.85 m- (9.3 ft-) tall statue of the former president, raising his left hand in greeting, was unveiled on Wednesday in the square festooned with Albanian and American flags for the occasion.

"Albanians' pro-Americanism has its roots in our attempts... to build our deserved future as a free nation, as a free country," Prime Minister Sali Berisha told the crowd.

Bush, who marked his 65th birthday on Wednesday, was the first U.S. president to visit post-communist Albania, which is hoping to join the European Union.

Albanians have a special affection for the United States, which they credit with ending their country's Cold War isolation and leading NATO's 1999 bombing offensive that halted ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians by Serbian troops.

Washington also was a staunch supporter of Albania's drive to join NATO, which accepted it into the military alliance in 2009.

"He left his mother in the United States but he found a mother here," Thomaidha Kaziu, 72, who had seen Bush in 2007 and was told Bush had found a resemblance between her and his mother.

"I will not die without meeting him again," she said.

In Kosovo, which borders Albania, a statue of former president Bill Clinton has been erected to thank him for taking action to stop Belgrade's 1998-99 war against Albanians in Kosovo.

(Writing by Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Zoran Radosavljevic and Michael Roddy)

Turkish mogul aims to buy at least three Greek islands

July 6, 2011

Fikret İnan

According to TODAY’S ZAMAN, the chairman of a leading Turkish construction company has said he wants to buy at least three Greek islands the debt-ridden nation plans to sell, in what may be termed a fire sale, because of the latest agreement it made with its international lenders, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“Some real estate firms are intermediating in the sale of those islands. We are now in talks with those firms. We are considering six islands. I want to buy at least three of them,” said FİYAPI A.Ş. Board Chairman Fikret İnan in an interview with the Anatolia news agency.

He said the islands they take an interest in are called Lichnari, Kaltsonisi, Mikri Amorgos, Kardiotissa, Nausika and Vouvalo, which he added are of various sizes ranging from 10,000 to 2 million square meters.

A mid-size member of the 27-nation EU and the eurozone, which refers to the 17 EU nations that use the euro as their common currency, Greece is now facing a possible default on its huge debt, which is one-and-a-half times larger than its gross domestic product (GDP).

It was bailed out last year with a 110 billion euro aid package from the EU and the IMF, but that package failed to put the debt-ridden nation back on track. Unable to return to international bond markets before 2012 to borrow at a cost cheaper than private lenders currently ask, the country, most observers believe, will need another voluminous bailout package to try once again to stand upright on its feet.

Yet the austerity measures and rapid privatizations demanded by its international lenders are causing much stress on Athens’ streets and public anger has already turned into violence as protesters unhappy with their decreasing standards of living and with the planned sale of Greek assets clashed with police forces.

In order to raise as much as 50 billion euros from privatization projects, as demanded by the EU and the IMF, Greece is also planning to sell some of the many islands it has in the Aegean, some of them located very close to Turkey’s western coasts. The closeness of those islands to the Turkish mainland has in fact created a dispute between the two nations as to the extent of their territorial waters.

The issue has not yet been resolved as Greece claims that its territorial waters should be extended from six to 12 nautical miles, citing an international maritime agreement, whereas Turkey, which is not a party to the agreement, disputes its northwestern neighbor’s claim about the extent of the territorial waters in the Aegean Sea. The sale of Greek islands in the Aegean to Turkish investors is expected to give rise to another heated debate in Greece. Noting that they tried to buy a number of Greek islands last year as well, İnan also said they were told that it was “impossible” by the Greek authorities.

İnan intends to construct a hotel chain on the islands. He already bought a mid-size Turkish island measuring 400,000 square meters for $35 million off the country’s western province of İzmir in 2010 and started building a luxurious hotel and 50 villas which he wants to be the first link of the chain he said he would call the “Richa Island.” “There is still speculation as to whether the islands will be sold to Turks, but we have not received any official information in that regard. The intermediary institutions told us there is no such problem, which makes no sense.

They may still introduce some [obstacles in our way] but I will then establish a company in Greece and buy those islands via that company,” said İnan, explaining how determined he is to acquire those islands. “If we ever, God willing, do such business, a bridge between Turkey and Greece will have been established. We will then be able to receive guests at both our island in Turkey and those in Greece. We will also provide ferry services between them,” he added.

According to the Turkish businessman, the prices of each of those six islands are between 3 million and 20 million euros. He also said they have earmarked 20 million euros to buy three of those six islands and to invest another 80 million euros to construct the planned touristic facilities there.

Dismissing the possibilities of political repercussions of such a purchase, İnan also said if more Turkish businesspeople follow the same strategy and buy up to 50 Greek islands in the Aegean, Turkey will have “easier access to Europe.” “We can represent Turkey on those islands. It will be wonderful if other Turkish businessmen invest there after we open the door,” he said.

Source: TODAY’S ZAMAN, 05 July 2011

Albania Moves Ahead With Disputed Census

As parliament's legal committee approves a bill preparing the framework for the 2011 census, nationalist groups object to the proposed query regarding people's ethnicity and religion.

Besar Likmeta

Tirana

Protester carrying Albanian flag | Photo by : OpenDemocracy/Flickr

Albania's Minister of Technology and Innovation, Genc Poll, defended the survey as vital for the country’s institutions, while arguing that the query about ethnicity and religion was only a matter of statistics.

“Our current collection of data does not give a clear picture of Albania today and the census will provide an answer,” Pollo told parliament on Tuesday, while noting that the last such survey was done a decade ago.

The census, which was scheduled to start on April 1, has been postponed to September after it became the target of outrage from an amalgam of civil society groups and politicians, all concerned about the question concerning respondents' ethnicity in the form.

Some of the critics say putting such a question in the census may end up artificially boosting the reported size of the ethnic Greek minority in southern Albania.

They say this is because Athens has been offering pensions and travel benefits to Albanians in the south who identify as Greeks in a bid to augment the size of the Greek minority and so further Greek territorial claims to the region.

Greek minority politicians and activists have argued that the ethnicity question in the census is the only way to measure the real size of their community.

Ancient blood fueds cast long shadow over hopes for a modern Albania

Vacuum of power since collapse of communism leads to resurgence in traditional Kanun law of an eye for an eye

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• Piotr Smolar
• Guardian Weekly, Tuesday 5 July 2011 13.59 BST
• Article history

Caught up in blood fueds, young Albanians often have to flee abroad. Photograph: Dan Chung for the Guardian
No one will ever know how it all started, and in a way the original disagreement no longer matters, now that blood has been shed. But there is still Ismet (not his real name). Ismet will soon be 16, which is a problem. Becoming an adult means he must shoulder the burden of the family legacy and answer for it. He looks unconcerned as he approaches the school gate in a village a few kilometres outside Shkodër, the main town in north-west Albania. But before starting his story, he walks down the road, out of sight of the other pupils.
Ismet looks down as he talks. "I'm not sure what to say. I'm being blamed for something I didn't do," he starts. His problems are due to his father. In July 2001 the latter became involved in a dispute with two brothers in a neighbouring village, a confusing tale of land on which his father allegedly encroached..............................................
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/05/albania-kanun-blood-fueds-smolar

Galatasaray midfielder Lorik Cana has revealed he will be joining Italian club Lazio.

Photo: Lorik Cana with the embleme of the Gretaer Albania "Dardania"

The 27-year-old Albanian said he is looking forward to develop his football in Serie A after both clubs reached an agreement over his transfer.

Speaking to Ntvspor, he said: "I am very excited to be joining Lazio.

"They did well last season, and next term we will be hoping to improve. I am happy to be part of the team."

Neither Lazio nor Galatasaray have officially confirmed a deal yet, but on Sunday night the Turkish club's director of sport Ali Gursoy said an agreement had been reached.

Previous reports from Italy claimed the Italian side would include Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera as part of the deal for Cana.

Lazio are set to receive a payment of €2.5 million [£2.1m] from the Super Lig side following the agreement. The Italians reportedly value Muslera at €7.5m [£6.4m], while Galatasaray see Cana as a €5m [£4m] player.

Albania Election Commissioners Jailed for Fraud

Court jails five former commissioners for having falsified votes in the 2009 general election.

Besar Likmeta

Tirana

Election officials seal ballot boxes at the village of Lazarat near Gjirokastra during Albanian parliamentary elections | Photo by : OSCE/Ann Larsson

Five election commissioners from the ruling Democratic Party in the 2009 parliamentary elections in the village of Ruzhdie in Southern Albania, were sentenced to seven months’ prison each and fined 450,000 lek (€3,190) on Monday for election fraud.

Three other opposition commissioners were also sentenced by the court in the city of Fier to pay fines of 150,000 lek (€1,070) for abandoning a polling station on polling day.



The case of the village of Ruzhdie was the highest profile case of election fraud from the June 2009 disputed parliamentary elections, which the Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha narrowly won.

An investigation found that the Democratic Party commissioners falsified signatures and filled in ballots for hundreds of voters that were not present on polling day.
A good part of the voters whose ballots were filled in were residing outside the country as economic migrants in Greece.



The votes cast in Ruzhdie during the 2009 poll were not included in the final tally for the electoral zone of Fier, after a court challenge from the opposition resulted in them being disqualified as invalid.



The Socialists have repeatedly argued that similar cases of fraud were widespread during the 2009 elections while the ruling Democrats maintain that the situation at the polling station at the village was unique and only occurred after opposition commissioners abandoned the polling station.

Berisha’s Democrats and the Socialist opposition, headed by Tirana mayor Edi Rama, have been locked in a power struggle since the end of the June 2009 parliamentary elections.



The Socialists allege that Berisha stole the elections through voter fraud while the Democrats reject the accusations and maintains the polls were the best the country has held.


Albania, customs and the car sales tax are removed

The government has decided to remove customs and sales tax for the domestic vehicles and therefore it is expected that vehicle prices in the domestic will decrease.

Ministry of Finance has prepared a new formula and soon will sent the draft to the assembly government to be voted along with changes in the budget, reports TCH.

According to the draft, people who import a vehicle from abroad will not pay any duty, but it will be replaced by another tax, which will be paid every year, when commissioning the machine.

The new tax is based more or less to the same formula as that of the import tax, but since it will be extended over the years, the amount to be paid each year is ten times lower than the existing taxes, which in some cases was more expensive that the price of the vehicle itself.
Even the new tax again depends on the number of years of use of the cylinder of the vehicle.

Thrace: The danger to us than ever!

Thrace: The danger to us than ever!

Written by Luke M. Siberas

Recognition of Kosovo as an independent state until a few years is the fact that sooner or later will mark developments and will further complicate the already tense situation in the Balkans.

Kosovo is inextricably linked with the Albanian irredentism promoted under the tolerance of the U.S.. The existence of many small states, protectorates is the ultimate goal of the U.S. and the West in general in the Balkans that this entails for the region.


At the same time the provocation of Turkey escalates dangerously unpredictable consequences for stability in the region. hile one can not overlook / ignore the economic penetration of Turkey in the Balkans in the midst of our weakness because of the economic crisis.

To cope with such a rule challenges, should have taken timely steps to "cut" and a good placing those who cause them.
Measures active, meaningful action, to clarify their positions, intentions and moods.

Yet in Greece prevention concepts and design, particularly in national issues, it is unknown as well known concept is respect to 5,000,000 "guilty" Greeks who dared not live in Athens. Within these "guilty" Greeks, there are some more ... "guilty" living in Thrace and in accordance with ministry data numbering approximately 350,000 residents. 70% are Christians while the rest 30% Muslim.

The Treaty of Lausanne signed on July 24, 1923 mentions some articles on the protection of minorities, religious freedoms, which were respected and complied with by Greece......

more see:http://gdailynews.wordpress.com

Albania Opposition Seeks Poll Repeat in Key Tirana Race

The Socialist opposition has filed what is considered its final appeal with the Electoral College on Thursday, seeking a repeat of the election for the Tirana mayor’s office.

Besar Likmeta

Tirana

Woman casts ballot during May 8 local poll | Photo by : OSCE

The appeal launched by the Socialists will be heard by the Electoral College, Albania’s specialized elections appeals court on July 6, ending nearly two months of legal wrangling over the disputed Tirana race.

The Tirana poll was considered the key battleground of the May 8 local elections, pitting Socialist leader and incumbent mayor Edi Rama and ruling party candidate Lulzim Basha against each other.

Albania’s Central Electoral Commission on June 25, for the second time in as many months, declared the ruling party candidate the winner of the hotly contested race for the Tirana mayoralty.

With four votes in favour and two against, the commission declared Lulzim Basha the winner of the May 8 race for the capital's mayoralty with a 93 vote advantage out of a quarter-million.

The new complaint before the court its the fourth after the election commission on May 23 initially declared Basha the winner, following a controversial recount of stray ballots.

The recount gave Basha a lead of 81 votes out of a quarter-million over Rama, who had a razor-thin margin of ten ballots in the unofficial preliminary results, before the stray ballots were added.

The dispute over the stray ballots occurred because some voters who had multiple ballots to put into designated boxes failed to do so correctly, partly because the ballot boxes were not clearly distinguished by colour.

On June 13 the Electoral College ruling annulled the election commission's May 23 decision, which declared Basha the winner in Tirana. At the same time, it rejected the opposition challenge against the miscast ballots, which were deemed as valid.

Following the ruling, the court ordered a re-evaluation of contested ballots in 368 ballot boxes, whose results were added to the final tally, giving Basha a lead of 93 votes.

Earlier the Electoral College had rejected two other Socialist complaints about the procedure used by the election commission to include the miscast ballots in the final tally.

However the Socialists have contested the latest recount as well, pointing to problems in several ballots boxes, where security codes were different from those registered by counting centers, where paper ballots were found outside the various envelopes inside the ballot box or the number of voters did not match the number of ballots cast.

On Friday they invited western ambassadors in Tirana to their headquarters and presented them with evidence, which supposed to back their allegations of electoral fraud from the CEC.

“We presented them with arguments and the materials that prove the electoral fraud in the poll,” said in a statement socialist MP Damian Gjinkuri.

Kosovo, Serbia Reach Breakthrough Deal

Kosovo and Serbia have taken the first steps to ending more than a decade of discord with a series of agreements in EU-led negotiations.

Lawrence Marzouk

Pristina

The talks have brokered three agreements between Kosovo and Serbia, including, for the first time, Serbia’s acceptance of Kosovo ID cards.

Kosovo's chief negotiator Edita Tahiri has hailed Saturday’s agreement between Pristina and Belgrade as Serbia’s first step towards recognising the independece of its former province.

The EU-led negotiations, which started five months ago, scored a major breakthrough on Saturday when the two sides agreed to deals in the field of civil registry, freedom of movement and acceptance of mutual university degrees.

Following NATO’s intervention in Kosovo in 1999 and Serbia’s pull out, civil registry books were removed to Belgrade.

The agreement means that the EU rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, will act as an intermediary, providing Pristina authorities with certified copies of all original civil registry books........................more:

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/page/all-balkans-home