The meeting of Corfu

Jun 27 2009, 09:28

By STA.MA.

Corfu is looking towards the international scenes with very intense weekend in NATO-Russia axis, but also with the Agency for Development and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

NATO and Russia "conflict" in a mini extraordinary session. The rapprochement of the North Atlantic Alliance with the great «enemy», especially after the crisis has caused a policy of the U.S. President George Bush, who desired to put the controversial missile shield in eastern Europe and the clear break caused by the war in South Ossetia and Georgia.

Several peaks are attended on the discussions of the Russian foreign minister Sergei Ivanov, the deputy U.S. Secretary of State, James Stainmpergk as absent due Chilari Clinton suffered of a fracture a few days ago. The agenda of the Corfu Meeting will follow:

-Nuclear and the famous Agreement START1,

-H presence of NATO in Afghanistan, which raises questions of cooperation and disagreement,

-H mission to the Caucasus conflict that followed the war in Georgia,

-The possible accession to NATO countries key for the Russians, like Ukraine and Georgia,

-Energy policy, and of course, -

-The burning issue of anti-missile shield in the Czech Republic and Poland

The meeting of the OSCE Number of important issues is invited to explore the OSCE meeting in Corfu in the Greek presidency. The key on the agenda of the meeting is called «process of Corfu». So declared the opening of the large energy concerns particularly Europe. Will also discuss the maintenance of the OSCE observers in Georgia and South Ossetia, and the difference of political positions that have on European Security, Americans and Russians.

Particularly NATO and OSCE will follow observing the process election in Albania, calling Tirana for free and democratic standards during final results. Albania hope to joint EU but the international community has urged Tirana to hold free elections, while will be very serious the consequences for the country if the elections will demonstrate negative results.

Extraordinary meeting Karamanlis-Berlusconi in Corfu

Jun 27 2009, 08:47

Opportunity for a mini series of transnational contacts gives the session of the OSCE -NATO-Russia meeting in Corfu. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, occasionally travels to the island of Corfu, which will have a series of meetings with specific focus primarily on major energy issues.

Mr Karamanlis will meet, before the NATO-Russia summit, the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi - and this program goes off the island of Faiakon-centered bilateral talks, the energy and security of Europe. After the bilateral meeting of PM Karamanlis with Berlusconi will probably have a meeting with the outgoing Secretary General of NATO, Giap de Seferi hop, with a central issue of energy in the region.

This issue will probably employ the NATO-Russia summit, as both are interested mainly in Moscow but also Member States of the North Atlantic Alliance, especially in the context of the upcoming new NATO structure.

Papandreou visits Tirana suporting Edi Rama coalition

"We want to have free and fair elections», underlined the president of PASOK and Socialist International, G. Papandreou, of Tirana, which has been welcomed at the Rinas airport by the President of the Socialist Party of Albania, Eddi Rama.

Papandreou and Mr. Mr Rama spoke to a gathering of supporters of the Socialist Party of Albania Mr. Rama refer to the victory of PASOK in the European and emphasizes that George Papandreou has made changes in the party and won the confidence of youth the need for change for new government.

For its part, the president of PASOK hoped Mr Rama and the Socialist Party in Albania «great victory» in elections Sunday, stressing that «a socialist government in Greece and Albania will move to resolve, including problems Albanians in Greece and the Greek minority in Albania ».

The President of PASOK reaffirmed the position of «no to illegal immigration» and spoke of «organized immigration» and «defending the rights of immigrants to work on equal pay for equal work, pensions and social security», the last to be settled within a bilateral framework. Mr. Papandreou said, also, that «the government, PASOK will help integrate immigrants in Greece», adding that «would help those Albanians wishing to invest in Albania».

It reiterated its position on the «immediate return of Greek citizenship to those children of immigrants born in Greece» and return of Greek citizenship to those children in Greece finish secondary education, and remain in our country for 3 consecutive years. «The Albanian immigrants are a good size for Greece and thank you for this», said the president of PASOK, stressing while that «the Greek minority in Albania may be a bridge between the two countries».

The president of PASOK said that «if elected PASOK government, he will" champion "the integration of Western Balkans in the EU». He met Anastasios, Archbishop of Albania, which had great conversation, and immediately after, in statements, has expressed particular appreciation to the work of the Archbishop and the continuing effort to «the Orthodox Church in Albania to play the role up and supply, both in the development of Albania, and in understanding religions and peoples in a Balkan and European landscape, where we have to live with humanity, love and mutual understanding »

Finally he met with Evangelos Doule the President of Human Rights Parti. Mr. Papandreou assured him that «everything will go well if the elections are without " incidents " ». In statements shortly after the meeting, Mr. Papandreou said that Mr Doule the common values unite and fight for the future of Albania in EU and for the full rights of the Greek minority.

Chameria Party meeting with Macedonian Organisation

Jun 26 2009,

In the elections Sunday in Albania, the coalition that led the Democratic Party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha, involved among other small parties as PDI (Chameria Organisation) and The Parti of Makedonski, in Albania.

This is one of the main reasons that the KEAD-OMONIA, the party representing the ethnic Greek minority in Albania to abandon cooperation with Sali Berisha and to joint the socialist bloc of the party of Edi Rama.

According to observers, Tahir Muhedini the leader of Chameria Party Organisation PDI, a strong man who continues to invests politically in Vlora and Saranda Regions, could win to the next albanian parliament tow member from his Party.

PDI will organise on June 27 in Saranda an anniversary meeting for "the Genocide day against Chameria community" a resolute made from albanian parliament of 1994.

European Parliament

Greek village demolished in Southern Albania (North Epirus)

Many families from Albania homogeneous left homeless when the Albanian government on the pretext projects require funding program of the World Bank, demolishing a large part of the village of Yala in Northern Epirus (Southern Albania) .

After complaints, the World Bank has suspended funding to the Albanian side since held that the acts of the Albanian Government against the established policy of non-violent displacement of populations.

The issue raised in the relevant EU institutions The Member of European Parliament (PASOK) Marilena Koppa, making a question of which states that the Greek minority accepts unacceptable pressures.

The European Commission in his response observing to recognize that there are unresolved issues of ownership in Albania and has urged the authorities to find a fair and effective solution to these issues as they are pillars of the rule of law.

http://www.zougla.gr/news.php?id=48863

Albania inaugurates new highway to Kosovo (Greater Albania)

Albania's prime minister on Thursday inaugurated a ¤1 billion ($1.4 billion) highway link to neighboring Kosovo, calling it a «corridor of friendship and peace.Tirana sees the 105-mile (170-kilometer) highway running through northern Albania's rugged mountains as an important commercial link not only to Kosovo, but to other Balkan nations and central Europe.

The opening ceremony in Rreshen, 37 miles (60 kilometers) north of Tirana came just days ahead of Albania's parliamentary election this weekend, even though portions of the highway have not been completed.«This is the corridor of friendship and peace,» Berisha said to applause from supporters waving Albanian and European Union flags. «This corridor will serve not only to Albanians, but also to Macedonians, Serbs, Bosnians, Bulgarians and all the others.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also attended the ceremony for the link, which includes a segment with a 3.4-mile (5.5-kilometer) tunnel built by a joint venture of Turkey's Enka and San Francisco-based Bechtel International Inc.Erdogan said the highway would «further impact Kosovo's development» after it gained independence from Serbia last year.Kosovo's premier had been expected at the ceremony but did not show up. Thaci's office in Pristina, Kosovo said the premier's agenda had been busy, and he had already left on a trip to the United States.

The highway will run from the port city of Durres, 20 miles (35 kilometers) west of Tirana, to the Morini border crossing with Kosovo.Albania joined NATO this year and has applied for European Union candidate status. Its parliamentary elections Sunday are seen as a test of the country's commitment to democracy and to move closer toward integration with the bloc.

FEATURE-Land rights tricky issue as Albania poll nears

Wed Jun 24, 2009 8:04pm EDT

* Land titling core problem as Albania heads for elections
* Politics paralysed by sense illegal building exceeds legal
* International officials point also to corruption

By Adam Tanner

KSAMIL, Albania, June 25 (Reuters) -- Fatmir Murati liked the patch of public land across the street from his apartment so much, he built a house there. Speckled with lemon and orange trees, the terrain is a political battleground.

The fact thousands like him have no clarity about who owns what land is a legacy of the longest-lasting Stalinist regime in Europe. It's also a major campaign topic as Albania, an emerging democracy that aspires to join the European Union, heads to the polls at the end of this month.
Both Sali Berisha, the country's dominant political figure since Communism's fall in 1991, and Socialist challenger Edi Rama say land titling is a priority as Albania seeks foreign investment.

The country in April became NATO's 28th member, after a tumultuous 1990s including a crime wave, marred elections and a dip into anarchy. Many Albanians lost their savings in pyramid schemes and up to 3,000 were killed in the ensuing violence............

............Suela Pogace, general manager of the Hotel Adriatik in Durres, an Adriatic town near Tirana, describes her thoughts when looking across the wild melange of construction along the coast.
"I want every building to be down, there to be an earthquake," she said in the cafe of her hotel, the first in Durres from 1962. "It's the only way for this to be solved."

more see: http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSLO39735920090625

Albanians, Cut Off, Get Set to Vote

By DAN BILEFSKY, New York Times,

Published: June 23, 2009

TIRANA, ALBANIA — With parliamentary elections approaching on Sunday, many Albanians say they feel like Hysen Demiraj, a 45-year-old driver and former political prisoner, who was born in a jail cell during Albania’s brutal dictatorship and says he still feels imprisoned in a country that is unfairly isolated and ostracized.


“We Albanians are tired of feeling cut off from the world,” he said on a recent day after waiting for hours in scorching sun for a German visa, one among a small army of visa-seekers. “We are the forgotten part of Europe and it doesn’t feel so good.”


The intense alienation might seem surprising given that this poor, southern Balkan country joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in April — a moment of enormous symbolic and psychological resonance for a place severed from the west for more than 40 years under the Stalinist leader Enver Hoxha.



Whether the election is peaceful, free and democratic, analysts and diplomats say, will help determine the progress toward international rehabilitation. Albania’s recent application for E.U. membership already faces deep skepticism; the bloc is overextended and fears admitting lawlessness through the back door. Washington, meanwhile, which lobbied hard for Albania’s NATO membership, will be deeply embarrassed if the vote goes awry.




see more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/world/europe/24iht-albania.html?_r=1&ref=world

US, EU renew Albania poll plea

By LLAZAR SEMINI Associated Press

Albania must hold free and fair elections next month if it hopes to form closer ties with the West, the European Union and United States said Friday, hours after a regional party leader was killed in a bomb explosion. Police have released few details about the bomb attack that killed 34-year-old regional leader Aleksander Keka, a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Party, as he was driving his car Thursday near Shkodra, a city 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Tirana.

It was the latest in a series of violent incidents that have marred campaigning for the June 28 vote in this former Communist country, where elections are often tarnished by violence and voting irregularities. The U.S. Embassy said the June 28 elections were a test of the country's commitment to democracy, while the Czech Embassy _ speaking on behalf of the EU _ said the vote would show whether Albania was ready to move closer toward integration with the bloc. The Czech Republic now holds the rotating EU presidency.

Albania joined NATO this year and has applied for EU candidate status. Some 500 observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and other international organizations will be monitoring the elections, in which conservative Prime Minister Sali Berisha faces a strong challenge from Socialist leader Edi Rama. Last week, a man was fatally shot following an argument over a campaign poster, and in May an opposition lawmaker was killed.

The opposition has claimed the government is seeking to manipulate the election process through its control over the distribution of new identity cards, which together with passports are the documents required to vote. The government denies the allegation.

In Albania for elections George Papandreou

After the return from OSCE meeting, the Leader of PASOK and the President of Pan Socialists of the World, George Papandreou planned trip to Albania, where elections hwill hold at Sunday.

Papandreou will met Socialist leader and Man Oposition of Albania Edi Rama, who is favorite to win politic elections.

At the end of the week will partecipate in the meeting of Socialist International in Montenegro.