Saturday, August 22, 2009

Albania's DP-led coalition starts talks on new government

Oposite leader main Edi Rama: We do not know last albanian elections, we want anticipate elections

21/08/2009

TIRANA, Albania -- Prime Minister Sali Berisha, whose Democratic Party (DP) won the June 28th general elections, has started negotiations on cabinet personnel for the next four-year term. Local media reported on Friday (August 21st) that Berisha met with Fatmir Mediu, leader of the DP's traditional ally, the Republican Party, and found common ground. A final agreement on the number of Republican representatives in the government will be reached by the end of the month, according to media reports. The DP must also consult with the third member of the coalition, Ilir Meta's Socialist Movement for Integration.

Anny way, the oposite leader main Edi Rama declared imediately after the meeting of the represents of OSCE for new anticipate elections, sading: "We do not know anny new government of new albanian parliament. We continue to call for new anticipated elections in albania" said Rama.

Friday, August 21, 2009

World Council of Epirotes abroad In Ioannina

Friday, 21 August, 2009 5:27 AM

Αυτόνομη Πολιτική παρουσία λέει το συνέδριο του Παγκοσμίου Συμβουλίου Ηπειρωτών του Εξωτερικού.

Τη δημιουργία αυτόνομου ελληνικού κόμματος και κοινή πολιτική όλων των βορειοηπειρωτικών δυνάμεων στην γειτονική Αλβανία προκρίνουν ως μόνιμη λύση για την αλλαγή της κατάστασης προς όφελος της ελληνικής μειονότητας οι απόδημοι Ηπειρώτες του εξωτερικού, αλλά και τα στελέχη της Ομόνοιας που συμμετείχαν στο συνέδριο του Παγκοσμίου Συμβουλίου Ηπειρωτών του Εξωτερικού που πραγματοποιήθηκε στα Γιάννινα.

Το Βορειοηπειρωτικό ζήτημα απασχόλησε τα μέλη του συνεδρίου κατά την τελευταία συνεδρία, όπου συζητήθηκαν οι εξελίξεις μετά τις εκλογές στην Αλβανία και δόθηκε μια πλήρης εικόνα για το status quo της ελληνικής μειονότητας.

Το Παγκόσμιο Συμβούλιο Ηπειρωτών του...

εξωτερικού και εκπρόσωποι των Ομοσπονδιών, όπως αυτών της Αμερικής και της Αυστραλίας, εκφράζουν την απόλυτη στήριξή τους στην ελληνική μειονότητα όπως τόνισε ο πρόεδρος του συμβουλίου Χρήστος Δήμου, που αναφέρθηκε στα βασικά συμπεράσματα της συζήτησης, τα οποία θα αναλυθούν περαιτέρω.

Εκτός από την δημιουργία αυτόνομου ελληνικού κόμματος, σύμφωνα με τα πορίσματα του συνεδρίου, απαιτείται αναδιοργάνωση της Ομόνοιας, αυτόνομη πολιτική από την ελληνική μειονότητα και ενεργοποίηση των Βορειοηπειρωτών που ζουν στην Ελλάδα.
Από την πλευρά του ο πρόεδρος της Ομόνοιας Βασίλης Μπολάνος υπογράμμισε πως το μεγαλύτερο ποσοστό των Βορειοηπειρωτών βρίσκεται σε κοινή γραμμή για τα εθνικά θέματα σημειώνοντας πως υπάρχουν δυνατότητες ενίσχυσης, ενώ δεν έκρυψε τη δυσαρέσκειά του για την ανακοίνωση του Πρωθυπουργού της Αλβανίας ως προς την αλλαγή ονομασίας των ελληνικών χωριών στη Βόρειο Ήπειρο.

«Αυτό μας γυρίζει πολλά χρόνια πίσω και σίγουρα δεν μπορεί να γίνει αποδεκτό», σημείωσε ο κ. Μπολάνος προσθέτοντας πως ήδη έχει ξεκινήσει η αναδιοργάνωση της Ομόνοιας με στόχο την ενίσχυσή της και πως τα αλβανικά κόμματα δεν μπορούν στο πρόγραμμά τους να καλύπτουν τα θέματα των εθνικών μειονοτήτων.
Κατά τη διάρκεια του συνεδρίου έγινε παράλληλα ο απολογισμός του πρώτου έτους που σημαδεύτηκε από την συνεργασία με το Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων για την υλοποίηση των προγραμμάτων ελληνικής γλώσσας για νέους Ηπειρώτες του εξωτερικού και την παραχώρηση από την πλευρά της Περιφέρειας Ηπείρου ενός γραφείου για την «στέγαση» του παγκόσμιου συμβουλίου.

Αποφασίστηκε παράλληλα το καλοκαίρι του 2010 να πραγματοποιηθεί το Παγκόσμιο Συνέδριο Ηπειρώτικης Νεολαίας αλλά και πως το επόμενο συνέδριο του Παγκοσμίου Συμβουλίου Ηπειρωτών του Εξωτερικού θα πραγματοποιηθεί στην Βόρειο Ήπειρο

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Albania and Serbia in Kosovo ‘territorial integrity’ spat

Thu, Aug 20 2009

Albania's prime minister Sali Berisha, left, and his Kosovo counterpart Hashim Thaci inspect an honour guard during a welcoming ceremony in Tirana, June 19 2008.

Albania and Serbia are in a diplomatic row after Albanian prime minister was quoted as saying that "the national unity of Albanians should be a key idea in the policies of Albania and Kosovo".

Kosovo, which has a largely ethnic Albanian population, unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February 2008. Belgrade rejects Kosovo independence as illegitimate and is vigorously pursuing diplomatic and international court initiatives against Pristina’s UDI.

Serbian news agency Tanjug said on August 18 2009 that Serbia’s foreign ministry had sent a note of protest to the Albanian embassy in Belgrade.

"The ministry explained in a statement that it condemned in the strongest terms Berisha's provocative statement which crudely violated Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

The protest note said that statements such as Berisha's harmed good neighbourly relations and regional co-operation, the ministry said, according to Tanjug.

Kosovo media reported on August 19 that the Albanian foreign ministry had rejected Serbia’s allegations.

Albanian authorities said Berisha and the Albanian government were determined to move ahead in liberalisation of free movement of people and goods and in eliminating barriers.

The Albanian foreign ministry said that co-operation between Albania and Kosovo was based on mutual respect that came naturally and aimed at European integration.

"Albania supports and deeply believes that regional cooperation is a condition for European integration of the region," the foreign ministry in Tirana said.

It is not the only occasion in recent days in which Berisha has become embroiled in a controversy involving Kosovo.

Kosovo daily Express said on August 14 that Berisha had amended a media statement that initially had endorsed a political party in forthcoming local elections, changing the wording to say that Berisha was ready to co-operate with all political parties in Kosovo.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Albania PM Berisha Calls for Unity with Kosovo

August 17, 2009,


Berisha also thanked to all the tourists from Kosovo who visited Albanian resorts. Photo by BGNES
The Albanian Prime Minister, Sali Berisha, has called for unity with Kosovo, and between Albanians.

"The national unity idea is based on the European principles and ideals and needs a lot of efforts. Because of that the Kosovo PM, Hashim Taci, and I will work towards removing all bariers that keep Albanians from feeling like a unity no matter where they live", Berisha said in an interview.

In his words, between both countries there must not be customs administration, and Albania and Kosovo should not look at each other as foreign countries, which has nothing to do with their sovereignty.

According to Berisha the relations with the Kosovo politicians are excellent, regardless of whether they are from the opposition or from the majority.

"We are opened for talks. We appreciate the role of every party. They all have significant part in the resistance and winning of Kosovo's independence", he added.

Berisha also thanked to all the tourists from Kosovo who visited Albanian resorts.

Local elections are being held today for the Kosovo municipalities of Peć and Priština. The polling stations are in Gračanica and Goraždevac, however.
Official says Serb minority in Albania, Montenegro and Slovenia faces many problems


ZAGREB/BELGRADE, Aug 17. (Hina). A state secretary in the Serbian ministry for expatriates' affairs has said ethnic Serbs were faced with many problems in southeastern European countries, notably in Albania, Montenegro and Slovenia.


State Secretary Miodrag Jaksic said in a statement published by Tanjug news agency on Sunday that the Serb community in Albania was the most endangered minority in Europe.
"Serbs in Albania cannot use their mother tongue and exercise their religious rites and ceremonies. A majority of local Serbs were forced to change their names during the rule of Enver Hoxha ," the Serbian official said in the statement.


According to Jaksic, currently the most painful situation is in Montenegro where 35 percent of the total population have declared themselves Serbs but Montenegro denies them "minimum constitutional and statutory rights in the fields of culture, education, religion and information".
"Serbs in Hungary are one of the 13 recognised national minorities, but they have been waiting 17 years for the adoption of legislation and their right to have their representative in the Hungarian parliament," Jaksic said.


He described the situation in Slovenia as more complex, given that Serbs were not yet given a status of national minority although there were 50,000 Serbs in that country.


According to Jaksic, Serbs in Croatia encounter problems such as denial of their tenancy rights which is why they cannot get back their property, overdue pensions and problems arising from the non-enforcement of laws on the ethnic minorities' rights.Jaksic pointed out Romania and Macedonia as positive examples for treatment of the Serb minority.