What Albania has in common with Thailand

The Albanian government is at a standstill as the EU tries to mediate between parties.

By Besar Likmeta — Special to GlobalPost

Published: May 28, 2010 06:54 ET

Tents are seen in front of Prime Minister Sali Berisha's office in Tirana on May 12, 2010. Blocking the main boulevard in front of Berisha's office, 22 lawmakers and about 200 supporters holed up in tents to stage a hunger strike against a vote they say was rigged. (Arben Celi/Reuters)

TIRANA, Albania — Earlier this month, European Union Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele canceled a trip to Algeria to dine with Albania’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha and Socialist Party leader Edi Rama at the posh Crocodile restaurant in Strasbourg.

But this was no social repast. Fuele hoped to talk down the two Albanian leaders from the war of words that has gridlocked the country since Berisha’s Democratic Party narrowly won parliamentary elections held on June 28, 2009.

Nearly a year after Albanians cast their ballots in the poll — considered a litmus test for the country’s fitness to continue the EU accession process — a wave of recent protests represent the latest escalation of a row that has poisoned the political climate.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/europe/100527/albania-opposition-protests