The Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania, Bernd Borchardt will leave Albania on 2 September. He made the announcement himself via Facebook on Tuesday.
He thanked Albania for its cooperation and expressed regret that “I could not invite you to a farewell reception or other personal meeting” due to COVID-19.
Borchardt announced that the responsible person in the OSCE Presence will now be Jelena McCoy, Alexandru Murzac for any questions of mission management, and Laurentiu Stinga for political matters.
The Ambassador was appointed head of th OSCE on 1 October 2016. From 2007 to 2010 he was the German ambassador to Albania. From 2013 to 2014 he led the EULEX mission in Kosovo.
Borchardt’s ambassadorship was marred by an incident where he was photographed sticking his middle finger up at female protestors outside the Police Directorate in Tirana. Protestors called for his dismissal from the OSCE and for him to be made a persona non grata.
The Ambassador apologised via Twitter to “those I may have offended.”
