Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed an agreement on Sunday in Brussels on coordinating the two countries’ 5G infrastructure. Blinken’s first meeting with Rama was the first with a Balkan leader. It took place before a NATO meeting scheduled for Monday, also to be attended by the Albanian
Republican congressman Lee Zeldin has asked the US State Department for access to information and the process that brought Secretary Antony Blinken to ban former Albanian President Sali Berisha and his family from entering the United States over allegations of “significant corruption”. Albanian Top Channel television station showed a copy of the request on Tuesday.
Recently, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, announced that his department has barred Sali Berisha, his wife, and two children from entering the US. He stated that the ban is because their “corrupt acts undermined democracy in Albania.” The US State Department’s message is clear: it takes corruption and the damage it does seriously and
The recently unveiled social media activity of Enkeleda Kapedani, chief judge of the Elbasan Circuit, has raised questions not only about the judge’s fitness for office, but about the larger workings of the judicial system in Albania and the credibility of the ongoing judicial reform. On the social media platform TikTok, Kapedani, 37, had posted
Adriatik Llalla, Albania’s former General Prosecutor sentenced to prison for false declaration of assets, has stated that the court’s decision against him was taken under the influence of people outside the court. “The justice system is moving towards a different model of development, in which many cases are decided outside the court in order to
Former Albanian President Sali Berisha announced on Thursday that he would sue US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for defamation after this latter banned Berisha and his family from entering the US on allegations of corruption. Berisha said that the allegations raised against him amount to slander and public defamation, which is why his legal
On Sunday, the Leadership of the Democratic Party approved 4 candidates running for party chairmanship, and disqualified 5 others from the race. Agron Shehaj, Edit Harxhi, Fatbardh Kadilli, and Lulzim Basha will run in the June 13 elections to lead the main opposition party for the next 4 years. Admir Mulaj, Edmond Vrapi, Ibsen Elezi,
The EU Ambassador to Albania, Luigi Soreca, has encouraged Albanian prosecutors and judges to “follow the money” in their investigations and cases. On the anniversary of the killing of Italian magistrate Giovanni Falcone by the mafia, Soreca, an Italian himself, praised the justice reform in Albania for creating many a Falcone. Falcone, a national hero
Sali Berisha has denied allegations that he has been behind some of the most important decisions made by the opposition Democrat Party in the last 4 years and deemed by some as “radical” moves. Berisha, who was the PD leader from its inception until 2013, when he resigned after losing the general elections to the
Former Albanian President Sali Berisha has stated his lawyers are preparing a defamation lawsuit against the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. Berisha announced his decision in a press statement on Thursday, which is still ongoing. He said the lawsuit will be filed with the Correctional Tribunal of Paris. It follows the US administration’s ban