European Parliament Envoys to Mediate Albania Political Crisis

Tirana, Albania | Tirana Echo – Two senior members of the European Parliament arrive in Tirana this afternoon in a last attempt by the international community to defuse Albania’s ongoing political deadlock.

David McAllister who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee and Knut Fleckenstein who reports to the European Parliament on Albania will be in Tirana today for a few hours, in what is seen to be the last effort from the European Union to get all sides together in the hope of finding a way out of the current stalemate.

The two MEPs who represent the two biggest groups at the European Parliament, the EPP and the S&D, will meet with the country’s majority representatives Prime Minister Edi Rama and Speaker of Parliament Ilir Meta and later they will also meet with the opposition chief Lulzim Basha.

They will also meet with the US, Eu and OSCE Ambassadors who are allegedly working to prepare a draft of talking points which could pave the way for a common ground between majority and opposition. Although local Albanian media are reporting of a preliminary draft agreement ahead of negotiations, no agenda of talks has been confirmed by both McAllister and Fleckenstein.

The two MEPs arrive in Albania after Albania’s ruling center left majority partners Edi Rama and Ilir Meta asked the help of the European Peoples Party on bringing the country’s opposition democrats back on the table of negotiations.

However, the Democratic Party and its smaller allies have stood firm in their position that they will not enter elections unless Edi Rama resigns from his premiership and a technical government is formed to prepare for free and fair elections.