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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 07/04
Albania: State of the Nation 2003
March 11, 2003
Abstract
Political feuding virtually paralysed the Albanian government in the first half of 2002, until the European Parliament brokered an agreement between the main political parties which led to the election of retired army general Alfred Moisiu as the consensus choice for president. Although the 73-year-old Moisiu leans to the right, he has pledged to represent all Albanians equally. After a long period of confrontation, the country entered a phase of political dialogue. The opposition Democratic Party (DP) ended its boycott of local government institutions and began to work with the ruling Socialist Party (SP). In August 2002 parliament voted in a new Socialist-led government with the SP chairman, Fatos Nano, as Prime Minister for a third time. By early 2003, however, this unusual consensus appeared to have unravelled, returning politics to its more normal fractiousness. Political tensions are expected to rise as October local elections approach.
Albania's key foreign policy goal remains membership in the European Union and NATO. Preliminary negotiations with the EU on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement began in February 2003. Albania is trying to play as neutral a role as possible in the ethnic problems in Kosovo, Southern Serbia and Macedonia, and is seeking to establish normal relations with its Slav neighbours.
