Elections in Albania Focus on the Economy and the Tensions Between the EU and the US
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Elections in Albania Focus on the Economy and the Tensions Between the EU and the US
ALBANIA
As Albanian voters head to the polls to vote in parliamentary elections on May 11, crime, corruption, jobs, and the economy are on their minds, as they usually have been in elections over the past decade.
What’s new this time around, however, is the country’s push for membership of the European Union, which is not only impacting the race but also drawing interest from Trump administration officials, say analysts.
Albania submitted its formal application for membership in the bloc in 2009 and was awarded candidate status in 2014, but its accession has yet to come through. Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama has made taking the country across the finish line one of his most important campaign promises.
EU membership would not only bring more aid and investment to the country of 2.7 million, it would also allow Albanians who have emigrated abroad and those who remain at home the freedom to travel, study, and work across the continent more easily — an attractive idea to voters.
Many stakeholders, especially Albanians involved in business and civil society, want the kind of reforms that often come before actual accession, purely as a result of EU membership talks, added the Tirana Times. These reforms often help crack down on corruption and improve the investment climate.
One of Europe’s poorest nations, Albania has struggled with widespread corruption and the alleged influx of illicit money from organized crime.
Rama, who has been in office for 12 years, says he wants Albania to join the bloc by 2030. “We will not rest until we step into the door of the European Union and sit around the same table that the European Union does,” Rama said.
Marta Kos, the European commissioner for enlargement of the bloc, said she is hopeful about that timeline, adding that “there is a realistic prospect that we can bring one or more enlargement countries to the finish line,” including Albania.
Meanwhile, running against Rama is Sali Berisha of the center-right Democratic Party, a former president and ex-prime minister who has been sanctioned by the US for alleged corruption. Berisha’s party also supports the country’s bid to join the bloc.
However, with Chris LaCivita, the former co-manager for US President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, advising him, Berisha has labelled Rama as a tool of George Soros, the billionaire who backs liberal civil society initiatives. Trump and his allies also tend to express skepticism about countries giving bureaucrats in Brussels more power to regulate their economies.
Critics at Mother Jones wrote that Democratic Party of Albania leaders might have hired Trump team folks in order to persuade the American president to remove the “persona non grata” designations imposed on them under President Joseph Biden. Albanian anti-corruption prosecutors, meanwhile, are looking into other hires related to Trump, too, added bne Intellinews. In the crosshairs is the party’s $6 million lobbying contract with US-based Continental Strategy, represented by Carlos Trujillo, a former lawyer for Trump.
Ivana Stradner, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Politico it should come as no surprise that some with links to the White House warned prospective member countries against joining the EU, considering that Trump has claimed the bloc exists “to screw the United States” on trade.
However, she added, the administration would be better off “fully supporting Albania’s EU accession as it would contribute to the rule of law in the country and protect US investments and businesses in southeastern Europe.”
Despite his party’s support for accession, Rama also criticized the bloc during the campaign as becoming “too self-referential” and “selfish,” adding that it must learn to stand up to other powers at a time of US-triggered trade wars and global disruption.
“When Trump says that God saved him to Make America Great Again, he tells only half of the story,” the prime minister said. “The other half is that He saved Trump also to make Europe wake up and get its act together.”
All that may be little more than sound and fury, say analysts, who argue that voters have known the two parties and their two candidates for years, and the election offers little that is new in politics or personality. Instead, the primary impact will be on Rama’s and Berisha’s personal ambitions, said Afrim Krasniqi of the Institute for Political Studies in Tirana.
“These elections do not have any historic importance, they are more of a test – (to see) if Albania manages to hold better elections than in the past,” Krasniqi told BalkanInsight. He added that the two main political parties in the country have not reformed themselves and “have not managed to create better alternatives” to deliver meaningful change. “The two alternatives are not real alternatives,” he said. “They are a confirmation of the status quo.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Syria Seeking to Halt Israeli Attacks in Indirect Talks
SYRIA
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa is engaged in indirect talks with Israel in an attempt to end Israeli attacks on his country, the leader announced this week following an official visit to France, CNN reported Thursday.
Since former Syrian President Bashar Assad was ousted in December, Israel has taken additional Syrian territory and launched a series of attacks to stop the reconstitution of military capabilities and combat Islamist militancy, which it views as a threat to its security.
Israeli officials now say they will keep a military presence in Syria indefinitely, after creating a buffer zone in southern Syria to protect the country’s Druze minority.
At a Paris news conference Wednesday, al-Sharaa called on Israel to respect the United Nations-brokered 1974 disengagement agreement, which set up a buffer zone between Syria and the Golan Heights region that Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.
The United Arab Emirates has set up a backchannel for talks focused on security, intelligence matters, and confidence-building between Syria and Israel, as Syria’s new government asked for regional help in navigating the hostile relationship with its southern neighbor, according to Reuters.
However, UAE officials denied the country’s role as a mediator in such talks.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron urged the United States and the European Union to lift sanctions against Syria following al-Sharaa’s visit. He also appealed to Washington to keep their troops in the country and reassess the situation at a later time, wrote Politico.
The international community has been hesitant toward al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaida member, ever since his forces ousted Assad and gained power. He had vowed to protect minorities in the country and pursue inclusive policies, but the spike in sectarian violence in recent months has cast doubts on those promises.
In February, the EU lifted restrictions surrounding energy, transport, and banking, but this decision needs to be reviewed by June.
Macron called on the EU to stand by its original decision and urged the US to lift its sanctions against Syria as well, while al-Sharaa argued that the penalties had been imposed on the old regime and that there is no reason to maintain them.
Denmark To Question US Diplomat Over US Spying in Greenland
GREENLAND
Denmark plans to summon the top US diplomat in the country for clarification following a Wall Street Journal report that the United States is intensifying intelligence-collecting on Greenland, the Associated Press reported.
According to the Wall Street Journal, senior officials under the US Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, instructed intelligence agency heads to study Greenland’s independence movement and views on Washington’s efforts to extract resources from the mineral-rich Arctic island – which US President Donald Trump has expressed interest in acquiring for the United States.
The agencies were instructed to use surveillance satellites, communications intercepts, and spies on the ground to identify the people in Greenland and Denmark who support the US goals for the island.
Despite Trump’s many claims about wanting to annex Greenland, this is one of the first concrete steps toward that goal.
Gabbard has not denied the report, according to the BBC. However, she accused the Journal of “aiding deep state actors who seek to undermine the president by politicizing and leaking classified information.”
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen called the Journal report “very worrying,” and said Danish officials are taking its allegations very seriously. Denmark, a US ally and NATO member, is planning to spend $1.5 billion on Greenland’s protection, the Guardian noted.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen has previously said the US comments about the island have been disrespectful and that Greenland can’t be bought, dismissing Washington’s claim that annexing the semi-autonomous state is a matter of international security.
Polls show that a majority of Greenlanders want independence from Denmark, which controls its foreign and defense policies, but also that they don’t want to be annexed by the US.
Togo Leader Tightens Grip on Power, Sparks Outcry
TOGO
Togo’s opposition parties and civil society blasted the appointment of President Faure Gnassingbé to a powerful new executive body this month as a “constitutional coup” intended to allow the longtime leader to stay in power indefinitely, the Associated Press reported.
Earlier this month, parliament appointed Gnassingbé president of the Council of Ministers, a role that grants him more power and is not subject to term limits.
The position allows Gnassingbé to coordinate government action, establish broad guidelines for policy, and ensure the implementation of the council’s decisions, Reuters wrote.
But a coalition of political parties decried the move as “neither legal nor legitimate,” warning that it could lead to further democratic backsliding in the West African country.
They added that the appointment marked “a new phase in the seizure of power,” one that consolidates the rule of Gnassingbé, who has been in power since 2005 following the death of his father.
On Sunday, hundreds protested in the capital against the move, vowing to step up domestic and international pressure against the longtime leader.
Gnassingbé’s appointment follows last year’s constitutional reforms, which eliminated presidential elections and allowed parliament to choose the president.
Meanwhile, the new constitution downgraded the position of president to a ceremonial one. Following Gnassingbé’s appointment to head the Council of Ministers, lawmakers selected Jean-Lucien Kwassi Savi de Tove to the now less-powerful position of national president.
Although officials did not comment on the appointment, government media outlets hailed the reforms as a modernizing step that prepares Togo for a parliamentary government.
Togo, a phosphate-producing country of around 8 million people, has been ruled by the same family since 1967, when Gnassingbé’s father, Eyadema Gnassingbé, seized power in a coup.
DISCOVERIES
New Neighbors
For more than 50 years, astronomers have hunted unsuccessfully for planets that orbit Barnard’s star, the star closest to our solar system. They knew some were there but couldn’t find them – with each claim eventually being refuted – until now.
“Finding exoplanets around Barnard’s star has been something of a white whale for astronomers,” wrote the American Astronomical Society. “Now the white whale appears to have been caught – at last.”
Researchers found four planets orbiting the star, which is six light years away, they said in a new study.
They did this by using data collected by the Hawaii-based Gemini Telescope and the Chile-based Very Large Telescope: In November, astronomers found one planet last year via a study based on data gathered through the Very Large Telescope, which hinted that there were more.
Those hints come from the “wobble” method, also known as “radial velocity.” When a planet orbits its star, the planet’s gravity tugs on the star, causing a slight wobble that is visible to modern telescopes.
The newly discovered planets fall into the category of exoplanets, meaning they orbit stars outside of Earth’s solar system. These four are among the smallest of more than 5,800 exoplanets discovered since the 1990s, and scientists say they are too hot to sustain life.
“A key requirement for habitability is the presence of liquid surface water,” the lead author of the study, Ritvik Basant, told Reuters. “If a planet orbits too close to its star, any water would evaporate. If it’s too far, it would freeze. It turns out, all four planets orbiting Barnard’s star are too close to their host, making them too hot to sustain liquid water.”
Barnard’s star is a red dwarf, the smallest type of regular star. And while it is much cooler than Earth’s Sun, its four neighboring planets are very close and cause intense heat.
When looking for extraterrestrial life, researchers look for rocky and warm planets like Earth. While the newly found planets are not in the habitable zone – where surface temperatures allow for liquid water – scientists have not ruled out the existence of other small planets in Barnard’s star system and say the technology is helping to find new planets.
“This study showcases the growing capabilities of next-generation instruments in detecting low-mass planets,” said Basant. “This marks a significant step forward in the search for Earth-mass planets within the habitable zones of sun-like stars.”