21st Century
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Growth in gross domestic product is 7.3%, just slightly less than the 7.8% registered in 2000. Unemployment drops from 17.1% in 1999 to 13.3% in 2001, thanks to a government-supported job creation program that includes infrastructure-development projects within the framework of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. | |
| Although Albania has made strides toward democratic reform and maintaining the rule of law, serious deficiencies in the electoral code remain to be addressed, as demonstrated in the June 2001 parliamentary elections. International observers judged the 2001 elections to be acceptable, but the Union for Victory Coalition, the second-largest vote recipient, disputed the results and boycotted parliament until January 31, 2002. The Socialists re-elected Ilir Meta as Prime Minister in August 2001, a post which he held till February 2002, when he resigned due to party infighting. Pandeli Majko was re-elected Prime Minister in February 2002. | ||
| March | The large ethnic Albanian minority in neighbouring Macedonia stages an armed rebellion. Although Albania's prime minister Ilir Meta supports international peace negotiations (which lead to a truce and a peace settlement in late August), there is evidence to suggest that Albanian border guards have at first failed to seal the border completely to arms smugglers supplying the rebels in Macedonia. | |
| April | The government is strongly criticized for its unsuccessful policy toward human trafficking. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) joins Save the Children in highlighting the trade in eastern European women and even Albanian children, and accuses local Albanian police of colluding in the lucrative industry. IOM points out that there have been fewer prosecutions of smugglers than of victims of the trade. | |
| 18 April | The government announces that legislative elections will take place on June 24. | |
| 24 June | In the first round of the parliamentary elections (turnout 54.9%), the ruling Socialist Party, with a reform-oriented program, wins 31 seats; the opposition Union for Victory coalition, formed by the Democratic Party, receives 16 seats. In the second round on July 8, the Socialist Party wins another 44 and the Union for Victory 30. The opposition had been split since 2000, when the New Democrat Party was formed, whose leader, Genc Pollo, charged Berisha with failing to offer convincing answers to the country's essential problems. Pollo's leadership appealed to many voters who were looking for a group among the opposition that could demonstrate some political competence. The new party wins six seats in the new parliament. | |
| 30 July | The opposition Democratic Party (PDS) announces that it will not accept the results of the "farcical" legislative election and that it will consequently stay away from the People's Assembly. According to final results announced on August 21 the ruling Socialist Party won a clear majority of 73 seats in the 140-seat Assembly, while the Union for Victory won only 46. Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe disagree with the PDS and describe the poll as free and fair. | |
| 3 September | The Democratic Party boycotts the opening session of the People's Assembly in defiance of the government's recent electoral victory. | |
| 12 September | Parliament gives Prime Minister Ilir Meta's new government a vote of confidence. Within the governing coalition the Socialist Party controls all key ministries. Arta Dade becomes foreign minister (the first woman in Albanian history to hold that post), Ilir Gjoni interior minister, and Pandeli Majko defense minister; Anastas Angjeli remains finance minister. The chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Skënder Gjinushi, takes charge of labour and social affairs, while another Social Democrat, former foreign minister Paskal Milo, becomes minister of Euro-Atlantic integration. Former justice minister Arben Imami becomes minister of local government and decentralization, pledging to focus on strengthening the role of cities and towns; Niko Kacalidha (of the Union Party, which represents many ethnic Greeks) is appointed to the new post of state minister for minorities and the diaspora. For his part, Prime Minister Meta pledges to upgrade power supplies, proceed with privatization, fight corruption and organized crime, improve ties with Western Europe and neighbours in the Balkan region, and promote free trade. | |
| December | Five cabinet members resign after a concerted campaign by Fatos Nano, the leader of the ruling Socialist Party, to bring about a reshuffle. Nano has accused the government of high-level corruption. | |
| 2002 | Albania is working to conclude free-trade agreements with Macedonia, Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, and Croatia. The economy suffers a slight setback. Unemployment creeps up during the year. A United Nations Development Project report estimates that one-third of the population lives in poverty, earning less than $1 per capita per day. Large segments of the population live from subsistence agriculture and do not receive unemployment benefits. | |
| 29 January | Prime Minister of Albania Ilir Meta resigns in anger over a continuing row with the leader of his Socialist Party, Fatos Nano, who has been resisting the appointment of ministers to vacant cabinet positions. Earlier that day the opposition Democratic Party ended its four-month boycott of the People's Assembly. | |
| 7 February | Defense Minister Pandeli Majko receives the backing of the various warring factions within the ruling Socialist Party to be the country's next prime minister. Nominated by outgoing premier Meta, Majko agrees to accommodate supporters of party leader Nano in a new cabinet. The previous deadlock led the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to freeze aid payments until the situation was resolved. On February 16 President Meidani accepts Majko's proposed cabinet, including Kastriot Islami as finance minister, Luan Rama as defense minister, and Stefan Çipa as interior minister; Arta Dade is to remain as foreign minister. The cabinet is approved by Parliament on February 22. | |
| 24 June | Parliament elects Alfred Moisiu as president (97-19). He is sworn in July 24. On July 25 Prime Minister Majko resigns. On July 31 Parliament approves (81-48) a new government with Socialist Party Chairman Fatos Nano as prime minister, Majko as defense minister, Ilir Meta as foreign minister, and Luan Rama as interior minister; Kastriot Islami remains finance minister. Nano's appointment marks the end of a power struggle between the party leader and his two younger challengers Meta and Majko, both of whom had served as prime minister since Nano resigned the post during a period of civil unrest in 1998. Media analysis suggests that Nano elbowed Meta and Majko aside in a grab for power after realizing that he was too controversial a figure to aspire to the presidency. The European Parliament had urged Albanian legislators to elect a president who would be acceptable to both the governing coalition and the opposition. Moreover, Meta and the outgoing president, Meidani, both openly opposed Nano's candidacy for the presidency. The election of Moisiu essentially sealed the Socialist legislators' compromise with the opposition led by the Democratic Party. Nano and Berisha say that the deal signals that the two rival party leaders have put years of fighting behind them. Moisiu, a 73-year-old retired general, served as president of the Albanian North Atlantic Treaty Association and is considered friendly by the opposition. | |
| 29 August | The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's chief of mission, Geert-Hinrich Ahrens, praises Albania in his end-of-mission address to the OSCE Permanent Council, reporting that the country is "in the forefront of reform in the region" and adding that recent achievements have "brought Albania to the threshold of opening negotiations for a Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union." Finnish diplomat Osmo Lipponen succeeds Ahrens on September 1. | |
| 2003 | 12 February | Albania opens negotiations with the European Commission on a Stabilization and Association Agreement, the first step towards membership of the European Union. (to 13 February) |
| 2 May | U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell signs a partnership agreement with Albania, Macedonia, and Croatia intended to help them achieve NATO membership. | |
| 18 July | Angered by Nano's comments during a cabinet meeting, Foreign Minister Meta resigns in protest at Nano's "nihilistic, tendentious, and denigrating" criticism. On July 22 Marko Bello is nominated to be foreign minister, but he is rejected by parliament on July 28. On July 29 Luan Hajdaraga is named acting foreign minister. | |
| 12 October | The Socialist Party wins a narrow victory over the Democratic Party in local elections. Turnout is around 50%. | |
| 17 October | Interior Minister Luan Rama is sacked. He has been accused of punching the editor-in-chief of Vizion Plus television, Ilir Babaramo, in a Tirana restaurant on October 14 because of criticism broadcast by the TV station two months ago. On October 23 Prime Minister Nano's nominees for foreign minister, Namik Dokle, and for interior minister, Fatmir Xhafa, are rejected by parliament. On October 25 Nano picks Igli Toska to be acting interior minister. | |
| 19 October | In Tiran, more than 2,000 people hold a "people's marathon" to celebrate the beatification of Mother Teresa, who was born to Albanian parents in what is now the Republic of Macedonia. | |
| 29 December | Parliament finally approves new ministers for the vacant posts. Kastriot Islami becomes foreign minister, Arben Malaj succeeds him as finance minister, and Igli Toska becomes interior minister. | |
| 2004 | January | A national day of mourning is called after 20 people dies in a shipwreckage during an illegal attempt to cross the Adriatic sea and reach Italy. |
| 7 February | Some 2,000 protesters gather at Prime Minister Nano's office. Stones are thrown and an attempt to storm the building is repelled by guards. Earlier in the day over 4,000 demonstrators rallied in Tirana's central square and, led by Democratic Party leader Berisha, called for Nano to quit. | |
| 2005 | 3 July | Parliamentary elections end with a victory for the opposition Democratic Party (PD) and its allies, prominently the Republican Party (PR). Former president Sali Berisha became prime minister as a result of the election. |
| September | After two months of political wrangling, former president Sali Berisha emerges as the victor in July's general election | |
| 2006 | April | Speedboats are banned in coastal waters, in order to fight people and drug smuggling |
| June | A Stabilisation and Association Agreement is signed between Albania and the European Union | |
| 2007 | Despite the political situation, the economy of Albania grew at an estimated 5% in 2007. The Albanian lek has strengthened from 143 lekë to the US dollar in 2000 to 92 lekë in 2007, mainly due to the depreciation of the US dollar, but also thanks to the overall improvement of the Albanian economy. | |
| 10 June | US President George W. Bush visited Albania, the first sitting US President to do so. While Mr Bush was glad-handing cheering crowds, it appears as if his wristwatch is stolen. TV footage of the President being mobbed, taken by the Albanian TV station News24, was broadcasted on Italian TV news bulletins and watched by thousands on YouTube. It was later reported that Bush had given the watch to a guard. | |
| July | Bamir Topi, ruling party chairmanpresident, is elected by the Parliament as President of Albania, after three failed round highlighted the risk of snap elections. | |
| 2008 | 15 March | An explosion in a badly-maintained arms depot causes 16 deaths and over 300 injured, damaging Tirana airport. Defense minister Fatmir Mediu resigns. |
| 12 June | Opposition Socialist Party leaves the Parliament, accusing the ruling Democratic Party of postponing voting on five new members of the Supreme Court awaiting appointment by President Bamir Topi. | |
| 2009 | April | Albania joins NATO and submit application for membership in the European Union |
| July | Sali Berisha's centre-right Democratic Party wins 2009 parliamentary elections by a narrow margin. Prior to the election, the electoral law was changed to a regional proportionally system.Berisha's alliance won enough seats to form a government, though it fell one seat short of a majority during the elections of Jun 28th 2009, having to join forces with a splinter socialist party, the Socialist Movement for Integration of Ilir Meta, whom Berisha appointed to the post of Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs, and later Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy. It is the first time since the start of multi-party democracy in 1991 that a ruling party has been forced into a coalition through not winning enough seats on its own. | |
| November | Protests begin in Tirana, led by opposition Socialist Party leader Edi Rama, against allegedly rigged vote counting in the 2009 elections. Berisha has refused any recount of the votes, on the ground that the Albanian Constitution do not foresee such procedure. The political crisis between government and opposition has worsened over time, with the Socialists abandoning parliamentary debates for months and staging hungerstrikes to ask for internal and international support. | |
| 2010 | May | The Socialist Party starts a civil disobedience campaign against the government, asking for a new count of votes, and including hunger strike of opposition leaders |
| September | Economy minister Dritan Prifti resigns after being involved in a corruption scandal. | |
| 28 October | The opposition Socialist Party again walks out of the Parliament | |
| November | The European Union rejects Albania's request for EU candidate status, but visa are liberalized. The ongoing political crisis was one of the reason of the refusal of granting Albania official candiday status | |
| 2011 | 7 January | The Central Election Commission begins burning the ballots of the 2009 parliamentary elections, in a routine process leading to the May 8th local elections, making a second count (repeatedly requested by opposition) impossible. The Socialist Party has accused the CEC and the Berisha government to attempt hiding vote manipulation. |
| 14 January | Economy and Trade Minister Ilir Meta resigns after being involved in a corruption scandal. | |
| 21 January | Clashes break out between police and protesters in an anti-government rally in front of the Government building in Tirana. Three people are shot dead. The EU issues a statement to Albanian politicians, warning both sides to refrain from violence. | |
| 8 May | Local elections see the victory of the Socialist Party of Albania (PS) in the main cities outside Tirana, Lezha and Scutari; The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe released a mixed evaluation of the electoral process, which was considered "competitive and transparent, but took place in an environment of high polarization and mistrust". In Tirana, the match was between Edi Rama, incumbent mayor and PS leader, and Lulzim Basha, DP minister of the interior. After a long process of votes counting, Rama was first declared winner for a tight margin of 10 votes. Then, the DP-led Central Electoral Commission decided to add to the count some of the votes misplaced in the wrong boxes, a move on doubtful legal grounds that was contested by the opposition as well as by the OSCE. Basha was finally declared winner for 83 votes. The EU Commission president José Manuel Barroso consequently cancelled his visit to Tirana; the Nobel-prize Ismail Kadaré pledged him to withdraw his candidacy to avoid the "collapse" and "isolation" of Albania. | |
| 2012 | 21 September | September 2012 Hunger strike of former politically persecuted in Albania (2012) |
Read more about this topic: Timeline Of Albanian History
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