ILIR META

The Albanian Parliament has impeached President Ilir Meta for violating the constitution and discharged him from the post.

Albania's parliament has decided to hold an extraordinary session next week on the impeachment of the country’s president for allegedly violating the constitution.

Albania's parliament on Monday decided to hold an extraordinary session next week on the impeachment of the country’s president for allegedly violating the constitution. The session will be held June 9 following a report by an investigative committee, which last week concluded that President Ilir Meta violated 16 articles of the constitution before Albania’s April 25 general election and should be removed from office a year earlier than his term ends. Earlier this month, 49 governing Socialist lawmakers asked for the investigative committee to decide whether to impeach Meta for failing in his constitutional duty to guarantee national unity by siding with the opposition in the election.

Albania's president offered public support Saturday to a former prime minister who was sanctioned by the United States this week for corruption. President Ilir Meta made public a letter to former Prime Minister Sali Berisha that described the sanctioning of the politician as a “shameful, unfaithful and nasty act” prompted by anti-Albanian lobbying. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that Berisha and his immediate family were barred from entering the United States.

Albania’s prime minister has expressed his determination to remove the president from his post, saying he has embarrassed the country.

An Albania lawmaker says the governing left-wing Socialist Party legislators have started the impeachment process against the country’s president who they accuse of violating the constitution during the last election.

Lawmakers from Albania’s governing left-wing Socialist Party have started an impeachment process against the country’s president, who they accuse of violating the constitution during the last election, one of their leaders said Monday. Taulant Balla, the Socialist parliamentary group leader, said 50 Socialist lawmakers have asked parliament to launch an investigation after determining that President Ilir Meta “before and during the electoral campaign committed actions that run counter to the country’s constitution.” During the April 25 electoral campaign, Meta accused the left-wing government of Prime Minister Edi Rama of running a “kleptocratic regime” and bungling its pandemic response.

An exit poll for Albania's parliamentary election suggests the ruling Socialist Party is in a tight race with the opposition Democratic Party.

Albania’s president has accused the U.S. ambassador of intervening in the small European country’s internal affairs by supporting its prime minister in an upcoming parliamentary election.

Albanian protesters run away from teargas during a protest rally in Tirana, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Hektor Pustina)TIRANA – Albanian demonstrators on Sunday kept up their daily protests over the fatal shooting of a man by police enforcing a coronavirus curfew. Later some hurled stones at the Tirana police station, where police responded with tear gas and water cannons. Albanians have defied a coronavirus ban on public gatherings and have clashed with police in recent days after Klodian Rasha was killed in Tirana amid a curfew early Tuesday. The U.S. and the European Union have urged Albania's political parties to exercise restraint amid the protests.

Albanian protesters run away from teargas during a protest rally in Tirana, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Hektor Pustina)TIRANA – Albanian police swiftly dispersed a smaller crowd of demonstrators Saturday as part of their ongoing protests this week after a fatal shooting by police enforcing a coronavirus curfew. In the nearby western port city of Durres, demonstrators concluded their protest with fist-bumping with officers in front of a police station. Albanian politics has been mired by infighting since the shooting, with Rama accusing opposition politicians, including President Ilir Meta, of inciting the violent protests. The U.S. and the European Union have called on Albanian political parties to exercise restraint.

Emergency workers carry an injured woman from the debris at a damaged building in Thumane, about 20 miles northwest of Tirana, after an earthquake hit Albania, November 26, 2019. GENT SHKULLAKU/GETTYTirana, Albania A strong earthquake rocked Albania early Tuesday, crumbling several buildings and killing at least 14 people. Centered 19 miles northwest of the capital Tirana, the Reuters news agency said it was the strongest quake to hit Albania in decades. "The situation is very dramatic," President Ilir Meta told journalists in the hard-hit northern town of Thumane, 22 miles north of Tirana. Emergency workers clear debris at a damaged building in Thumane, about 20 miles northwest of Tirana, after an earthquake hit Albania, November 26, 2019.