, KU Leuven
The Albanian parliamentary elections of 25 April raised high hopes for the country’s progress towards democratisation and EU accession. They were the first elections held under the new electoral law, agreed upon by the ruling party and the opposition on 5 June.
The elections were also severely scrutinised by the EU, which has listed the adoption and implementation of the electoral reform in its 15 points conditions for the opening of Albania’s accession talks.
After two years of the opposition boycotting the parliament and refusing to participate in the 2019 local elections, these elections were a window of opportunity for the political actors to reset the way of doing politics as high polarization and mistrust have been dangerously embedded in the Albanian party system over the past decades.
The EU should get serious about Georgia’s political crisis
DISCLAIMER: All opinions in this column reflect the views of the author(s), not of EURACTIV Media network. 06-04-2021
Participants of an opposition rally in support of Georgian opposition leader Nika Melia hold the national flag in front of Georgia s Government building in Tbilisi, 23 February 2021. [Zurab Kurtsikidze/EPA/EFE]
This article is part of our special report EU ambitions unabated.
The absence of the official “enlargement perspective” doesn’t meant that Georgia should be discouraged lodging a membership application. But in order to succeed, Georgia should be more creative in its foreign policy, write Teona Lavrelashvili and Steven Van Hecke.
Teona Lavrelashvili is project Manager of the European Party Monitor, KU Leuven. Previously she worked as a policy officer at European Commission, DG NEAR.
Steven van Hecke is Associate Professor at KU Leuven, Project Coordinator of the European Party Monitor.
Georgia’s foreign policy
début of 2021 kicked off in Brussels. On 22-23 January the country’s President, Salome Zourabichvili, met with the Presidents of the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament, as well as the NATO Secretary General. In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, she did not forgot to announce the key message: Georgia prepares itself to officia