Latest news with #FatosBytyci
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Small, aspirational Albania hosts giant European summit
By Fatos Bytyci and Edward McAllister TIRANA (Reuters) - European leaders descend on Albania on Friday for a meeting sure to be dominated by the war in Ukraine, but small Balkan countries hope talk of EU enlargement will also feature at the European Political Community Summit. The event, including the leaders of France, Germany and Britain, takes place as Ukraine and Russia are set to hold their first peace talks since the early days of the conflict. Other topics will include security, democracy and migration. But it is also a pivotal time for Albania, one of Europe's poorest countries with 2.4 million people which is still trying to shrug off the lingering impact of decades of stifling communist rule and join the European Union. The country is bracing for Friday's influx. Flights from Tirana's small airport, which is undergoing a revamp amid a burgeoning tourist boom, may be disrupted by the extra air traffic, the airport said in a post on Instagram. Traffic restrictions across the capital are expected to add to congestion on its already clogged ring road. Walking routes around the bustling centre, where the summit will take place in a massive new conference tent, will also be limited. 'When you see how far Albania has gone and holding such a meeting with EU and UK leaders it is pleasure to see that happening," said Dritan Hoti, 46, who grew up in the last years of communism. "Albania is moving in the right direction despite all the problems it faced.' Before joining the EU, Albania must lose its reputation as a money laundering hub for weapons and drugs traffickers where a few live the high life and many live in poverty. Political transparency is also important in the wake of a disputed election which Prime Minister Edi Rama officially won handsomely but which local prosecutors are investigating and the opposition has dismissed as fraudulent. Opposition leader and former prime minister Sali Berisha has called for a peaceful protest during Friday's summit. Experts say Rama's agreement to accept migrants from Italy, increase renewables output and open up the country to foreign investment - including that of U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner - have bolstered Albania's chances of joining the bloc. "The EU is looking for a success story," said Andi Hoxhaj, a Balkan expert at King's College London. "Albania and Montenegro could have a window of opportunity, as both countries are very small and it will not have any major impact or pressure on the EU." A lot depends on how much Balkan countries want to join. Hoxhaj said the EU has lost some credibility in the region in part for making accession so difficult. Kosovo and Serbia also have EU aspirations, although a long-running dispute between those countries has slowed progress. Kosovo is under EU sanctions for Prime Minister Albin Kurti's role in stoking ethnic tensions in its northern region bordering Serbia. Meanwhile, Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic this week joined Moscow's World War Two victory commemorations despite objections from Brussels.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kosovo in political stalemate as parliament fails to elect speaker
By Fatos Bytyci PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kosovo's parliament failed to elect a new speaker for the fourth time on Friday, prolonging a legislative crisis that has prevented efforts to form a new government more than two months after an inconclusive election. Under Kosovo's constitution, a parliamentary speaker must be voted in before the election winner can form a government, but without cross-party support that is proving difficult, and the stalemate has exposed deep divisions in Europe's newest state. In the February 9 parliamentary election, following an acrimonious campaign in which outgoing Prime Minister Albin Kurti called the opposition "animals" and "thieves", his Vetevendosje party came first but did not secure an outright majority. Opposition parties, who have said they will not enter a coalition with Vetevendosje, partly blame Kurti for escalating the tensions in the country's Serb-majority north that have hobbled Kosovo's chances of joining the EU and triggered sanctions from the bloc. The fractured political scene could result in a snap election later this year if no government can be formed. Kurti's nominee for speaker, outgoing justice minister Albulena Haxhiu, received 57 votes on Friday, unchanged from previous votes and short of a required majority of 61 seats. Parliament must meet again in 48 hours to hold another vote. Opposition parties have asked Kurti to change the candidate if he wants their support. "There is no will from political parties to constitute the parliament," Haxhiu said after the vote. By law, parliament must continue to meet until a speaker is voted in. After that the country's president will give Kurti's party a mandate to form a new ruling coalition. If Kurti fails, the mandate will be handed to the second-placed Democratic Party of Kosovo and, if they do not succeed, the third-placed Democratic League of Kosovo party. If all efforts fail, the president can call snap elections - an outcome many analysts expect.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Yahoo
North Macedonia nightclub where blaze killed 59 lacked safety measures, says prosecutor
By Fatos Bytyci and Aleksandar Vasovic The packed nightclub in North Macedonia where 59 people were killed in a blaze at the weekend had just one emergency exit, which was locked, lacked fire extinguishers and sprinklers and contained flammable materials, the state prosecutor said. The fire broke out during a hip hop concert at the club in the town of Kocani at around 3 a.m. (0200 GMT) on Sunday when sparks from flares set a patch of ceiling alight. Hundreds of people scrambled for the venue's only exit as flames spread across the roof in the country's deadliest incident in years. "It did not have two exit doors, but only one single improvised metal door at the back of the building, which was locked and without a handle on the inside," North Macedonia's state prosecutor Ljupco Kocevski said late on Sunday. The "Pulse" nightclub, which local media reports described as a former carpet warehouse, had only two fire extinguishers and no fire alarm, Kocevski said. The ceiling was made of flammable materials and the plasterboard walls were not fire resistant. More than 150 people were injured. "(The nightclub) operated in substandard conditions. It does not have this and that, and people were making money from it. Who is responsible?" said Sasa Djenic, a school teacher whose 15-year-old daughter escaped the fire with burns on her arms. Draghi Stojanov's son died in the fire. "After this tragedy, what do I need this life for? I had one child and I lost him," he told Reuters. Some people with missing loved ones queued outside the hospital in Kocani on Monday to give DNA samples in case their relatives were not immediately identifiable. On the edge of town, which lies around 50 miles (80 km)east of the capital Skopje, bulldozers and workers with shovels dug a line of fresh graves in the Kocani cemetery. Authorities have arrested 20 people in connection with the fire, including government officials and the nightclub's manager. Kocevski said his office was working to determine the criminal liability of a number of people for "serious offences against public security" and other crimes. "The individuals acted contrary to the regulations and technical rules of the protection measures and thereby caused a danger to the life and work of people on a large scale," he said. ILLEGAL LICENCE Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said the club's licence was issued illegally by the economy ministry and promised those responsible would face justice. Former economy minister Kreshnik Bekteshi was questioned by police over the disaster, the local TV 5 broadcaster said. Reuters pictures on Monday showed the club's corrugated iron roof burned through and collapsed in places, its interior wooden beams exposed and blackened. Forty-seven people were treated in hospitals in Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Turkey. Burn specialists from Serbia, the Czech Republic and Israel were expected in North Macedonia on Monday to assist local medical staff. More would be taken to hospitals in Croatia and Romania, officials said. A nationwide week of mourning began on Monday, and a vigil for the victims was scheduled in the capital Skopje.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Kosovo businesses under threat from Trump's USAID freeze
By Fatos Bytyci PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kenan Gashi saws the limbs off old mannequins in his shop in Kosovo and throws them into machines donated by the U.S. government that shred and clean the plastic so it can be sold for reuse. Gashi's recycling business in Fushe Kosova was transformed when it received the equipment from the U.S. international aid agency (USAID) two years ago, prompting him to draw up plans to hire more workers. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. But Gashi is worried now. More than a third of the $130,000 worth of promised equipment has still not arrived. And now the administration of President Donald Trump has frozen USAID funding and sought to drastically scale down the aid agency and all U.S. foreign aid under his "America First" agenda. Last week, in a video statement to the press, Trump mentioned the Kosovo recycling donation as an example of the kind of government spending he wants to cut. "We are waiting for other machines to arrive, and we planned to increase the workforce from five to 20, but everything is uncertain now," Gashi said as he threw plastic parts into a USAID grinder with a sticker that read "Recycling Matters". The U.S. has been one of Kosovo's biggest supporters since the small landlocked Balkan country broke away from Serbia, supplying $1.1 billion in aid since 2001, according to U.S. government figures. Pristina-based think tank GAP said that USAID was currently managing 17 projects worth more than $156 million, but it is unclear how much of that has actually been disbursed. Kosovo is one of the poorest countries in Europe and remains in dire need of aid, politicians and residents say. It is blighted by continued ethnic tensions between the Albanian majority and the Serb minority in the north. Reuters found that more than a dozen aid projects worth at least 150 million euros have been cancelled by the European Union as a result of Kosovo authorities' role in that strife. "People will not die because of USAID frozen funds," said Burim Ejupi from Pristina-based Indep think tank. "However..., every single dollar or euro received is important for a country that desperately needs them." At risk are funds that are designed to strengthen Kosovo's democratic institutions, speed up the switch from high-polluting coal to renewable energy, and protect marginalised groups. Those who have received the funding say it makes a difference to them and their community. Another recycler, Qazim Grashtica, 38, scours rubbish bins daily around the capital Pristina in search of plastic. USAID provided him with his small tractor and a machine that crushes plastic. The help has increased his income from five euros a day up to 20 euros a day. "Before the Americans' help there were times when 10 other family members would sleep without dinner. We had nothing to eat," Grashtica said in his workshop surrounded by plastic ready to be sold. "I will tell Trump, 'You are a good man, you should help people, especially those in Kosovo.'"
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kosovo's ruling party set to win election but lose majority
By Fatos Bytyci PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kosovo's ruling Vetevendosje party is on track to come first in Sunday's parliamentary election, but it fell short of an outright majority needed to rule without coalition partners, preliminary results showed on Monday. The election result would be a drop from the more than 50% that Prime Minister Albin Kurti's party won in 2021. But it puts him in position to lead the next government in a country whose politics are dominated by the relationship with neighbouring Serbia and Serbs within its borders. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Another Kurti-led government may see a continuation of policies to extend government control over the north, where about 50,000 ethnic Serbs live, many of whom refuse to recognise Kosovo's independence from Serbia in 2008. That worries moderates who fear a return to the ethnic violence that has blighted the region in recent years. Vetevendosje won 41.3% of votes with 88% of ballots counted, official results from the election commission showed. The opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo was second with 21.8% and the Democratic League of Kosovo party had 17.8%. "Preliminary results show one true, exact and clear thing, and this is that the Vetevendosje movement has won the elections of February 9, 2025," Kurti told supporters in the capital Pristina as crowds let off fireworks, banged drums and waved Albanian flags. Monday will likely see the beginning of coalition talks, although it is not clear which party or parties Vetevendosje will team up with. During an acrimonious election campaign, in which fines for misconduct trebled over the 2021 poll, Kurti said he would refuse to rule with a coalition. Kosovo, which is majority ethnic Albanian, is Europe's newest country, and one of its poorest. It gained independence from Serbia in 2008 with backing from the United States after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign against Serbian forces in 1999. The election campaign saw debates over corruption, crime, health and education, but looming in the background is the situation in the north, where Kurti's moves to reduce ethnic Serbs' autonomy has stoked tensions and isolated it from the European Union and the United States. The EU placed economic curbs on the country in 2023 for its role in the tensions, cutting at least 150 million euros ($155 million) in funding, Reuters found. (Writing by Edward McAllister; Editing by Michael Perry)
