Edi Rama is an Albanian politician,painter,writer,former university lecturer,publicist and former basketball player,who has served as the 33rd and incumbent Prime Minister of Albania since 2013 and chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania since 2005. He was appointed Minister of Culture,Youth and Sports in 1998,an office he held until 2000. First elected mayor of Tirana in 2000,he was reelected in 2003 and 2007.
Ilir Rexhep Meta is an Albanian politician. He served as the president of Albania from 24 July 2017 to 24 July 2022.
Ecaterina Andronescu is a Romanian engineer,professor,and politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD),she sat in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies from 1996 to 2008,representing Bucharest,and was a Senator from 2008 until 2020,for the same city. In the Adrian Năstase cabinet,she was Education Minister from 2000 until June 2003. She held the same position in the cabinet of Emil Boc from 2008 to 2009,in the Victor Ponta cabinet during 2012,and finally in the Viorica Dăncilăcabinet for under 9 months between November 2018 and August 2019. She is married and has one child.
Tanja Fajon is a Slovenian politician,leader of Social Democrats,part of the Party of European Socialists and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Slovenia. She has served as the minister of foreign and european affairs in the government of Prime Minister Robert Golob since 1 June 2022.
Arben Malaj has been Minister of Finance and Economy in the Republic of Albania different times from 1997 until 2005. He is known for transforming the Albanian economy into a European profile,after the hard social-economic crisis that this country passed during the year 1997. He served as a Member of the Albanian Parliament from 1997 to 2013 chairing the Parliamentary Committee on Economy and Finance.
Gramoz Ruçi is an Albanian politician,serving as the head of the parliamentarian group of the ruling Socialist Party of Albania until 2017. In September 2017,he assumed the office of the Chairman of the Parliament of Albania for the new parliamentary session.
Petrit Vasili is an Albanian politician. He was the chairman of Socialist Movement for Integration party and minister of health in the cabinet of Sali Berisha.
Majlinda Bregu is an Albanian politician and diplomat. She served as Minister of European Integration and Government Spokeswoman from 2007 to 2013 in the Berisha cabinet. A member of the Albanian Parliament from 2005 until 2017 representing Tirana County,since January 2019 she is the Secretary-General of the Regional Cooperation Council.
The Municipal Council of Tirana is the legislative body of Tirana,Albania. As of 2019 it consists of 61 members who serve a 4-year term. The members of the council are elected in local elections and the last elections were won by the Socialist Party. The member of the council elects the Chairman of the council. During the 2019–2021 Albanian political crisis members from the opposition had boycotted the election. Which resulted in a Socialist Party landslide. Around the split of the opposition Democratic Party of Albania many democrats would join Together We Win coalition.
Blendi Klosi is an Albanian Socialist Party politician and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Berat. On 13 September 2017,Mr. Klosi was appointed as Minister of Tourism and Environment by the 2nd Rama government.
Arben Ahmetaj is an Albanian politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Albania from 2021 to 2022. Since 2013 previously has served in several important departments such as:Minister of Economic Development,Minister of Finance,as well as Minister of State for Reconstruction after the devastating earthquake in 2019 that occurred in the central area of the country.
Mimi Kodheli is an Albanian economist and politician who served as Minister of Defense of Albania in the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama. She was the first woman to be appointed to the post.
Monika Kryemadhi is an Albanian politician,member of Parliament and former leader of the Socialist Movement for Integration party. She is also the wife of the former President of Albania Ilir Meta. Monika Kryemadhi refused the position of First Lady of Albania—delegating the role instead to her eldest daughter,Bora.
Jorida Tabaku is an Albanian liberal politician with the Democratic Party of Albania. During the Tirana mayoral leadership of former DP leader Lulzim Basha,she served as deputy-mayor in the years 2011–2015.
Erion Veliaj is an Albanian,politician,who is currently serving as the Mayor of Tirana. Stemming from a civil society activism organization as the leader of MJAFT!,Veliaj joined the ranks of the Socialist Party of Albania in 2011,when he was appointed Secretary for Youth and Immigration.
Grida Duma is an Albanian former politician,lecturer,and journalist. A member of the Democratic Party of Albania,she served as the Deputy Minister of European integration in the Berisha cabinet in the years 2011–2013.
Olta Xhaçka is an Albanian politician and Socialist Party member of Parliament. She served as the minister of Europe and foreign affairs from January 2021 to September 2023. She served as Albanian minister of social welfare and youth between March 2017 to August 2017 and as minister of defense from September 2017 to December 2020.
Taulant Balla is an Albanian Socialist Party politician and Member of Parliament (MP) for Librazhd. He was first elected MP in the 2005 general election. He has held the offices of General Secretary and Parliamentary group leader of the Socialist Party. Currently he is the Minister of Interior.
The 2018–2019 student protests in Albania were a series of street protests,demonstrations and online activism events held by the students of the public universities from December 2018 until February 2019,to oppose the high tuition fees. Students across Albania rallied against the moves that were made by the Albanian government to increase the cost of university education,by introducing new fees for exams. The fee comes on top of the dramatically risen university fees,which have failed to lead to any improvement in public education.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Albania was a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The first case in the Republic of Albania was reported in Tirana on 8 March 2020,when a patient and his adult son who had come from Florence,Italy tested positive. Both men later recovered.
