Cham Party Eyes Cabinet Post in Albania

The Party for Justice, Integration and Unity, PDIU, which lobbies for the rights of the Cham community in Albania - postwar expellees from Greece - is seeking a ministry in the country's government for the first time.

Founded in 2011, since this year it has been part of the government but only with second-level representatives. Now its ambition is to join Prime Minister Edi Rama's top team with a ministerial post.

The PDIU joined the ruling center-left coalition in mid-2015 after winning five seats in the 2013 elections and establishing itself as an important party.

"We have asked for it [a ministry] every time we believed the cabinet needed revitalisation and changes... and our request is natural since we are now the fourth biggest party on the scene with five MPs," the leader of PDIU, Shpetim Idrizi, told Top Channel television.

Idrizi himself is the vice speaker of parliament and the PDIU is also represented in government with the post of vice foreign minister. It also heads several important government agencies.

Skender Minxhozi, editor-in-chief of Java News portal and a political analyst, told BIRN that the PDIU request was legitimate.

In the past the party was kept away from senior positions in the government because of worries about Greece, he noted.

"Governments tried carefully not to represent this party at high levels since our southern neighbour [Greece] would not be pleased," Minxhozi said.

In May 2015, when the PDIU leader Shpetim Idrizi was appointed vice speaker of parliament, the Greek foreign ministry protested.

"The choice of persons who are agents of irredentist views and who are linked directly with Europe's repugnant fascist and Nazi past, to fill high positions ... does not promote...