Fredi Beleri

Albania hopes to join the European Union by 2030, Prime Minister Edi Rama told a crowd of some 2,000 supporters at a hotel in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki on Sunday.

Rama also promised that the numerous Albanian expatriates will be able for the first time to mail in their ballots in the next general election, set to take place in Spring 2025.

New Democracy MEP Fredi Beleri has been pelted with yogurt and eggs by unknown assailants outside the Albanian parliament in Tirana.

Beleri, an ethnic Greek born in Albania, was in the Albanian capital as part of a delegation from the European Parliament to assess Albania's progress towards European Union membership.

A much-anticipated meeting between Fredi Beleri, an MEP from Greece's New Democracy party, and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in Tirana will not take place, Kathimerini understands.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is planning to hold a rally for Albanian immigrants living in Greece on November 3 at the Porto Palace Hotel in the northern port city of Thessaloniki.

Fredi Beleri was released from a prison in Albania on Monday, September 2, and on Monday, September 9, is expected in Brussels, where he will serve as a member of the European Parliament after being elected on the ticket of Greece's governing New Democracy in June.

Since midday last Monday, Greek-Albanian politician Fredi Beleri has been free to carry out his duties as a representative of Greece in the European Parliament. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, for his part, may believe that he "ended" Beleri politically.

Monday's decision by an Albanian court to grant the release of the ethnic Greek elected mayor of Himare and MEP for New Democracy Fredi Beleri after 16 months of detention essentially ended his personal adventure but does not lead to an automatic improvement in Greek-Albanian relations, which have been seriously damaged by the affair.

A former ethnic Greek mayor of an Albanian town, whose imprisonment on vote-buying charges has strained Albanian-Greek ties, has been released on probation, his office and a lawyer said Monday.

After 16 months in an Albanian prison, Fredi Beleri has been granted early release. His request, which had been postponed three times, was approved on Monday.

After 16 months in an Albanian prison, Fredi Beleri's request for early release will be heard on Monday.

This request comes after a third postponement, with reports from Greece indicating optimism about the outcome.