The 80th anniversary of Sali Berisha

2024-10-15 08:32:00, Aktualitet CNA

Sali Berisha, head of the Democratic Party

Former President, former Prime Minister, head of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha celebrates his 80th birthday today.

Sali Berisha was born on October 15, 1944 in Tropoja. He started his career as a cardiologist and then continued as a politician.

Berisha was the prime minister of Albania from 2005 to 2013. He was the chairman of the Democratic Party of Albania 3 times, in the period 1991-1992, 1997-2013 and from 2020 until today. He serves as the acting leader of the opposition in the Albanian parliament.

This 80th birthday finds the opposition leader under house arrest fighting for his freedom and to bring the PD back to power.

A bit of history on Sali Berisha's career as a politician.

After the first free elections in Albania, Berisha was elected President of the Republic on April 9, 1992. During his term as President of the Republic of Albania, Albania opened up to the West; it became a member of the Council of Europe in 1995; signed the Peace and Partnership Agreement in 1993 and established close cooperation with EU countries and the USA. All the laws of the communist dictatorship were replaced with new laws of European standards and new institutions were created, such as the Constitutional Court of Albania and the High Council of Justice, which did not exist before.

The collapse of pyramid schemes in late 1996, in which Albanians lost millions of dollars, led to demonstrations in which people accused the government of stealing money. The unrest created as a result of this in early 1997 forced Berisha to decree early elections in June 1997. These elections were won by the opposition and Berisha subsequently resigned as President.

On July 3, 2005, the coalition of five center-right parties led by Sali Berisha managed to win a majority of 74 deputies out of a total of 140 in the Assembly, and on September 8, 2005, with a majority of 81 votes of the deputies, he was elected Prime Minister of Albania. On April 4, 2009, Albania was accepted as a full member of NATO. This was achieved thanks to the reforms carried out by the Berisha government. According to the well-known American magazine Forbes, Albania was almost the only country in Europe that had economic growth and considers Berisha as the architect of Albania's economic success.

On June 28, 2009, the next parliamentary elections were held, where the coalition led by the Democratic Party won 70 mandates out of 140. The elections were certified by the OSCE/ODIHR as elections that marked significant progress with respect to voter registration, the identification process, the legal framework, the voting process, the counting of votes and the resolution of complaints. Berisha invited LSI to the coalition, an invitation that was accepted by Mr. Ilir Meta. The new government is considered as the government of Albania's integration into the European Union.

During Berisha's government, the conditions for Albania's membership in NATO were created, which was achieved on April 2, 2009. Also, all the conditions and criteria for visa waiver with the European Union countries were met. After the approval of this decision by the European Parliament, it entered into force on December 15, 2010./ CNA