On this day one hundred years ago Albania declared independence from the Ottoman Empire. The Southeast European state has had a turbulent existence, to say the least, since then.
Albania was invaded in 1939 by Italy, and again in 1943 by the Nazis, but thankfully in 1944 Enver Hoxha’s Party of Labour established a People’s Republic, and Albania’s recovery began.
The return of capitalism to Albania in the nineties quickly led to poverty as people’s savings were wiped out by Ponzi schemes. Civil society collapsed, there was a surge in emigration and eventually an armed rising in 1997. In recent years the Albanian economy has recovered, and is now growing faster than any other in Europe.
Here at Broadsheet we are proud of our long tradition of neutrality on the question of new states joining the European Union, but we feel the time has come for us to make a stand.
We wish President Bujar Nishani success in his attempts to join the EU.
Happy Birthday, Albania.
