At the “Elbasan Arena”, AF Elbasani scored a rather important 3-1 victory over Vllaznia, taking the lead in the standings. The Yellow-Blue flannels climbed to 62 points, while Shkodra team of Vllaznia remained in second place with 60 points.

In Vlora, Flamurtari triumphed 3-1 over Dinamo City, keeping hopes alive in the final weeks of the season. The Vlora team is still in the last place in the standing with 32 points.

The weekend’s action was packed with high drama. Tirana pulled off a stunning comeback victory in the capital derby against Partizani, while Bylisi and Vora also secured impressive results. Ballshi team defeated Teuta 2-0 at home, while Vora won by the same score in the away match versus Egnatia.

Three weeks to go, and it’s absolute chaos at both ends of the table. With Tirana, Bylis, and Vora locked on 35 points and Teuta just ahead on 38, the battle for survival is heating up, making every remaining match a true final. /p.s./

Speaking about investments in the capital during a TV interview, Dalipi stated that in Tirana there have been built 43 new schools, 7 kindergartens and 4 nurseries according to European Union standards.

He also spoke about the project for the new “5 Maji” neighborhood, stressing that Veliaj has taken decisions even for that part of the citizens that have not been represented.

“43 new schools have been built in Tirana, which is an extraordinary figure and what is more they are built according to the best EU standards. There were built also 7 kindergartens and 4 new nurseries. Veliaj was as good as his word. The “5 Maji” project is a development project. Tirana is the center of economic development of the country. The numbers are very significant. Tirana is a model of the future and we will continue this model”, underlined Dalipi.

The head of the Regional Council said that, “No one accepts you to be the capital of youth without meeting certain standards. Today, Tirana is the city of sports. Today, Tirana has much better standards in urban transport. There is a very good plan that will continue to get materialized. I believe we will have concrete results. Today, in Tirana there are more bike lanes that we didn’t have before. We must be clear. This thing will not stop.”

“Tirana is very different from what it used to be,” he said./k.s/j.p/p.s./

Chairman of the Democratic Party Lulzim Basha stated that, “The new administrative-territorial division of Albania is an urgent necessity while all the Albanians want it”.

“During the last electoral campaign, one of the issues we raised was the restore of the local government. We want it back to us first as a democracy and secondly for the services and then to fight the number one enemy of this society, corruption. There is no other way, but to strengthen all the instruments that oppose the concentration of power, which means the concentration of corruption. One of these instruments, one of the most important, but which cannot replace either justice or free and fair elections, is real decentralization,” said Basha.

Chairman of the Democratic Party said that there are two goals of this process that we start first what did not happen in 2015, we cannot allow it to happen anymore, to hear the voice of the people. We cannot allow a failed system that has removed the service from the citizen for the central government alone to steal 430 million euros for services that are not performed.

Basha said further that, “This first roundtable will be followed with citizens.” /k.s/p.s./

In the joint press conference with the German Minister of State for Europe Michael Roth, Rama said that the inability of the citizens of the Balkans to travel normally in Europe due to their division into two categories, the category of those who have been vaccinated in the West and the category of those who have been vaccinated in the East would be much more serious.

“I hope this does not happen and I wish you and other friends to help us convey this message. There is no reason to divide people into categories, when it comes to their basic right of free movement based on all the rules, but the same for everyone,” said Rama.

Rama also answered the question if there is any signal for the differentiation of citizens from the Balkans due to the type of vaccine performed.

“Is there a signal that the people of this continent will be divided, or will not be divided into two categories according to the vaccine company?” Yes, there is, and it is better to deal with it now than when there is a full signal because it would be more difficult. Of course, we may not change anything, but we have a duty to tell the truth without having any complex when it comes to our rights. It is not the same when it comes to the European Council decision on further advancement in a process involving full access to the EU House, and when it comes to a basic right. The movement of Albanians, which has been guaranteed for years, cannot be fragmented because one has performed ‘Pfizer’, the other ‘Sinovac’, ‘AstraZeneca’ or ‘Sputnik'”, said Rama.

The EU, he continued, is the temple of democracy and politics and politics is chess. Chess is a pawn game, but in regard to this basic right I think the EU should not take hostage anyone living in this region because of the firm that made the vaccine. The criteria I have seen in regard to free movement carry the option of doing a test or being vaccinated. Why would those who got the ‘Sinovac’ or ‘Sputnik’ vaccine take the test to move to the EU? Here are not only the Albanians of Albania, here are also Montenegrins, Serbs, people of North Macedonia and Bosniaks”, said Rama.

The EU, he continued, “has taken Kosovo hostage. Kosovo is a hostage of a game of chess, where one of the figures of the game has decided to hold that soldier hostage and the Albanians in Kosovo cannot move freely, because one of the figures of chess says ‘no’. Ok, embarrassing, but you have nothing to do with it. But, what has to do this in the conditions when we have all fought to get out of the pandemic, and to be fair we in Albania have fought and succeeded after being left just like the others in this region, because the others had their troubles and no one is to blame. Now, what is the first and most important target? To save people’s lives and not to think that we are saving half a million lives with the Chinese vaccine. Europe means no, you are of the second category. I say this to forestall, but of course Albania and I do not decide “, said Rama. /j.p/r.e/p.s./

“Vllaznia” was declared the champion of Group A of the U-19 championship after closing the regular season with 44 points after 27 weeks. The team from Shkodra last week defeated “Dinamo” with the score 3-1 in the match played in the sports field of Arbana, thus officially securing the first place.

In the ceremony held at the end of this match, the Albanian football legend Sulejman Demollari handed over the trophy to the players of “Vllaznia”.

While “Teuta” was declared champion in Group B of the U-19 Superior division, ending the regular season with 38 points after 27 weeks. The Durrës team, which had secured the leading position a week ago, received the trophy from the well-known former coach Sulejman Mema in the ceremony held at the end of the match against the Football Academy.

This weekend will start the play-off phase of the Superior Division U-19, which will then determine the champion team of Albania in this age group. In this phase, there will participate 8 teams ranked in the first 4 places of the two respective groups. /j.p/p.s./