Ilir Meta

Ilir Rexhep Meta
Speaker of the Parliament of Albania
Incumbent
Assumed office September 10, 2013
President	Bujar Nishani
Preceded by	Jozefina Topalli
Prime Minister of Albania
In office October 29, 1999 – February 22, 2002
President	Rexhep Meidani
Preceded by	Pandeli Majko
Succeeded by	Pandeli Majko
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office July 31, 2002 – July 18, 2003
Prime Minister	Fatos Nano
Preceded by	Arta Dade
Succeeded by	Luan Hajdaraga (Acting)
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office September 17, 2009 – September 17, 2010
Prime Minister	Sali Berisha
Preceded by	Lulzim Basha
Succeeded by	Edmond Haxhinasto
Personal details
Born	March 24, 1969 Skrapar, Albania
Spouse(s)	Monika Kryemadhi
Website	lsi.al

Ilir Rexhep Meta (born March 24, 1969) is an Albanian politician, Prime Minister from 1999 to 2002. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2002 to 2003 and again from 2009 to 2010, and he has been Speaker of the Albanian Parliament since 2013. He also held positions as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy, in both left-wing and right-wing governments.

As a member of the Socialist Party of Albania (PS), Meta was Prime Minister from 1999 to 2002. He subsequently founded the Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) in 2004 and continues to lead the party. From 2009 to 2013, the LSI was a member of the governing coalition with the right-wing Democratic Party of Albania. Meta served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs as well as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy of the Republic of Albania. Prior to that, he held the Chairmanship of the Parliamentary Commission of European Integration.^[1]

Following the 2013 parliamentary election, Ilir Meta was elected as Speaker of Parliament^[2] on September 10, 2013.

Early life and education

Meta was born in March 24, 1969 in Skrapar. He graduated from the Faculty of Economy, Political Economy branch, of Tirana University, where he also pursued his post-graduate studies.

Ilir Meta has been lecturer at the Economic Faculty of Tirana University. He has also lectured at several renowned universities and academies overseas, including Harvard University, London School of Economics and the European Academy in Berlin.

Ilir Meta speaks Albanian, English and Italian. He is married to Monika Kryemadhi. They have two daughters and a son, Bora, Era and Besar.

Political career

Ilir Meta has been engaged in politics since 1990 as an active participant in the students' movement against communism that brought political pluralism in Albania.

Since 1992 he has been elected Member of Parliament in all legislatures and has been an active member of several Parliamentary Commissions.^[3] From 1996 to 1997 he was Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Albanian During the period of October 1998 – October 1999, Ilir Meta held the office of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Coordination, as well as that of State Secretary for European Integration in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during March – October 1998.

In November 1999, Ilir Meta succeeded to Pandeli Majko as Prime Minister for the Socialist Party of Albania. After the Albanian parliamentary election, 2001 he won a second mandate, lasting until February 2002, when he give back the post to Pandeli Majko. During this period, Albania engaged in a range of important reforms, joining the Stabilization and Association Process with the European Union.

In 2004 Meta left the Socialist Party and founded its own Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI).

From 2004 to 2006, Ilir Meta was nominated as member of the International Commission on the Balkans, chaired by the former Italian Prime Minister, Giuliano Amato. The Commission drafted a series of important recommendations towards the integration of the Western Balkan countries into the European Union.^[4]

In 2009 – 2011, Ilir Meta served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and later in the position of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy in the centre-right government of Sali Berisha, whose Democratic Party of Albania the LSI joined after the Albanian parliamentary election, 2009. Meta was an early and strong campaigner for the visa-free with the Schengen area, which was accomplished in 2010 to the benefit of all citizens of Albania. He remains one of the strongest campaigners and advocates of regional and European integration for all countries of the Western Balkans, as a means to further strengthen stability and peace in the region.

Awards

In March 2012, Meta received the "Most Positive Personality for 2010 in Foreign Policy" AWARD by International Institute IFIMES in Ljubljana. The award was presented to Meta by former Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, at the same time Honorary President of IFIMES.

Meta was praised as the most positive political personality for 2010, when he served as deputy prime minister and foreign minister for his positive and concrete contribution in exercising the foreign policy of Albania and for his personal and institutional influence in strengthening good regional and neighborly relations amongst the countries of the Western Balkans. IFIMES praised Meta's vision at the head of Albanian diplomacy as a political personality with a regional weight and with a clear purpose to create a more open, positive and integrated region.^[5]

References

1. Short Bio
2. parlament.al Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Albania
4. International Commission on the Balkans
5. "Ifimes". Ifimes (in German). Retrieved July 2, 2013.

External links

• LSI Party Homepage