Parliament in Albania Approves Economic Reforms
TIRANA, Albania — The Parliament here has approved economic reforms that will privatize much of Albania’s property and cut food subsidies in Europe’s poorest nation, state radio said Sunday.
Lawmakers approved the package late Saturday in a show-of-hands vote, with the opposition Socialist Party abstaining.
The Democratic Party, which won 92 of Parliament’s 140 seats in March, pushed the measures as a way to reduce rising crime and rebuild an economy ruined by almost 50 years of Communist mismanagement.
Introducing the reform program on Saturday, Prime Minister Alexander Meksi called lawlessness and poverty “the gravediggers” of Albania’s fledgling democracy.
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