THE EU AND REGIONAL ORDER IN THE WESTERN BALKANS

DITMIR BUSHATI
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania

Einführende Worte:
Franz Vranitzky, Ehrenpräsident des Bruno Kreisky Forums

Moderation:
Wolfgang Petritsch, Member of the Board of the Bruno Kreisky Forum, former High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ditmir Bushati was first elected as a Member of Parliament from the Socialist Party for the Tirana District in 2009, and re-elected in the June 23, 2013 parliamentary elections for the same district. As an MP, he chaired the Parliamentary Committee for European Integration (2011-2013) and was a member of the Joint EU-Albania Parliamentary Committee (2009-2013). In November 2011, Mr. Bushati was elected Member of the Steering Committee of the Socialist Party of Albania.
Mr. Bushati graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Tirana in 1999 with the highest honours, and holds a Masters Degree in Public International Law (LL.M) from Leiden University in The Netherlands (2001).
Prior to his political career Mr. Ditmir Bushati was a civil society leader and a Founding Director of the European Movement in Albania. He then served as Director of Legal Approximation at the Albanian Ministry of European Integration. In that capacity he was part of the team negotiating the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union (SAA). Mr. Bushati has worked as Advisor on European Affairs to the Deputy Prime Minister, as Legal Advisor to the Constitutional Court, the Office of the President of the Republic of Albania and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
He has also served as analyst for Freedom House (2007-2008) for the Nations in Transition Report, National Reporter for the European Society of International Law (ESIL), and National Coordinator of the Open Society Foundation’s project monitoring Albania’s progress in the European integration process (2006-2008). He has worked as consultant for various projects of the EU, WB, USAID, GIZ, OSI, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, IOM, SNV.