TIRANA, June.25- In the memoirs from his “Tour de Europe,” Hanes Swoboda, a member of the European parliament as well as the deputy head of the Commission for South Eastern Europe, writes that Albania cannot be considered Europe’s poorest country any longer. Swoboda’s book was promoted in Brussels and recounts the impressions the Euro MP gathered in visits he made to several countries during the first half of 2007. 27 articles summarize memories from cities as different as Moscow , Strasburg, Beograd, Tel Aviv, Brussels, Kiev, Groningen , New York , Vienna, Berlin, Pristina, Zagreb, Alger, etc. Speaking about his visit in Albania in May of this year, Swoboda tells about the joint exhibition that the Albanian painter Fatmir Velaj, a personal friend of Swoboda, organized. The exhibition, part of the series “AL-EU-AL,” displayed paintings and photographs of both authors at the National museum in Albania . The memoirs present opinions about the natural beauty and the tourism potential of Albania ‘s coastline as well as an optimistic take on its EU integration efforts.
During his trip, Swoboda was also present, together with Albanian Parliament Integration Commission head Ilir Meta, in a lecture at the University of Vlora about Albania ‘s quest for European integration.
