News analysis: Head of delegation bias hurting EU’s credibility among Albanians, opposition warns

TIRANA, Feb. 22 – When Knut Fleckenstein, the European Parliament’s standing rapporteur on Albania, met with Lulzim Basha, Albania’s opposition leader, this week, there was one person the opposition did not want in the room: Ambassador Romana Vlahutin, head of EU’s delegation to Albania. Basha had asked that Ambassador Vlahutin be left out of the meeting, a departure from protocol for meetings of this type. The leader of Albania’s opposition had wanted to make a public show of the fact that the EU ambassador no longer enjoys the trust of the opposition, a source familiar with the situation said. The…