TIRANA, Dec. 20 – Valbona Zeneli, Doctor of Political Science and Professor at the Marshall Centre, promoted her new book titled “In my Opinion” this Sunday. The book is a collection of 39 articles about security issues in the Balkans. Zeneli is 39 years old.
In addition to treating security issues in the Balkans, the articles cover European security issues, trade and Western Balkan politics. The articles also aim to expose mistakes the country should avoid in governance and policy making by exploring corruption and emigration in the Balkans.
The book also includes articles and insight that first appeared on Tirana Times when Zeneli was an op-ed contributor.
Zeneli said that, despite the book’s title, its content does not only express her ideas and opinions, but also those of her students, colleagues and all the people and professionals she has met during her travels.
“I think that good governance and economic prosperity are not issues that only belong to decision-makers, but also to simple citizens,” Zeneli said.
The book features sketches by the author’s 12-year-old son and includes prefaces by some of the most prominent names in the fields of European security and journalism. Critics said that the book serves as a bridge between the Western Balkans and the European Union.
The promotion ceremony was also attended by Albania’s President Ilir Meta and U.S. Ambassador to Tirana, Donald Lu and Tirana’s Mayor, Erion Veliaj.
Meta congratulated Zeneli for treating issues such as migration and corruption, the strengthening of institutions and European integration, as there are the country’s and region’s hot topic.
“It was a pleasure to promote Dr. Valbona Zeneli’s book this evening. The sharpness and deepness of the way she has treated issues of security, emigration, international trade and the European integration of the Western Balkans are truly astounding,” Meta wrote in a post on his personal Facebook page.
Ambassador Lu said that Zeneli is one of the best Albanian representatives abroad.
Zeneli, who received her PhD from the University of Bari in International Political Economy and her Masters from the University of Georgetown in Washington, is also the Director of the Black Sea and Euro-Asia Program of the Centre for European Security Studies. She has a long career in politics and the academia.
Veliaj, also thanked Zeneli for her intellectual contribution in Albania’s benefit.
“Being a patriot today means contributing in the intellectual thought of your country, to do that with dignity and to make sure that you ignite love for one’s country in what you say and write. I thank you, for you have done all three,” Veliaj said.
International personalities and journalists have also critically acclaimed Zeneli’s book so far. Ioan Mircea Pascu, Vice Director of the European Parliament, called each chapter a “surgical layer of a problem, aspect, concern expectation of the people that live there – emigration, development, good governance, corruption – all under the analytical microscope of Dr. Zeneli.”
“The reader will benefit by the analysis of placing the region in a wider European and global context. Quite an educative and nice experience, which I warmly recommend to all readers,” Pascu added.
Zeneli’s enriched career in political science and academia is inherited by her father, who is Bashkim Zeneli. Having served as Albanian Ambassador to Greece and Germany, Bashkim Zeneli is also a prominent Albanian diplomat and author who has previously published a book titled “For Germany” . Her husband, Igli Toska, served as Albania’s Minister of Interior from 2003 until 2005.
In this sense, it becomes obvious that Zeneli is one of the most fitting personalities to author this kind of book which, as Tim Judah from The Economist wrote, “deals with critical issues that no one else would have been more apt to deal with than Valbona Zeneli.”
