Meta meets with Nano

TIRANA, Oct. 18 – One of the last weekend’s surprises was the meeting of the Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Ilir Meta (also head of the small leftist Socialist Movement for Integration) with former opposition Socialist Party leader Fatos Nano.
That was really a strange meeting taking into consideration the fact that both politicians have always been at odds with each other.
Moreover Meta created his party in 2004 precisely due to the fact that he could not survive any more at the Socialist Party led at the time from Nano.
Nano left the party’s post after the Socialists lost at the parliamentary elections in 2005. since then he has only come out in the political scene at times of tension, often sparking anger among his former Socialists
The LSI was formed in 2004 as a splinter group of the Socialist Party of Albania and last year, after earning four seats in the 140-seat parliament, they joined the Democratic Party in a coalition.
LSI won four seats in Parliament after the June 2009 election, down one from the previous poll in 2005, but it holds several key government posts including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Economy and that of Health as the main junior partner in the government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha.
After their seven-hour meeting Sunday Nano said that surprises could come but both leaders declined to give any detail on the talk.
The country is in a political deadlock with the Socialists wanting a partial recount claiming vote count manipulation last year.