Five years after the US declared him persona non grata, Donald Trump has given Sali Berisha a ‘waiver’. But how much does it really change for the opposition party Berisha leads?
Fjori Sinoruka
The 81-year-old opposition leader, a fixture of Albanian political life for more than three decades, had never gone away. But he had reason to claim a new lease on life.
Almost a year and a half since Berisha announced he would petition Donald Trump, the United States this month lifted sanctions imposed on him in 2021 under Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, for alleged corruption.
Berisha’s designation had led to his ousting from the parliamentary group of the opposition Democratic Party, the party he founded, triggering a damaging struggle for the leadership between him and Lulzim Basha. A court ruling handed the reins to Berisha in 2024, but it did little to improve the party’s election prospects against the Socialists of Prime Minister Edi Rama, in power since 2013.
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