Pandeli Sotir Majko (born 15 November 1967) is an

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

socialist politician. He served twice as

Prime Minister of Albania The Prime Minister of Albania ( sq, Kryeministri i Shqipërisë), officially styled Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania ( sq, Kryeministri i Republikës së Shqipërisë), is the head of government of the Republic of Albania and the mos ...

; once from 1998 to 1999, and again in 2002.

Political career

Early career

Majko has been a member of the Euro-Socialist Youth Forum of Albania (FRESH) since its foundation in 1992. FRESH is itself a member of the

International Union of Socialist Youth The International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) is an international organization, founded in 1907, whose activities include publications, support of member organizations and the organization of meetings. It was formed as the youth wing of the S ...

. From 1992 to 1995, Majko served as President of FRESH. Former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Ilir Meta Ilir Rexhep Meta (; born 24 March 1969) is an Albanian politician. He served as President of Albania from 24 July 2017 to 24 July 2022. Previously Meta served as Prime Minister from 1999 to 2002 and he was Speaker of the Parliament of Albania f ...

was also a member of FRESH. In 1992 he entered the

Albanian Parliament The Parliament of Albania ( sq, Kuvendi i Shqipërisë) or Kuvendi is the unicameral representative body of the citizens of the Republic of Albania; it is Albania's legislature. The Parliament is composed of no less than 140 members elected to a ...

as MP for the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

. In 1997–2001 he took part in the parliamentary committee charged with the task of drafting the new Constitution of Albania. In 1997–1998 Majko was secretary general of the

and head of its parliamentary group.

Prime Minister

First term (1998–1999)

From September 1998 to October 1999 Majko held his first government as

prime minister of Albania The Prime Minister of Albania ( sq, Kryeministri i Shqipërisë), officially styled Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania ( sq, Kryeministri i Republikës së Shqipërisë), is the head of government of the Republic of Albania and the mos ...

. He was the youngest Prime Minister of Albania, appointed when he was 30 years old in 1998 for the first time.

Second term (2002)

After the government of

, he briefly came back to premiership from February to July 2002. He subsequently held the post of Minister of Defence from July 2002 to September 2005 in the government of

Fatos Nano Fatos Nano (; born 16 September 1952) is an Albanian socialist politician who served as Prime Minister of Albania in 1991, from 1997 to 1998 and from 2002 to 2005. He was the first leader and founder of the Socialist Party of Albania and a member ...

. Following the government's defeat in the 2005 elections, he returned to his former position as secretary general of the Socialist Party.

Later career

In 2006, Majko came out in support of Montenegro's vote for independence from Serbia. He was quoted celebrating the reduction in Albania's shared border with Serbia. He is member of the General Council of the

Transnational Radical Party The Transnational Radical Party (TRP), whose official name is Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty (NRPTT), is a political association of citizens, members of parliament and members of government of various national and political ...

Personal life

Majko was born in

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

, to a family originally from Gjirokastra. In March 2013, after voting in favor of changing the name of the Liqenas to "

Pustec Pustec ( sq, Pustec; mk, Пустец) formerly known as Liqenas (1973–2013), is a village in Pustec Municipality, Korçë County, eastern Albania. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Prespa, it is home to much of the Macedonian minorit ...

" through a

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

status, he denied having Slavic roots and introduced the beginning of his family, which started with a German doctor who moved from

Parga Parga ( el, Πάργα ) is a town and municipality located in the northwestern part of the regional unit of Preveza in Epirus, northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Kanallaki. Parga lies on the Ionian coast between the ...

to Gjirokastra due to the occupation of Parga by

Ali Pasha of Ioannina Ali Pasha of Ioannina (1740 – 24 January 1822), was an Albanian ruler who served as pasha of a large part of western Rumelia, the Ottoman Empire's European territories, which was referred to as the Pashalik of Yanina. His court was in Ioanni ...

, where he later married a local woman and was nicknamed "Memeci" due to the lack of fluent communication in the Albanian language, a nickname that would later become a surname. But later, this surname was changed to Majko by Pandeli's great-grandfather due to the trade relations that the family had at that time. On 8 February 2016, Majko in an interview confirmed that he has started the procedure to obtain a Kosovo passport, and after two months through a Facebook status he confirms that is officially a citizen of Kosovo.

References

External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Majko, Pandeli 1967 births Living people Politicians from Tirana Albanian people of German descent German people of Albanian descent People with acquired Kosovan citizenship Naturalised citizens of Kosovo 21st-century Albanian politicians Socialist Party of Albania politicians Prime Ministers of Albania Government ministers of Albania Defence ministers of Albania