The third post-communist decade is upon us and Albania is still riding the transition horse
on the road to Europe. Yet there is also good news. At the dawn of this new decade
(December 2010) it was announced that Albanian citizens – or at least most of those still
left in the country after massive emigration – could finally travel to Western Europe (re:
the Schengen area) without needing a visa. This was followed a year later with another
milestone: for the first time in its short history as an independent state Albania is finally no
longer a (predominantly) rural society. Or so the 2011 preliminary census results would
want us to believe. According to these just over half the population (53.7 per cent) now
lives in urban areas (INSTAT 2011, 16).1 Both of these transformations are considered by
many optimists in Albania as products of the country’s ‘modernisation’ paving the way for
the country’s EU accession. As numerous events are underway to celebrate the 100th
anniversary of independence from the Ottoman Empire (November 2012), there is
excitement amongst politicians and ordinary citizens about an anticipated EU candidate
status around the same time, ironically marking the opposite process as some powers will
increasingly be handed over to Brussels.