Episode #21 – Albania

Welcome to the first episode of Interlace PODCAST Season 2! In this episode we continue with the country specials but from a different perspective, which is in the spirit of this new season: broaden the picture and address new fields and new countries from different angles and in a more interactive, more analytical and less descriptive and pedagogical way. Albania is an old and fascinating country, which nevertheless remains unknown to the most. Isolated from the rest of Europe for most of its recent history, the country has opened up in the past decades and made extraordinary progress towards its dream of joining the European Union. Together with the Swedish Ambassador in Tirana, we go through this process and by tackling different aspects of the Albanian society from culture to education and beyond. Elsa Håstad, expert in human rights, has been serving as Swedish Ambassador in Albania since September 2019. She has previously worked in Belarus and Ukraine, which allows her to compare the progress of Albania with the one of other countries with similar European aspirations.