{"id":76225,"date":"2025-02-10T19:58:16","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T18:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/?p=76225"},"modified":"2025-02-10T19:37:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T18:37:29","slug":"from-civil-society-to-politics-erion-veliajs-career-since-2003","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/from-civil-society-to-politics-erion-veliajs-career-since-2003\/","title":{"rendered":"From Civil Society to Politics: Erion Veliaj\u2019s Career Since 2003"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, took his first steps towards a political career in 2003 after years of engagement in civil society, international organizations, and media.<\/p>\n

Born in Tirana on December 17, 1979, Veliaj completed his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science in Michigan, United States. He later pursued a Master’s degree in the United Kingdom, focusing on European Integration.<\/p>\n

In 2003, at just 24 years old, Veliaj founded the “MJAFT” movement and led it for four years until November 2007. Following this, he joined the European Stability Initiative, a key organization promoting EU enlargement.<\/p>\n

In 2011, Veliaj became a member of the leadership of the Socialist Party of Albania, serving as Secretary for Youth and Immigration. Two years later, after being elected as a Member of Parliament for the Gjirokast\u00ebr district, he was appointed Minister of Social Welfare and Youth in the Rama 1 government.<\/p>\n

In 2015, the Socialist Party chose Veliaj as its candidate for Mayor of Tirana, a race he won. Since then, he has held this position, winning two more municipal elections.<\/p>\n

However, Veliaj’s popularity has now been shaken following the justice system\u2019s decision to arrest him on charges of corruption and money laundering.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, took his first steps towards a political career in 2003 after years of engagement in civil society, international organizations, and media. Born in Tirana on December 17, 1979, Veliaj completed his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science in Michigan, United States. He later pursued a Master’s degree in the United […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":76226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,1803],"tags":[1744,295,243,151,480,3881],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrom Civil Society to Politics: Erion Veliaj\u2019s Career Since 2003 - Euronews Albania<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/from-civil-society-to-politics-erion-veliajs-career-since-2003\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From Civil Society to Politics: Erion Veliaj\u2019s Career Since 2003 - Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, took his first steps towards a political career in 2003 after years of engagement in civil society, international organizations, and media. 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