Cynthia Ezegwu
Albania’s former Prime Minister and historic leader of the country’s left, Fatos Nano, has died at the age of 73.
Prime Minister Edi Rama announced Nano’s death on Friday via social media. He reportedly passed away in a hospital in Tirana after several days in a coma caused by respiratory complications, according to medical sources.
Nano, widely regarded as a liberal reformer, was instrumental in steering Albania’s transition to a market economy and modern political institutions following decades of communist rule. However, his tenure was marred by criticism from the European Union over his government’s failure to curb corruption and organised crime.
Born in Tirana in 1952, Nano began his career in 1978 as an economic expert at the Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies under the regime of Enver Hoxha. He later became a professor of political economy at the University of Tirana.
Nano first served as prime minister in 1990 under the transitional government of Ramiz Alia, Albania’s last communist president. In 1992, he was elected president of the Socialist Party, which succeeded the Communist Party of Labour.
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Two years later, he was convicted of embezzling $7 million in Italian aid and sentenced to 12 years in prison — a charge he consistently denied, describing himself as a political prisoner.
He was released during the 1997 nationwide unrest triggered by the collapse of fraudulent investment schemes that devastated the economy. Nano was subsequently granted amnesty by then-President Sali Berisha.
He returned to power in 1997, serving as prime minister until 1998, and again from 2002 to 2005, before retiring from politics after the Socialist Party lost parliamentary elections.
Nano was succeeded as Socialist Party leader by Edi Rama, Albania’s current prime minister.