Δευτέρα 28 Φεβρουαρίου 2011

Kosovo: New Leader Had Ties to Russia


ny times

World Briefing Europe

By REUTERS
Published: February 22, 2011
Kosovo’s Parliament elected Behgjet Pacolli, a businessman with a history of ties to Moscow, president on Tuesday under a power-sharing deal with Prime Minister Hashim Thaci after elections in December. The main opposition parties boycotted the session, citing those ties. Mr. Pacolli remains unpopular among the two million Kosovo Albanians, largely because of his ties with Moscow, which opposes Kosovo’s 2008 secession from Serbia, a Russian ally.
read more: ny times
*from wikipedia
Behgjet Isa Pacolli[a] (born 30 August 1951; Albanian pronunciation: [ˈbɛhˈdʑɛt pɐˈt͡so:ɫɪ][1]) is an Albanian, Kosovar and Swiss entrepreneur, and is the President of the Republic of Kosovo[b].
He was the President and CEO of Mabetex Group, a Swiss-based construction and civil-engineering company. Pacolli was also the President of the tenth biggest political party in Kosovo the New Kosovo Alliance.[2] For the past four years, he has been involved in Kosovar politics. He is believed to be the world's richest Albanian.[3]
Behgjet was the second of a family of 10 children who grew up, like most in Kosovo at the time, without electricity or running water. Behgjet was strongly influenced by his father and especially his grandfather Osman in his eventual goals to make a career in industrial and civil construction. Pacolli was a star pupil at the local primary school, getting a modest scholarship to help him attend secondary school in Pristina. There, he spent four years sleeping in a wood storage hut, kindly given to him by a Turkish family, and trudging the 80 kilometre round-trip home twice a week to pick up provisions. On graduation, his proud father wanted him to become the village's teacher but his mother intervened to help him get to Hamburg, Germany. The 17-year-old Pacolli arrived in Hamburg train station penniless and soon hungry. To pay his way, Pacolli worked on the docks, learning enough of every language to ensure that he was always picked for the work ahead of other dockers. After three years he returned to Kosovo more or less fluent in six languages and with a degree.
During his military service, Pacolli contacted companies throughout Austria and Germany seeking work and, soon after his release, he joined an Austrian company, where he worked as a sales representative for Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Poland and Russia. Two years later, he moved to Switzerland and joined a Swiss company he had gotten to know in Moscow.[3]...more...

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