Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha announced in his cabinet meeting on Wednesday, July 29 that the government would push for a law that recognizes homosexual marriages, www.balkaninsight.com informs.

“This is an important law against discrimination,” said Prime-Minister and head of the Democratic Party, who is also well-known for his conservative views. The decision made by Berisha appeared a massive surprise.

The prime minister said that the law had already been put to parliament and that MPs should treat it seriously because it provides a legal basis against discrimination, bringing the country into line with a framework already approved by the EU, which Albania aspires to join.

Mr. Berisha acknowledged the proposed law might provoke debate but maintained that discrimination in modern Albania had to end.

According to www.bbc.co.uk, the bill was drawn up by a group of non-governmental organizations. It has been accepted by the Prime Minister’s Democratic Party and will now come before parliament in the autumn. Democrats, who control 74 of parliament’s 140 seats, are expected to easily pass the law.

Although deeply secular, Albania is one of the three countries in Europe with a Muslim majority - with Bosnia and Kosovo - and it is unclear how the government’s decision will be accepted by the public. The former Communist Balkan state joined NATO in April and it has recently applied to be considered for joining the European Union.

While the Albanian parliament decriminalized homosexual relationships in 1995, more than a decade later, gays and lesbians are still heavily stigmatized, and a majority live clandestine lives, fearing that if their sexual orientation is discovered their safety will be endangered.

“The attitudes toward homosexuality have not changed much, and they have to protect themselves. They continue to be subjected to discrimination in all walks of life, and that includes state institutions,” Genci Terpo, the representative of the Albanian Human Rights Group, AHRG told www.balkaninsight.com in an earlier interview.

AHRG reports that Albanian LGBT persons face “intolerance, physical and psychological violence - often from the police - and discrimination in the workplace.”