Fatmir Mediu

Fatmir Mediu (born 21 January 1967, in Durrës ) is an Albanian conservative politician. He is the current Chairman of the Republican Party of Albania, and served as Minister of Defence from September 2005 to March 2008, and Minister of Environment, Forests & Water Administration.

Early life Mediu was born on 21 January 1967 in Durrës, which was then part of the People's Republic of Albania. In 1990 he graduated from the Faculty of Engineering, Mining, and Geology at Tirana University.

In September 2005 he was elected as Minister of Defence. In March 2008, Mediu resigned from his position as Defence Minister following a military ammunition explosion in Gërdec, a village outside of the capital of Albania. The explosion killed 26 people, injured hundreds, and damaged or destroyed over two thousand homes. He was succeeded by Gazmend Oketa. After several months of investigation in 2022, in January 2023, the Special Structure against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) found that he violated the law during his actions regarding Gërdec. Mediu responded that SPAK did not have any additional evidence since the incident, and that the accusations were politically motivated.

In 2009 he was elected as Minister of Environment, Forests & Water Administration. While Minister of Environment, he quietly oversaw the 2010 Albania floods in the Northern regions of the country, largely caused by poor forest management practices, illegal logging, and heavy rains. He was dismissed from the position in 2013.