Ermira Mehmeti saw the opportunity to help rebuild the country, starting from rebuilding the relations between ordinary people from grassroots level to the top. It was an opportunity she did not miss.

Ermira Mehmeti is the spokesperson for the Democratic Union for Integration, which emerged following the 2001 conflict in the country. Its leaders are those who fought for more rights and equal treatment of ethnic Albanians and Macedonians. Ermira is working to bring together the youth of the two major communities that were in conflict. Her message is that peace and democracy are the crucial values that can bring the country into Europe, that diversity makes the country stronger and should be the cornerstone of this young democracy and that reconciliation must be promoted.

Ermira Mehmeti is the symbol of young and emancipated Albanian women living in Macedonia with clear perspectives on their future. She has become the voice of moderation of the young educated generation of ethnic Albanians living in Macedonia. The myth of the uneducated and primitive Albanian community living in the country was broken as she emerged on the political scene. Ermira is the daughter of a retired lawyer and a social worker working for the Macedonian Red Cross. Her father was a political prisoner in the times of the communist regime in the former Yugoslavia. Her mother has spent her life helping those in need, especially families that need social assistance and children without care. Currently, Ermira is finishing her legal studies at the South East European University in Tetovo, Macedonia. She has committed her time and energy to work in the post-conflict Kosovo as well as contribute to the peace process in Macedonia. In Kosovo, Ermira Mehmeti served as one of the main interpreters for the International War Crimes Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, providing assistance during the drafting of witness statements to be used in the case against Slobodan Milosevic. For over a year, she has been engaged with the European Community Humanitarian Office (Echo) in provision of assistance to the families in post-conflict Kosovo. In 2001, Ermira worked as a reporter for the Associated Press news agency and as the main English-Albanian interpreter during the peace negotiations held in Ohrid, which resulted in the Framework Agreement that put an end to the conflict in Macedonia. In 2002, she was hired by the Democratic Union for Integration to work as the spokesperson for the party, a job that she has been doing ever since.

Democratic Union for Integration