Kosovo may have taken an important step toward international recognition this year, when it joined FIFA and won Olympic gold in Rio. But for Shpend Ahmeti, the mayor of Pristina, building a nation begins on the ground.

Since his election in 2013, the 38-year-old Harvard graduate, former World Bank economist and university professor has been waging a battle to bring basic public services — public transportation, running water, garbage collection, and clean and affordable heating oil for schools, hospitals and homes — to the capital’s 350,000 residents.

http://www.politico.eu/list/politico-28-class-of-2017-ranking/politico-28-shpend-ahmeti/