As of yesterday, relations between Albania and Great Britain will be at ambassadorial level. Secretary of State Malcom Rifkind, at the end of his five-hour visit to Tirana yesterday, called this step “a clear indication of the strengthening of relations between the two countries.” Relations between Albania and Great Britain have been growing stronger economically, militarily and politically, and Tirana had long been expecting the first British ambassador since the Second World War. Berisha thanked Major and his government for the encouragement they had given British investors to invest in Albania. Rifkind said yesterday in Tirana that the European Union had devoted particular attention to relations with Albania so that the country could move resolutely towards prosperity. Regarding the issue of Kosovo, Rifkind said that Britain and other Western countries had made it clear to President Millosheviç that there would be no progress in relations between Serbia and the European Union without a solution to the Kosovo problem. Diplomatic relations between Albania and Great Britain were restored in May 1991. Before the Second World War, Albania had its own ambassador in Albania, who left in 1939. During the war, the English consulate operated in Durrës. The new British ambassador in Tirana, Mr. Andrew Tesoreine, is a career diplomat with 20 years’ experience and has represented England at the United Nations and in Arab countries. United Nations and Arab countries. l.d.

Melo: Take note! Parties agree on early elections “It would not be impossible for all the opposition parties to form a pact on just one issue, solely on the electoral law.” This is how Melo, chairman of the PBD-NJ, is the first to call for the idea of early elections to be institutionalized. These elections had been discussed immediately after the electoral law was approved in Parliament, but no concrete step was taken. A few days ago, [the] electoral law, relying mainly on the previous law. After that, a technical government would be formed to prepare new parliamentary elections under a new democratic law.” Melo acknowledges that creating this inter-party “pact” is no easy matter. “Because there are parties,” explains the PBD-NJ leader, “that hold very different positions and are very… A few days ago, the PAD Assembly raised the issue again, but once more did not pursue it further, even though these early elections had been presented as a coalition condition by PAD during the postponement. Melo is the first to call for a greater commitment from the parties. “In fact, all the small parties,” he says, “are concerned by the new electoral law, including in this group all the LD parties, all the other parties, as well as the PS itself. Therefore, these forces should form a pact with the sole aim that, in the next Parliament, where they are expected to win a majority, they would draft and approve a…” hold very different and opposing positions. Nevertheless, in the end, they all converge on one point: they want an electoral law different from the one approved by Parliament.” And Melo continues: “In that case, the new elections would become a referendum on the electoral law.” What steps will the centrist chairman take to advance his proposal? “I’m putting it forward as an idea,” Melo says of the pact. “If it finds support, then we will try to put it into practice within the very narrow scope allowed to us by the electoral law.”

The prosecution will ask him to testify about April 2 Fatos Nano will be questioned again by the prosecution regarding the events of April 2, 1991, in the city of Shkodër. Confirmation comes from the prosecution, which argues that there has been no legal violation, contrary to what Nano and his two lawyers claim regarding his questioning and the restarting from the beginning of a new judicial proceeding into the April 2 massacre. Fatos Nano refused to answer the Tirana prosecutors six days ago at Bënça prison in Tepelenë, claiming that four people had been convicted for the April 2 killings and that the convictions of the others were not based on the law. According to Nano, the 1992 trial concerning the April events can be retried from the beginning only when one of the convicted people serving their sentence requests it. The prosecution takes a different view and bases its decision to question Nano again on the Code of Criminal Procedure, since Nano, Ruçi and Alia are considered third parties who have not previously been convicted of this criminal offense. The prosecution also has the right to reopen the investigation from the beginning when new evidence emerges that the judicial investigation was unable to uncover. Fatos Nano’s position and involvement, along with Gramos Ruçi, in the events of April 2 is closely connected to Ramiz Alia, who is being held in prison pending investigations into this incident as well. Yesterday, the prosecution transferred the convicted Gjoke Celaj from Lezhë prison to the one in Tirana. He must explain once again, in detail, what happened on April 2, since he was one of the eyewitness protagonists.

Contrary to the Metropolitan of Konica, who believes that “Albanian-Greek relations have not improved at all,” Greek President Stefanopullos, who will be the first Greek president to visit Albania, stated publicly for the first time yesterday that Albanian-Greek relations are improving. Yesterday, the Greek president also received the Albanian Minister of Justice, Hektor Frashëri, in Janinë, with whom he held a warm and friendly conversation.

Last night, Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Graniç arrived in Tirana for a two-day visit. During the meetings he will hold at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with his Albanian counterpart Serreqi and with President of the Republic Berisha, the situation in the region and relations between the two countries will be discussed.