500 years after Columbus... Perhaps because it is easier to achieve, America has become a card to which the two parties that have tasted power, PD and PS, attach far too much importance. Certainly, rather than seeking to obtain from America what Albanians need, the name of the world’s superpower is used to lend credibility, in the eyes of Albanians, to one or the other of the two aforementioned parties. Thus one of the many paradoxes of life—and, in particular, of Albanian politics in recent years—comes to pass, not to mention the absurdities of the 50-year dictatorship. Normally, a political force that cares about the country and its citizens should, before talking in its programme about America or Europe, assure voters that it would fix the electricity, water, and other things that Albanians suffer from today. But, with America and the West in Continued on p. 4

Havier Solana, three months after taking the helm as NATO Secretary General, visits Albania At the invitation of Albania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Alfred Serreqi, NATO Secretary General Mr. Havier Solana will pay an official visit to our country on May 1–2, 1996. The visit is part of a tour that Mr. Solana will make to a number of countries participating in the Partnership for Peace programme. Solana took the helm of NATO after Vili Klaus resigned, having been accused of bribery in connection with the Italian helicopters bought by Belgium. Havier Solana was Spain’s Foreign Minister for 20 consecutive years and is a figure who enjoys an extraordinary reputation in the world. His candidacy for NATO Secretary General was unanimously accepted by all NATO member countries. This is the first time that the head of a Peace Bloc country has visited Albania. As is known, Albania signed the Partnership for Peace programme in April 1995, and, following Solana’s visit, an Albanian company will go to Bosnia as part of the UNPROFOR forces, which will remain there for two years to safeguard the Dayton Agreement. Perhaps Solana’s visit will also finally determine Albania’s prospects for association with NATO. The Republican Party was among the first to support Albania’s membership in NATO, and at all the meetings its leaders have held with NATO figures, they have put this forward as a primary demand. S.R

Nevertheless, the screening process has not yet begun Although election day has not been announced, its approach has set the various political forces in motion as they prepare to compete in the June electoral battle. What is unusual about these elections is that people who will stand as candidates for a seat in parliament are required to overcome the obstacle known as the “Commission for the Verification of Figures.” Thus, the first names have arrived at this commission—which it is still unclear actually exists—and will be subject to the commission’s scrutiny. Naturally, the names submitted to the commission, whose address is not even known for certain, come from the opposition, first and foremost … According to information received from various parties, various political names have knocked on the doors of the “virginity” commission, at the doors of the … Continued on p. 4

Last night, Germany’s Minister of Defence, Folke Ryhe, arrived in Tirana. His schedule of meetings begins with President Berisha, continues today with Minister of Defence Zhulali, and will include a series of further meetings with senior Albanian state officials. Although this is the first visit to Tirana by a German Minister of Defence, it is nothing exceptional for either the Albanian or the German side. Such visits have long been a normal feature of Albania’s military cooperation with the West. Albania is strengthening its military cooperation with NATO in this way, having become a member of the “Partnership for Peace” initiative. Alongside the United States of America and Turkey, Germany, with its armed forces, is undoubtedly one of the most important partners in the military sphere as well. The year 1995 gave this cooperation new significance because of important events. German soldiers also regularly took part in NATO’s numerous manoeuvres in Albania and on Albania’s borders, mainly in the medical and logistics sectors. In October 1995, Germany’s Deputy Minister of Defence, Bernd Vils, was in Tirana, while in autumn 1995 Albania’s Minister of Defence, Safet Zhulali, was a guest of the German government. On October 20, the two Ministers of Defence, Zhulali and Ryhe, signed a joint declaration in Bonn, which guarantees the armed forces of Albania support up to… Continued on p. 4

After the conclusion of the Socialist Party congress, Mr. Sabri Godo, chairman of the Republican Party and current chairman of the Right-Wing Union of Albania, reacted sharply, calling the established but undeclared alliances between the Socialist Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Democratic Alliance highly damaging to Albania’s interests. Mr. Godo says: “It seems that all of this is a play on words. This will be a genuine alliance of all three demokludekset for this party, which until now have tried to create a Poline Endres, kryepolekuilibrua, has shifted and is moving toward uniting with the Socialist Party in disguised forms”. “On the other hand, by cooperating with the Socialist Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Democratic Alliance Party are condemning themselves. Their insistence on bringing the Socialist Party back to power, as a force of the former Albanian communists, is a very harmful contribution to the possible return of communism to power in Albania,” Mr. Godo emphasises. R.P.

“To leave those who violate human rights unpunished means devaluing the idea of human rights” P. 4

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