The 11 countries aspiring to join the EU, with Anjeli in Turin 11 countries aspiring to join the EU, with Anjeli in Turin Where has Albania been hidden? On the reserve bench... Following the Turin meeting, held over the past two days, where Europe examined the most important problems currently troubling it, Albanians once again felt inferior or undervalued by Europe’s stance toward their country. In addition to representatives of the EU-15, Suzana Anjeli, in her capacity as the current president of the EU, held a special session and talks with the highest-ranking representatives of 11 countries, which have expressed their wish and are preparing to take the decisive step to cross the EU threshold. Apart from countries such as Cyprus and Malta, the list of countries that took part in the meeting with Ms. Anjeli included almost all the former communist countries, starting with the Visegrad countries, the Baltic states and ... More on p. 4

This evening, for the third time, the US Secretary of Defense, William Perri, will be in Albania. He will take part in a regional meeting of Defense Ministers on April 1 in Tirana, organized at the initiative of the Albanian side. Perri will meet with the President of the Republic and other prominent figures of the country. He is coming to Albania as part of a series of visits he will undertake during a week-long trip to Croatia, Bosnia, Albania and Egypt.

We are against providing assistance, and we will find ways for the portion of those who receive assistance to work. This will be achieved by reducing taxes and stimulating everyone’s businesses. We will increase businesspeople’s investments through protection of domestic production, which will create new jobs. We will encourage foreign investment, ... and in this regard the PS is not credible. This is evident from the experience of the East itself, where the former communists have won. I cite Bulgaria as an example, where, in addition to the economic impasse, there is also a blockage of foreign investment. P. 3

After assuring us that he had always answered friendly questions in a friendly manner, tendentious questions with irony, and had not answered hostile questions at all, the former Speaker of Parliament described the former Albanian Parliament as ordinary and its work as generally successful. There is nothing extraordinary or tragic, he stressed, in the opposition’s descriptions of Parliament as incapable; there is nothing extraordinary about the fact that the press has often called Parliament unsuitable and unresponsive to the people’s interests. P. 4

Among the delegates who will represent the Democratic Party’s branches at its assembly, many former names from its political ranks in the provinces and in the capital are absent. The names left off the delegate lists are not a sensation, but in a way they show that the party in power has begun to change its façade. First and foremost, this is further evidence in favor of the hypothesis that the names of parliamentary candidates for the elections have been vetted for some time. P. 2

1996

To all branch leaderships and District Electoral Commissions The Central Electoral Commission of PRSH orders all district branches and their electoral commissions to submit to the Party’s Central Headquarters in Tirana, by April 1, 1996, at 10:00, the complete documentation for every PR candidate for parliament. A candidate for parliament must meet the following requirements: 1) 2 photographs (postcard size) 2) A brief autobiography (two copies) 3) A declaration accepting the candidacy for PR 4) Completion of the request for an official-background check, according to the form below. The chairpersons of the district branches and electoral commissions will be held responsible if the required documentation is not submitted in full and on time. Central Electoral Commission of PRSH REQUEST FOR AN OFFICIAL-BACKGROUND CHECK Candidate for parliament First name, Father’s name, Surname Place of residence Date of birth Occupation Schools attended Workplace address where employed, where previously employed; activity, position, test For the duration of the candidacy PRSH Remarks: This form must be completed separately by each candidate.