STRASBOURG CALLS FOR ELECTIONS
At yesterday’s meeting of the European Parliament
The Albanian state has found itself in an extremely difficult position over the past few days. Just when it seemed that it was gradually getting through the crisis, signals began arriving from abroad that were not at all pleasant for the government and President Berisha himself. Over the past two days, from the United States, State Department spokesman Nicolas Burns sent Tirana a message in much harsher tones than the State Department’s recent statement, which called for elections to be repeated in a considerable number of areas where violations had been blatant. Among other things, Burns also criticized Tirana for holding elections in 17 areas without first consulting OSCE representatives. Burns also pointed out that the United States was promoting an international initiative to resolve the political crisis that had arisen in Albania after the May 26 elections, which had been marred by blatant violations and numerous irregularities. This was an indication that Europe, the United States and international organizations had once again lost much of their confidence in the Albanian state’s willingness to continue along the path of democratic development. As was also emphasized in the State Department statement issued immediately after the elections and the events that took place two days later in “Skënderbeg” Square, Albania had taken a clear step backwards with regard to democracy. The very idea expressed in that statement was truly sad: the 1992 elections were described as more democratic than those held on May 26. But truly troubling news arrived late yesterday afternoon from Strasbourg. The European Parliament, which met yesterday afternoon, took up the issue of the elections in Albania among several other matters. After examining reports by OSCE representatives and its own observers, it decided to recommend that Albania annul the May 26 elections and hold new elections at an appropriate time, but that they be fair. On the other hand—and this is perhaps an even harder blow to the government here—it is being recommended that the governments of the 15 EU countries, with reg-More on p. 2