Arbnori ends his hunger strike. PSD denies Gjinushi. Allies accuse PS of seeking revenge Grunasi fails again; Brokaj admits to smuggling. Taxes bring Albanians to heel

It may happen that you unexpectedly run into a distant friend or an acquaintance whose life you do not know much about. And you do not know his political views, but in recent years you have seen him selling his father’s goods, acting as a small-time trader, working for some private company, or perhaps trading wholesale. When you naturally ask him how work is going, he replies that he is waiting for a job in the state administration. Immediately afterwards, you realize that you are dealing with someone who may be a sympathizer, may be an activist, or may have family ties to the party currently in power. So, in some way, either he has offered his services to PS, or it has asked for his services. What is happening, and why is there such great demand to enter the service of the state? Why is the state administration so appealing? If you look at how much all these people we mentioned have earned from their work up to now, you find that, at worst, as sellers of bananas or chickpeas, say, they have earned two or three times an administrative employee’s salary. This means that, from the standpoint of financial interest, this job is not attractive at all. This raises the question: How have state employees managed all these years? Were they so poor that they could barely get by on dry bread? We all know the answer. The generous state opened all the doors to the practice of corruption, to the point that many looked down on their salaries. Here we cannot generalize about the case in which the political state had corrupted the administrative state, in order to keep its elements in hand and under pressure. Both sides profited. One secured its militants; the other lined its pockets and secured its livelihood. If these banana sellers are rushing in with the idea of driving out those from the offices and the ties, sending them back to their own bananas, and taking a place behind some desk to fill their bags with stolen money, this may not last long. The general perception of those in power is extremely negative, to the point of revulsion. The moment you meet a civil servant, you get the impression that something has been stolen from you. It will take a lot of work to change this opinion, and first of all, the employee must feel that they are supported for their abilities, not by the party, which should neither favor nor oppress them, and to which they should not have to grovel. Some say they want to contribute and support their party in the reforms it will undertake. Let that be the case, and not what we said; but when we discuss these issues, we must be clear that whoever comes to power wants to stay [unclear] and [unclear] independence secured. The signs are not very good, in fact: there are cases of people returning to the positions they once held, and people who were dismissed simply for being corrupt, not for political reasons, regardless of how they tried to manipulate things. There are also cases of senior officials spending on a single lunch as much as they earn in a month’s salary; they do this not rarely, but almost every day in luxury restaurants.

p. 13 On Wednesday, 10 September 1997, at 10:00, the National Council of PRSH will meet at the Palace of Congresses in Tirana. At this meeting, the date for convening the Third Congress of PR will be set, and current political issues will be discussed. Make sure that no member is absent.

“REPUBLIKA”, Rruga “Sami Frashëri”, near “Petro Nini Luarasi” high school, Tirana, Account No. 986/110, Tirana Commercial Bank. Tel/Fax 259 88 Tel. 230 90