The government deploys battalions against VEFA. Investigations into the head of the creditors Rome brings the SP and DP together. Berisha to Nano: We’ll draft the report together. SDP: Elections in March

-Being outside their fields, ministers exceed their powers -Ms. Arta is at odds with the arts. The Director of the Opera and Ballet Theatre declares a hunger strike The Nano 3 government cabinet has been trumpeted as the most carefully selected of all the cabinets Albania has formed. In fact, this is a false image that has been inflated…

The Ballet declares a hunger strike The Nano 3 government cabinet has been trumpeted as the most carefully selected of all the cabinets Albania has formed. In fact, this is a false image inflated by the left-wing press. A quick glance at the cabinet would be enough to see that many ministerial seats have been taken by dyed-in-the-wool party activists or specialists from fields outside the portfolios entrusted to them. Defence Minister Brokaj could very well have been Minister of Health, but not of Defence. Interior Minister Çeka could make a more effective contribution in construction, urban planning or archaeology. Reform Minister Imami could contribute in culture and theatre, but in the ministry of clouds sits the foreign-language teacher, who has already made a mess of things. Gaqo Apostoli could have made a competent contribution in industry, but the party has saddled him with construction and transport. Milo could have contributed in the field of history, but they have convinced him that he is also suited to be chief diplomat. Instead of physics, Kastriot Islami has been entrusted with the post of Minister of State; they have even told him he is qualified for journalism. We could give other examples from the Nano cabinet, but further enumeration would be excessive. This unprofessional selection of ministers will cost the Government dearly. With such a cabinet, our talkative prime minister will not only be unable to carry out a program like this, but will not even finish the left-wing one. There is one thing this kind of cabinet can do well: meritocracy converted into political militancy. On that score, yes, Nano’s ministers have delivered with revolutionary zeal. In a short time, they are emptying the administration of leaders who do not enjoy the coalition’s support and replacing them with dyed-in-the-wool activists whose hearts burn for the party of the minister who appoints them. Instead of this cabinet aiming to transform the administration from a political one into a public one, the opposite is happening. Politicization does nothing but recruit activists and throw capable people out onto the street. The fact that Nano’s ministers are outside their fields is showing signs of causing conflict. The ministers do not know how to get to the heart of the problems that concern the diaspora or

Yesterday, the chairman of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr. Sabri Godo, congratulated Italy’s Prime Minister, Mr. Romano Prodi, on resolving the government crisis that his country had just weathered. “Please accept my sincere congratulations on the resolution of the crisis,” Mr. Godo says in his telegram sent to the Italian Premier. “Not only your country and your people, Mr. Prime Minister, but all of Albania as well are placing their hopes in you,” concludes the telegram from the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the People’s Assembly, Mr. Sabri Godo.

No use saying no. I lay eggs too

Page 2

Page 4

Page 13 Photo name: [?]

Janullatos attacks Albania — Page 10 Massacre in Algeria: 50 throats slit — Page 11 S. Shkupi: Corridor 8, or the call of the fate of the Albanians — Page 8 Idealists under threat from the armchair-gobblers — Page 12 An hour of fighting in Thessaloniki. Visa fraudster arrested. A spate of accidents on the Ballsh-Kakavijë road: 2 dead, 13 injured. Celebratory gunfire brings death — Pages 5, 7

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