New scandal uncovered USD 30 million undeclared PAGE 2

2 million dollars to dirty Tirana Page 11

EDITORIAL The “impossible” happened. The President and the political parties sat down at one and the same table to talk. The news is historic. Of genuinely national proportions. Because Albanians are easily enthused when their politicians sit down at a table. It does not matter what was discussed. What matters is that they sat together. Breathed in the same room. Rested their elbows on the same table... Even though each one was hammering away at their own nail. A real spectacle! A truly great spectacle! Indeed, the scale of the spectacle grows even greater when you consider that the meeting was organized with the blessing and at the insistence of international representatives. Like good educators who punish guilty children by making them stand on one leg behind the door, they took Albanian politicians by the ear and dragged them to the table. The President of the Republic too. And they talked... about the time... and place... (of the elections). They did not reach an agreement?!... What does it matter! Now some foreign diplomats in Tirana will rush to inform their respective governments of their remarkable “success” in getting Albanian politicians to sit at a common table. They will speak of their exhausting work, the time spent, their efforts and diplomatic skills... Even though the Albanians still did not reach an agreement. Because their president once again stayed silent, or once again pretended not to understand. So, where were we? Nowhere! What did we do? Nothing!

Meeting at the Presidency. Compromise on the CEC fails Ambassadors Limprecht and Ahrens (representing the US and the OSCE, respectively), as well as Grunet of the Council of Europe, expressed serious reservations about the Socialists, going so far as to reject one of the articles in the chapter on the transitional provisions of the Electoral Code concerning the composition of the Zonal Election Commission and the division of electoral zones across Albania. This wording was not in the draft that OSCE experts sent to the Government. It was added later at the insistence of the Socialists and following their vote in Parliament Page 3

Illegal construction brought the state to its knees After four inaugurations marking the start of works and the completion of a 2-kilometre section, attended by three prime ministers and almost the entire government apparatus, work on continuing its construction has been suspended. Completing the investment in the Ring Road requires another 20 million dollars, while demolishing the illegal buildings alone will require a further 17 million dollars. A new project needs to be drawn up, one that tries to avoid illegal construction as much as possible, since no project can be carried out without encountering it Page 5

MURDER Page 7

Businesspeople fall victim to exorbitant extortion demands Statistics from the Tirana Police Directorate for 1998 recorded 60 reports of extortion and 17 reported hostage-taking cases. At the national level, although exact figures are unavailable, it is thought that the numbers are not very high. For the current year, the figures remain almost the same as those of the previous year. But what are the motives for taking hostages? Page 9

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Today, at 11:00, the leadership will hold a press conference at the headquarters of the Republican Party