“I hope Nano won’t light the fuses of resentment”
INTERVIEW / The socialist deputy chairman calls for a thorough renewal of the party
TIRANA - Ilir Meta fires his objections at the PS leadership. “Keep the ‘former’ out of the party leadership.” With this political message, the party’s youngest deputy chairman opens a new path for his party to pursue: that of a European social-democratic party. After a long silence in the daily press, the 27-year-old socialist has chosen to speak about some of his political ideas concerning the country’s largest opposition party. Unpacking the current processes through which the Albanian left has been wandering for some time, Meta also offers a political forecast for the party: renewal of its leadership programs, changes to its economic and social platform, and a more fruitful European foreign policy. These are once again some of the directions in which, according to the socialist deputy chairman, the political formation he leads should advance. Convinced that “much remains to be done,” Meta expresses the view that “the party’s grassroots are far more emancipated than some of its leadership.” This, he says, is the part of the leadership “that will emerge defeated from this speculative clash into which its instigators have drawn it.”
Fatos Nano
Ilir Meta
THE SOCIALISTS’ PRESIDIUM
The statute strips leaders of their power
PS headquarters
On page 3
Fatos Nano; Ilir Meta; PS headquarters
Goodbye, arms: new recruits abandon the barracks
Hemorrhage in the army
TIRANA - A hemorrhage among army recruits. Especially after they say “goodbye” to weapons and military regulations. In the first six months of this year alone, 170 court cases against deserter soldiers have been held at the Tirana court. Meanwhile, it is reported that there are dozens of other case files at the military prosecutor’s office. The judges believe that the severity of the sentence for the recruits
PD selects candidates: thousands of new names
TIRANA - The process of screening candidates for the October local elections has been completed in the Democratic Party. Thousands of nominations arrived from the branches and, for days on end, were put through the filter of a selection committee made up of leaders from the PD’s central headquarters. The National Council will officially approve the slates of candidates who will defend the PD’s blue colors in the elections.
Opposition opposes the President
PD hits back: “It will cost you dearly”
Statement from the nine-party table: “We don’t want a Berisha commission”
TIRANA - “If the permanent Electoral Commission is appointed by Berisha, we will not take part in it.” This is the latest position, which yesterday brought together nine opposition parties from the parallel dialogue table in a joint statement. A few hours later, the PD’s central headquarters responded sharply. In a press release, it rejected the move: “We will not make concessions through pressure tactics; we recognize only dialogue.” At the same time, an announcement from the presidential offices said that on Friday the head of state would host “guests” at his headquarters—the parties governing at the local level—to discuss preparing the legal framework under which political entities will enter the great electoral arena.
Blood donors? Only the poor
ELBASAN
On page 5
Bullets hit car: 56-year-old killed
RROGOZHINË
On page 5
DURRËS
Double tragedy: two brothers drown
On page 5
FIER
Wounds her husband: turns herself in to police
On page 5
Here is how excise taxes on beverages and gasoline are changing
The Government’s decision favors domestic products
TIRANA - A decision just taken by the Government has changed the excise tax rates for a group of goods. The most affected are soft drinks and refreshments, as well as many petroleum by-products.
The new decision appears intended to favor domestic products. It introduces a distinction in excise tax for identical goods that differ only in their origin of production: from now on, products made domestically will be taxed at a lower rate. Meanwhile, the excise taxes on imported products are almost unchanged. An exception is a group of petroleum by-products that will henceforth be taxed at a rate reaching 100 percent.
On page 7
Yesterday the Appeals Court ruled: Bushati is now free
No change for Kondi and Mihali
TIRANA - Appeals Court judges freed another former official accused of crimes against humanity.
Sulejman Bushati, a former first secretary who had previously been sentenced by the Tirana Court to 15 years in prison, was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison, suspended, and returned home. Meanwhile, the sentences of the other two, Piro Kondi and Qiriako Mihali, whom the trial court had sentenced to 17 years in prison each, were left unchanged by the Appeals Court.
On page 5
Yesterday at the Genocide trial
Tirana soon to host the group “La Bouche”
SHOW
On page 4
Mostar with a new government: agreement signed
FROM THE WORLD
On page 2
Mostar
Europe dominates the Olympics
Atlanta ’96
TIRANA - The Olympics in numbers. Europe is in command: the Old Continent has won more than half of the medals.
The Americans have enjoyed complete dominance in individual events. They have hung 101 medals around their necks. Russia is in “Pole Position” among European teams, followed by Germany, France and Italy. The British have suffered a complete failure. Africa is the last continent in terms of medals. Sforza at Inter, Magath at Manchester for Kluivert
On page 6
Michael Johnson
Fake electricity inspectors: two people jailed
They made millions from their fake profession
They posed as electricity police and extorted fines from citizens
TIRANA - “Open up, we’re the electricity police.” A hefty fine for theft, or a tip paid on the spot, and that was the end of it. This had been going on for months. A man and a woman had been carrying out the job of electricity-meter inspectors without being known to the electricity directorate. Sokol Grifsha, 28, and Melanie Roci, 26, were arrested by police two days ago while continuing their work, showing no “tolerance” toward electricity thieves and making millions. The spectrum of scams is now complete, with every kind of police force represented. Traffic police, public-order police, criminal police, military police and forestry police have all had their “representatives” end up in prison for fraud. Grifsha and Roci had been working together for some time in a profession that brought them substantial earnings. Every day they set out with a bag of tools and climbed the stairways of apartment buildings, knocking door to door, issuing fines to thieves or collecting tips. But someone became suspicious of the two fake officers and notified the police. And now it was not the fake officers but the real ones who caught them in the act and sent them to jail. The two detainees are also facing charges of burglarizing several homes and of building a garden.
(me.ki)
