Lawyers: A confidence vote in the Government is not automatically linked to any law Fino: “I make the law” Defeat in Parliament? “The Government won’t fall” The new draft soon. It will be based on the 1992 version The parties stay up until late at night but cannot agree with one another. There are no more politicians’ roundtables The Council of Ministers’ experts will draft the law. Only a few changes from the 1992 version TIRANA - Fino gets the parties’ “yes” to pass the electoral law with his ministers. Today or tomorrow, the head of the Government of National Reconciliation, Bashkim Fino, will convene his Cabinet and discuss the 1992 electoral law, proposed by two senior officials of the Council of Europe. Fino expects his Cabinet to give the law the green light, bearing in mind that most ministers in the Government belong to parties that support the idea of the 1992 law. The Prime Minister announced that together with the election bill, he would also submit a confidence motion for his Cabinet, although lawyers say that regardless of whether or not the law is approved by Parliament, the latter can still give the Government a vote of confidence. Justice Minister Spartak Ngjela himself shares the same view, stating that there is no connection between the rejection of a law and the fall of the government that proposes it. At the meeting he held with ten parties, Fino presented them with a package proposed for Albania by the Council of Europe. The 1992 law’s article on anti-genocide [sic] is to be reformulated, but its substance is to remain untouched, and the Committees are to be disbanded as soon as the election date is announced; these were the points that sparked heated debates among the parties. The PD rejected all three points, while the opposition supported them, despite having a few minor reservations. On page 3 JUNE IS NEAR Vranicki returns “What are you doing about the elections?” The chief European mediator is back in the capital today. Meetings with the parties and senior officials The parties argued: “Here are the opinions after the roundtable” Representatives at the latest meeting reveal the disagreements over the electoral law On page 3

REPORTAGE On page 5 Italian soldiers at “Alba” in Vlora

FOOTBALL Flamurtari: “No match in Tirana” The championship starts on 14 May; the people of Vlora agree to play in Durrës On page 6

FEAR Gunfire and fire at night The Social Insurance archive burns down. Two killed in a billiard hall On page 5

Fatos Baxhaku The weather has begun to warm up. The Adriatic no longer has the frightening, dark color it had on the afternoon of March 28, when the tragedy occurred; nevertheless, the sinister cargo that drives Albanians away from their country continues to be called “the cargo of fear.” There are several parties involved in this whole story. One party waits for days in the hell of a coastal forest, eyes and ears fixed on the horizon, where the rusty ships appear. The other party gathers in a circle of refugees as they wait, at long last, for the ship of hope to take pity on them. When they set out on their journey, they still do not really know what awaits them. “We’re going to Italy,” they say, without knowing whether they will even make it close to shore; whatever happens, it does not matter much. Hope has long been a forgotten word for them. Another party is the one that profits from trading in this unusual human cargo. Often risking their lives, evading guards and the many police checks—which they often manage to get past through exceptions made in their favor—this lot of traders, born alongside Albania in the 1990s, nevertheless continues to line its pockets, and handsomely. These two parties are the direct protagonists of the latest maritime adventure involving Albanians. The two parties are so closely connected that a special code of ethics has been established between them: to leave, you have to pay; if you do not leave, your money is returned. They have turned into a simple travel agency. Then there are others: people who watch on television as the poor, cold souls challenge the waves every day. A burst of amazement, often even envy at the courage of these desperate people, and that is all. Albanian society is completely numb to the fact that its people are abandoning it. It would be entirely natural if only ordinary people belonged to this last group, but that does not seem to be the case. The authorities, the public at large, politicians, those in power—none of them seems to remember to make these people aware of the deadly fate awaiting them in the Adriatic. Not a single appeal, not a single meeting in the places from which the desperate crowds set out, while the traffickers continue to line their pockets with money painstakingly collected. Whenever a tragedy occurs, everyone rushes to fill the airwaves with endless condolence messages, but by then it will be too late. The sea is already claiming the victims of indifference.

The ship from Velipoja Fail to board: get their money back Another 300 men from the ship “Trini” return to Durrës. The women and children are in Italy On page 5

BUDGET / How the money will be allocated, from the Presidency to SHIK BUDGET / SHIK Ministries’ “salaries” set Construction is the wealthiest. Privatization comes last Council of Ministers On page 2

Constitutional Court rules Anti-crime package repealed Reason: “The imposition of mandatory sentences infringes the right of the accused to defend themselves” TIRANA — The Constitutional Court has struck down a package of laws approved by Parliament a few months ago. “The package of anti-crime and anti-corruption laws”—that was the name given to several provisions intended to strengthen penalties for crime and corruption. However, the Albanian Helsinki Committee had filed a case with the Constitutional Court, arguing that the law violated human rights. On page 2

Shkodër, bomb at police station SHKODËR — Dynamite attack on the police station in Shkodër. Unknown people threw an explosive device into the police station courtyard on Sunday evening and then fled quickly, shielded by the darkness of night. Fortunately, there were no casualties. The police responded immediately and blocked all the roads, but were unable to catch those responsible. The explosion was heard across almost the entire city and caused a wave of panic. On page 5

RROGOZHINË On page 5

GJIROKASTËR On page 5

GRAMSH On page 5

DURRËS On page 3

— Bomb explosions in Tirana. At the start of the traffic curfew, on the first day when two additional hours had been added to the curfew, two explosions in the capital shook residents and were heard as far as the outskirts. It was not a greeting to the whole week that had been left behind; rather, at least in one case, curiosity to see an explosion at night brought dozens of residents out in fright near a sausage workshop in the “21 Dhjetori” neighbourhood, to find out what had happened. The first bomb exploded at a quarter to nine on Monday evening, near the centre of Tirana. It is still unknown who had thrown the bomb and why, but hundreds of people, as they hurried home at the appointed time, escaped, moving away from the direction of the explosion. Those who were closer to the site came out of their homes frightened. Half an hour later, more explosions were heard; although one was stronger than the first, it too ended without causing damage. Although nobody has determined the cause of the explosions, the tension and panic caused by their echoes as night has fallen over the country is a bad thing.

TIRANA — Two people have been arrested and another has been placed in a psychiatric hospital after they fired at a police car. This was the decision handed down yesterday by the Tirana Court concerning three people who had been detained five days earlier, accused of attempted murder. A police van that was taking several police officers who had finished their shift to their homes was fired upon on the outskirts of Tirana, near the village of Yzberisht, in Kombinat. The attack, which fortunately caused no casualties, also prompted a major police operation in the houses of this village, after which police detained three people suspected of the attack on them. During the operation to capture them, police also seized a large quantity of highly sophisticated weapons. Two of the detainees appeared before the court. One of them had a forensic medical report, and for this reason the court decided that he should be isolated in a psychiatric hospital. The other two, although they insisted that they were not the ones who had attacked the police car, were remanded in custody by court order.

BUDGET / How the money will be allocated, from the Presidency to SHIK

Tirana One night