Social assistance, the Ministry of Labor will distribute food coupons New aid scheme for the poor Social assistance, the Ministry of Labor will distribute food coupons THE COUPONS ARE BACK New aid scheme for the poor The government measure to prevent abuse of aid is supported by the World Bank. The coupon will be worth 2,500 lek. This year, 2,344 cases of improper benefit By ERMELINDA HOXHAJ The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has reintroduced food coupons for poor families. This is a project supported by the World Bank, which will initially be implemented in only three main regions. Although in 2010 the return of coupons was widely trumpeted as a measure that would reduce poverty in the country by 2%, this project/decision was not implemented and has been left to be applied as a pilot project in only some regions. The food coupons will be given to these families every month, but at the same time they will continue to receive economic assistance alongside the coupon. According to specialists, the value of this coupon is expected to be around 2,500 new lek per month. According to data from the State Social Service, around 100,000 families are currently covered by the assistance scheme, while for 2012 their number is expected to rise to more than 104,000 families. One of the issues that the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs... Continues on page 9

The writer tells the story of his youth and work On pages 22-23

LIST OF 1,651 NAMES On pages 19-21

Opinion of the Day By ILIR DHIMA The heavy word as the title of this piece, I have noticed, is being used ever more rarely in the ordinary language of conversations among our citizens.... Decay Continues on page 25

Opinion of the Day By BEN ANDONI A few years ago, with a text about Jihad, which was distributed among Albanian Muslim believers, in aid of the people... Berisha, the Jews and... Albanian Muslims Continues on page 25

EXCLUSIVE/ “We value the adoption of laws with 3/5” (In photo:) Ambassador Ettore Sequi, during his service as a diplomat in Afghanistan INTERVIEW/ The EC Ambassador: The Albanian political class in particular should be concerned about the lack of interest or support from the youth “Political forces and leaders need to use this period to strengthen intensive dialogue around the issues related to the main reforms” On pages 2-3

7 ARRESTED On page 16

SERBS: WE ARE FIGHTING On page 18

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE On page 26

DOSSIER/ 2 On page 12