Electoral draft law - the opposition toward a common pact Yesterday at the parties’ round table, the PD pulls back but the front continues "Whoever tramples on the vote, tramples on democracy," the 13 parties gathered yesterday with the idea of creating a front to defend democracy through free elections. The news of the creation of this large opposition front forced the PD yesterday to take part in the meeting and to back away from several points of the draft law, which was unacceptable to the 13 parties. Meanwhile, in Albanian political circles, the project for a "pact for free elections and democracy" is circulating, which foresees the unification of all opposition political forces in the upcoming elections. From yesterday’s meeting of the political parties to discuss the electoral draft law

Detained at Police Commissariat No. 2 "He insulted President Berisha’s figure" p. 5

Yesterday, the European Union No to Albania’s association Unsatisfactory political and economic reforms leave Albania outside the "Europa" agreement Yesterday, Albania’s request to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union, or the "Europa" Agreement, was denied. This decision was announced by the European Union Commissioner for External Affairs, Van Den Bruk. The official statement wraps the reasons for Albania’s rejection from this Agreement in diplomatic language, but does not hide that the main causes were the current state of political and economic reforms in Albania. The Commissioner’s statement says that a full Association Agreement would not be appropriate, taking into account the current state of political and economic reforms in Albania. After admission to the Council of Europe last summer, signing the Association Agreement had been a priority of Berisha’s government’s foreign policy. But the dismissal last September of the president of the Court of Cassation and the police siege of that Court, the adoption of the Anti-Genocide law, the Files law, the unconstitutional and anti-democratic electoral law, and all of Berisha’s political actions that have been opposed by the opposition, seem to have reached Europe’s ears. According to the European Union, Albania needs to "make progress on the road toward democracy, respect for human rights and the protection of minorities." In a context where relations between Tirana, Rome and Athens seem to be at an impasse at times, it is likely that yesterday’s rejection was influenced by the neighboring country, especially Greece. The statement says that "Albania must develop good-neighborly relations and regional cooperation," but the emphasis is clearly on internal developments. Signing the Association Agreement would open the way for the country’s gradual membership in the European Union, currently the most powerful political and economic organization on the continent. But otherwise Albania remains outside Europe’s circle, once again because of its government. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and for several years afterward, the criteria for signing the Association Agreement were only economic. Only the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia underwent the political filter for the Agreement and passed it. Yet the government, despite budgetary economic advertising of the excellent results supposedly achieved three years ago, has reduced the agreement’s development to the negotiation of purely technical procedures. This unpleasant decision for Albania comes precisely at the moment when the political struggle between the Albanian parties is more heated than ever. In no other former communist country has it happened, up to now, that all the country’s political forces have gathered against the governing party. The anti-democratic and unconstitutional draft election law seems not only to be corrected by the united moral opposition front, but also by the European Union through its [illegible] and its latest decision. "No to the actions." But this concerns not only Berisha’s regime and the PD. E. BARÇI

A SHIK employee has revealed the hidden financing for Ylli Rakipi AD MP Teodor Keko speaks page 9

Yesterday, the verdict was handed down for those who shot at Piro Paloli They will await, bound hand and foot in their cell, the abolition of the death penalty for Albanian citizens page 2

Omonia intervenes with the prefect of Ioannina page 7

On the attack at N. Lesi’s house Exactly three months have passed since the night when a large quantity of TNT was placed in the home of the director of “KJ”, Nikollë Lesi, and the explosion destroyed the entire entrance of the apartment and endangered his family. The Lezhë Prosecutor’s Office and the General Prosecutor’s Office have several times suspended the investigation into this act, in which people with responsibility in SHIK and in the central government are involved. The main figure behind the attack is believed to be in the city of Tirana and is a close friend of the family of Ylli Rakipi, the director of the newspaper “Albania”, a director who is said in journalistic circles to be a deputy chief of SHIK. It is up to the competent organs to clarify this case involving mafiosi, who live in the shelter provided by the Meksi government and pollute the atmosphere in the Albanian press. A.N.

Yesterday in the capital "Down with the dictatorship", "Berisha like Pinochet" page 3

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