The man who brought down Fatos Nano, chairman of the capital’s trade unions Yesterday in Tirana, Azemi completed the preparations. Today, the Congress of Independent Trade Unions

Having won all the battles against his domestic opponents, Berisha now, after also triumphing in the local elections of 20 October, has only the international community as an opponent, and it is concerned about the fate of Albanian democracy. From various quarters, Berisha, as the only person with the right to make decisions in Albania, is facing pressure to prevent degenerative processes that threaten to move the country from democracy to an authoritarian regime. In addition, President Berisha also has the problem of improving his personal image, which has been severely damaged since 26 May, a situation to which Berisha’s own stubborn positions have also contributed. To regain his former popularity in the West, propaganda based on slogans with democratic content—which are no longer credible—is not enough; he urgently needs to take some concrete steps to discredit the accusations levelled against him over the past few months. There is no doubt that Berisha’s invitation to the Socialists to cooperate, made the day after his victory on 20 October and accompanied by a call for them to take their seats in parliament, was certainly a calculated and logical step towards improving his image in domestic public opinion and, first and foremost, abroad. But, in fact, given also the experience of the previous legislature, in which Berisha imposed his will on everyone with a relative majority, the Socialist MPs in parliament would find themselves in a ridiculous position in the face of the blue-vote juggernaut commanded by Berisha. In order to bring the Socialists into parliament, he must therefore make further, essential concessions, since his personal power, at least for some time, is no longer challenged by a broader and more oppositional space. On the other hand, further concessions regarding the role of the opposition in parliament would also strengthen the pro-compromise wing within the Socialist Party, thereby further weakening this political force. In the West, oversight of the state, the state mass media and the intelligence service is entrusted to the opposition. Thus, Berisha himself would lose nothing by replacing Blerim Çela with an opposition representative, and following the same course with regard to oversight of RTSH and ATSH, as well as SHIK. This would, in a way, strengthen Berisha’s own position against his powerful opponents within the Democratic Party and relieve him of some of the responsibility for his governing mistakes. The State Audit Commission would then not be concerned solely with investigating the sins of previous governments. Above all, however, this would help him repair his image in the West. Another step in this direction would be the release from prison of Socialist leader Fatos Nano. Given the current state of the Socialist Party and the differences within it over fundamental issues, Nano would not have time to deal with Berisha. But before that happens, President Berisha, bearing in mind the ceremony organized to honour Kadare on the occasion of his acceptance as a member of the French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, will make a conciliatory gesture useful to him—a gesture of peace—along with weakening his own position, as in fact his sending a congratulatory message about the work “genocide” to Kastriot Islami on the occasion of his acceptance into the New York Academy.

Yesterday, customers queued at Sudja

page 3 photo G. SHKULLAKU page 7