Page 5 Boriçi: It was an election rally; the invitation came to me from the PD and was left with the secretariat

For the third time within the space of a year, the Albanian president has promised the people of Shkodër that a free zone will be created. He also made the same promise to the people of Elbasan three times. On 26 May, on 20 October, and now, Sali Berisha is selling Albania, waving the promise of creating free zones, in the hope that ordinary Albanians’ lack of economic knowledge will make the words “free zone” work like magic. Amid calculated performances and unrestrained rhetoric, the Albanian president has pulled a dusty promise out of his pocket, without even knowing himself what it means, imagining that now, as in May, people will calmly return to the counters of the bankrupt companies. The free-zone card appears to have completely compromised the presidential tour, not only because of its disappointing effect on the Albanian electorate, which now expects them to be offered cash, as soon as possible, but also because the same promise has been repeated for the umpteenth time, convincing voters of the Albanian president’s naked demagoguery. For this reason, the president’s promises of “free zones from Kukës to Gjirokastër,” as he put it yesterday in Shkodër, cannot have the hoped-for effect on Albanians, who are horrified by the bitter loss of all their wealth in the fraudulent pyramid schemes set up during the PD’s rule. To create free zones according to the “president’s map” in fact means putting into practice a project that sounds like sheer madness even to the most mediocre economist. A country turned into a “free zone” is a country with a government that collects not a single penny in taxes—in other words, without a treasury, without finances. Promising free zones from south to north means completely upsetting the country’s economic balance, depriving other parts of the territory of the minimum necessary protection of the state. In Sali Berisha’s irresponsible promises, the indiscriminate allocation of free zones takes on the dimensions of a solution that automatically resolves citizens’ economic problems. He does not explain that before being declared a free zone, a territory must meet certain conditions that Shkodër or Vlora in 1997 are unlikely to possess. On the other hand, the president’s maps of free zones would cause serious social problems. Given that serious investors cannot invest in areas where they cannot see their investments succeed, at least over a defined period and within a defined space, it is likely that they will not like the presidential map of free zones. It is now abundantly clear that the free-zone card, turned into an election slogan, is tied to the Albanian president’s difficult political position. Berisha’s campaign in packed halls has turned into a fairy-tale campaign before the cameras, intended to show the “popular support” he enjoys. This is hardly credible even to amateur cameramen, let alone politicians and international public opinion. The free zones promised by the president cannot save him from the many problems he is facing. Still less can they resolve the profound, multidimensional crisis gripping Albania. Neither the war against “the reds,” nor the PD’s “armed” struggle in another order, nor irrational promises can convince public opinion that the crisis has a real solution. Such a grave situation requires the genuine commitment of political forces. A party of political civility—something sorely lacking in the current government and in the president himself. As for the free zones, let us hope Berisha does not sell all of Albania; otherwise, the only places left unsold as such will be Kosovo and Çamëria. MARTIN LEKA

Yesterday in Shkodër, shouts aimed at Berisha Photo: Reuters

Yesterday evening, the leadership of the Democratic Party met urgently. President Sali Berisha also took part in the meeting. The central issue discussed for about 40 minutes was the memorandum of 14 MPs and members of the PD leadership. Nervousness prevailed throughout among the senior leaders of the PD, as was also reflected in the accusations and exchanges between participants. Berisha was extremely harsh toward the new motion supporters, accusing them in the same language he had used in Shkodër shortly before arriving in Tirana. Numerous exchanges took place between the leading members over President Berisha and one of the memorandum’s vice-chairmen, Dashamir Shehi, described as the “brains” of the motion supporters. In the verbal attacks he has been waging these days, Berisha has not spared his PD comrades, hurling some of the harshest accusations and epithets at them. It is also reported that no agreement was reached on the date on which the National Council will meet. Apparently, Berisha is waiting to see the outcome of the meeting of EU foreign ministers next Monday.