The National Council removes Kopliku, Shehi and Vrioni from the DP Presidency. The latter is struck in the face 80,000 residents of Vlora await Romano Prodi. “Alba” arrives with hope for the Albanians Pages 3, 5

. Berisha: yes, Berisha: no. European politics appears caught in the latest dilemma brought on by the crisis Albania is facing. The position toward the country’s president, who for four years in a row was the most favored politician among the chancelleries of the old continent, is currently the Gordian knot of the politics of EU countries. From Bonn to Rome, from Paris to London, Western European governments are showing considerable difficulty in adopting a new position toward the Albanian head of state. It has not been easy for them to move from open support to a neutral stance, or, indeed, to rejecting a political leader whom nobody in his own country wants anymore. The European diplomatic machine, as always slow and pedantic, is demonstrating these qualities in particular when it comes to changing its line toward the Tirana regime, at the head of which Berisha has always been the dominant figure. Berisha’s rise Berisha’s rise, and that of his party, in Albanian politics was strongly encouraged by external forces. This is no longer a secret to anyone who knows even a little about our recent history. The United States and Europe gave the new anti-communist leader their fullest support, recycling his communist past. After 1992, the opposition was repeatedly forced to hear the refrain from Western chancelleries that Berisha was the country’s only political alternative. Sabotaged by the government’s actions and sidelined by the West’s attention, the opposition nevertheless never tired of repeating that, by supporting Berisha and the PD, the West was making a historic mistake that it would soon regret. May 26, 1996, the day the president’s power was called into question, marked the first disappointment for Berisha’s foreign friends. Left and right began to view the “Albanian miracle” of double-digit growth with suspicion. The pyramid schemes, corruption, smuggling and autocratic methods of rule were merely the backdrop against which foreign governments’ mistrust took shape, with the American government among the first to signal its disagreement. The United States was the first to understand that Berisha’s mission had ended and that he had to leave, but months had to pass before a European official would say so. Fassino, one of the most restrained European politicians in his statements about the Albanian head of state, showed that Europe had withdrawn its outstretched hand and that Berisha’s fall was only a matter of time. What was considered his “diplomatic blunder” in fact reveals the EU diplomacy’s ill humor toward the president. But the West has to appear ambivalent in its official position. A protocol imposed by the situation in Albania has determined that Berisha will remain a partner, if only formally, until election day. This procedure seems sacrosanct in a country where around one million weapons circulate freely. But the president’s future has already been decided. He will leave the scene, and the West knows this well. The June vote is awaited.

Dashamir Shehi, former member of the DP Presidency, speaks -Do you consider yesterday’s meeting democratic? -If we judge it by the standards claimed by the current DP Presidency, in reality it is not. We cannot call it democratic when, in a meeting hall, there is pressure, and personal and biographical insults are the main feature, rather than political alternatives and free debate. -Was that why you left the hall? -That was precisely the reason, because within this National Council we see no possibility of continuing a free, democratic debate, nor of considering the proposed alternative as we have encountered it. (Continued on page 2)

Children in front of an Italian military vehicle belonging to the “Alba” mission Photo G.Shkullaku Children in front of an Italian military vehicle belonging to the “Alba” mission. Photo G.Shkullaku

The editorial staff of the newspaper “Koha Jonë” extends its condolences to the family of Përparim Sala, driver for the “Koha Jonë” Transport Agency, who died on Sunday at Qafë Muzinë in Sarandë. He lost his life in a car accident while delivering the newspaper to the city of Sarandë.