Crime, the government shows its fist. Seven gangs dismantled. Mejdani–Nano: Italian coffee at the Presidency. Xhuvheri: “Arsial” passes from Berisha Crime: the government shows its fist. Seven gangs dismantled. Mejdani–Nano: Italian coffee at the Presidency. Xhuvheri: “Arsial” passes from Berisha Page 8

. In just a few days, the Albanian government once again found itself in the company of President Rexhep Meidani. Regardless of the motives that prompted the organization of an event such as yesterday’s, it can be said that it had a great deal in common with the ceremony at which the government was sworn in. In substance, Mr. Meidani’s speech yesterday was no different from the one he delivered to parliamentarians when he was inaugurated as President of the Republic. The way yesterday’s ceremony at the Presidency was organized gave the impression that the government had descended on the place to report to Meidani on the recently concluded Rome meeting. The fact that Nano and his ministers had gone to the Presidency once already, as soon as they got off the plane, reinforces the conviction that yesterday’s ceremony was a show. Given that the political forces now in power have promised to reduce the president’s powers, the government cabinet’s appearance before him to give a report is something of a paradox. During the entire five-year period of Berisha’s authoritarian presidency, there is no recollection of the government “en bloc” reporting to him after completing an important undertaking. Yesterday’s precedent makes one think that stripping the president of his powers is merely a smokescreen intended to further discredit Mr. Meidani’s predecessor, which is less likely. The second possibility is that it was done to show the domestic public that he is not a puppet, as the DP and its allies claim. Mr. Nano and his ministers may indeed have had a reason to make public, in the presence of the head of state, the success achieved in Rome. But, given the serious shortage of time and the effort to restore normality in the country, it would have been more appropriate for them to roll up their sleeves and get to work fulfilling the conditions set by the donor countries’ conference, so that foreign aid could arrive. Nano himself should have preferred a visit to the martyred city of Vlora to explain to its residents that if he were to declare what he had promised them before the elections, he would have to say goodbye to the aid Albania needs. On the other hand, it would have been far more useful for Nano and his ministers to choose, instead of yesterday’s ceremony at the Presidency, a debate at the Prime Minister’s Office on how the situation in the country was developing and on finding new ways to speed up the process of normalizing conditions. Furthermore, if the government felt it necessary to report somewhere or to be rewarded with congratulations, parliament would have been the most appropriate place for this, since it at least also has the right to give legal form to the commitments made by the government at the Rome meeting. One of those commitments was to include the opposition in the country’s joint governance, which is one of the international community’s fundamental demands. But Albania’s main opposition, represented by the DP, has so far excluded itself from active participation in political life. It is not known whether this concerns President Meidani. If he wishes to honor his promises to ensure coexistence, cooperation and the unity of all Albanians, rather than continuing by inertia to hold inaccessible meetings where there is nothing to resolve, it would be more reasonable for him to invite the DP leaders and Berisha himself to secure their active participation in political life at this critical moment. GAVROSH LEVONJA

ALBA leaves Albania The socialists, although they won the majority of the people’s votes and are convinced that TVSH is one of the institutions that brought the Albanian state and nation to ruin (alongside SHIK), are still acting like cowards and do not dare to make the changes for which voters gave them their votes. Either they are showing themselves to be sluggish for fear of an attack by the opposition if they dismiss RTV’s governing council, or they are calculating that they can keep RTV under their control through those who “served the DP.” Why should the SP, which has a majority in parliament, hesitate to dismiss the entire RTV governing council, which has aroused so much hatred among the people? Were these not the very officials who incited the popular revolts? Was it not our TV that insulted and went on the attack against the opposition of the time? Was it not Berisha who gave RTV’s management team orders about every news item and every report? Were the popular revolts and the 29 June elections not also directed against TV, which had turned into a mouthpiece for the DP (and Berisha)? The country has specialists and distinguished public figures, regardless of which party they belong to, who can replace the current eunuchs while also filling the quota of 21 members approved by parliament three days ago. It is unacceptable for the new parliament to vote again for people who have destroyed TV’s image. And if this happens in parliament tomorrow, it will show that the socialists are afraid even of their own shadow. What did the parliamentary Mass Media Committee mean when it said a few days ago, “We will not dismiss RTV’s governing council, but will add 10 more people...”?! If the “worm” is inside the fruit stand, no matter how many good apples you have, they will suffer the fate of those that have been eaten away. And if, with these cosmetic changes, the parliamentary Mass Media Committee intends to propose to parliament tomorrow that the socialists should make up the majority of 11 members, then we will have achieved nothing. In this way, RTV will change from Berisha’s RTV into Fatos Nano’s RTV. In other words, we will once again have turned things upside down, ensuring that RTV is not neutral in the political game, which may resume in earnest in two months. An institution must be cleaned out of the incompetent and those who have degraded it, but it must also be staffed with professionals, not SP activists. A.Gj. Photo: A.BABANI