The Albanian government, in a confidential letter, orders the sale of the Agricultural Commercial Bank The first bank will be sold within three weeks. Malaj: “Deposits and employees are guaranteed.” Page 11

BY FATOS LUBONJA One of the leaders of the Albanian opposition right, explaining on TVSH the government’s acceptance of the return of refugees, added, among other things, an “ideological argument.” “It is understandable,” he said, “why this is happening. The left cares more about the state than the individual, while the right cares more about the individual than the state.” Albanian politicians seem to forget that in Italy it is precisely the right that has persistently insisted on the return of refugees, while the left has spoken against it. He puts it bluntly: Albanians can swallow any nonsense politicians say, as long as it serves their short-sighted interests. How long will Albanian politics continue to be so destructive, short-sighted and unserious? Have Albanian politicians still not understood that they are at the helm of the country to steer it along the most reasonable, far-sighted and dignified course, not to lead it from one tragedy to another, from one dead end to another, and from one humiliation to another? The scenes of refugees being returned are truly painful, but often also deeply repugnant. People who would rather die and be dragged along the ground than return to their homeland cannot evoke pity alone. Their misery is not merely material. Nor is it merely individual. It is the misery of the entire Albanian nation. Italian politicians, whether left-wing or right-wing, may exploit those deportation scenes, but Albanian politicians may not. Faced with those scenes, which portray the Albanian nation as powerless and without dignity, every Albanian should stop and think deeply. Politicians such as Berisha and his allies, now in opposition, above all need to think about the responsibility they bear for those scenes. They know very well that, if they were in power, they would act no differently from the current government, because they are the ones who concocted this chaos a few months ago; because, instead of leaving power with dignity, they agreed to turn Albanian soil into land occupied by foreigners; because they are the ones who placed Albania’s fate in the Italian monasteries of Sant’Egidio and not on Albanian soil. Those in power, instead of pursuing their personal and petty interests and desires, should think about how to work around the clock to make Albania, as soon as possible, a habitable country, where there is at least a little... [the source text is garbled here] a habitable country, where there is at least a little work and a little Albanian life, and where politics finally breaks free from its slave-like dependence. “Every Albanian must finally understand that ‘the homeland is where they welcome you with open arms’; that it is better to be ordinary and honorable in this country than to be dragged along the ground and humiliated in a foreign land, because we still live in an era in which people are divided, and dignity comes first in one’s own country.”

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Eilen Malloy in Tirana yesterday. Photo: REUTERS

SOS for the Albanian right. Renewal and reform of the PD’s current structures are called for. Alarm from the Italian right through Meksi “The PD is dominated by centrifugal forces that push aside those who think differently and express an alternative opinion,” leading representatives of the Italian right told Meksi; according to Meksi, they were concerned about the state of the PD. “And this is a risk, but it is not an unknown phenomenon,” they said during the meetings, mentioning such practices in many Western political parties and citing the most extreme cases, in which parties became fossilized and disappeared from politics altogether. P. 5

The PD distances itself from ultimatum demands P. 5

Human Right Watch’s annual report is published P. 4

Incident in Durrës. The ship is being held in port P. 2

The police director speaks: Havari: The police officers surrendered The police director speaks Havari: The police officers surrendered How the Berat police station was overrun P. 7

Police station chiefs in the South will be replaced P. 13

The chief inspector of the pyramid schemes: We are reviving VEFA P. 10

The well-known director: I want to get back to work P. 18