Extraordinary PS Conference ready. The removal of the chairman will be requested Brokaj: “He is as harmful as Berisha” Page 3

Yesterday cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister on Kosovo P 4

The forgers also had the Presidency’s logo P 6

BY ARTAN HOXHA When, two years ago in Tirana, very close to the general elections of May 1996, the International Conference “Illegal Economic Activity” was held, initiated and supported by American foundations, the Albanian public opinion, stirred up by the fever of elections and pyramid schemes, failed to perceive any of its messages. In particular, the Albanian political class, both in power and in opposition, was more deaf and blind than ever. Berisha even delivered a moralizing speech as if the illegal economy belonged to another continent and not to Albania. In fact, this was also the first signal given to Albania by the international community so that its institutions would turn their attention to the corruption and illegal economy that were gripping the country on an unprecedented scale and that soon turned into a pyramidal institutional reality, morally supported by politics, state institutions, the media and society itself as a whole. Moral and material criminalization became widespread. Two years later, in Tirana, people are once again talking about corruption and the illegal economy. The ruling political class is quite open to supporting the WB, NGOs and any other institution in their research initiatives on the phenomenon, just as it is open to their recommendations and conclusions. Corruption is no longer a taboo subject. We can acknowledge it, we inherit it from previous governments, it is fueled by the lack of moral values in the transitional society, but it is understood that it continues today as well. The Prime Minister seems clear in his long-term anti-corruption program. Government officials and ruling-party deputies feel optimistic and determined to adopt the most advanced measures. The democratic opposition, as always, is absent. It judges only the present. It has closed the past with a prior admission of some unnamed mistakes. So far, everything is going wonderfully. Recognizing the phenomenon and analyzing it is a major positive step. The day after the conference, events unfold as before, only more heated. Programs are forgotten. Passions multiply. They involve politics, institutions and the media even more, while the public never stops calling in to private radio or TV programs at any hour of the day. Everyone accuses everyone else. And everyone is against corruption. Everyone calls for stronger measures against it, everyone calls for the law to take action. So everyone against everyone. Everyone is corrupt and everyone is a judge. The process, if it develops too much during breaks in championship matches, in the party cells of neighborhoods, in social circles and among families. (to be continued on page 3)

Page 5 General Director of Customs, Gëzim Bleta Photo GENT SHKULLAKU

Malaj to resign The PS group will meet: “We demand the removal of the Minister of Finance and changes in the government” It was not easy yesterday to find a convinced supporter of Minister Malaj among the Socialist group, after the President of the Republic’s information in parliament. A vote of no confidence was taking shape. “The Minister of Finance must resign in light of the findings of this information,” said Socialist MP Hamdi Jupe yesterday, who had “sworn” that he would call for a motion two months earlier. P 5

In the districts, one police precinct director P 7

Durrës, the guard of the rail gate is in jail P 11

Yesterday, the first anniversary of the first private radio station, radio "KOHA", was celebrated. Journalists from all media outlets as well as from the diplomatic corps took part.

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