The last eclipse of the millennium. Tomorrow, everyone will be looking up at the sky Curiosity gives way to fear for people’s eyes The last eclipse of the millennium. Tomorrow, everyone will be looking up at the sky Just 24 hours before Judgment Day Curiosity gives way to fear for people’s eyes page 8

Prime Minister Majko, at yesterday’s meeting with the heads of the munici...

Prime Minister Majko, at yesterday’s meeting with the heads of local government, did not spare criticism of their work, which is entirely normal, since they too bear some responsibility for some of the failures and for the destructive reality of citizens’ dissatisfaction. [At the upper edge, the words “Majko ...” are partially visible, and on the black strip below: “to the mayors”.] local government, did not spare criticism of their work, which is entirely normal, since they too bear some responsibility for some of the failures and for the destructive reality of citizens’ dissatisfaction. But more than these remarks, what Majko said yesterday that was undoubtedly of interest concerned cooperation between central and local government. In a way, given that local government is mainly in the hands of the opposition, cooperation between it and the government serves to encourage dialogue between the governing party and the opposition. In this context, however, granting local government as many powers as possible has a clear impact. The Prime Minister did indeed demand answers from the mayors concerning the shortcomings in their work, but these criticisms would have been more convincing and effective if the heads of local government had been freer from the tentacles of central government. The more powers local government has, the greater, naturally, the responsibilities of its leaders. As a result, stripped of arguments relating to a “lack of powers,” they are necessarily put in a position to act. Since local officials are closer to reality than government ministers and other senior officials, removing powers from the latter greatly reduces opportunities to abuse projects and unrealistic figures, thereby erecting a formidable barrier against dubious speculators or “tender specialists.” Perhaps, aware of all this, it was no coincidence that Majko also mentioned the need for a decentralization process, transferring even more powers to local government. The positive experience of successfully coping with the influx of people from Kosovo has surely also played a part here: local government bore the main burden, something the new government could not fail to notice. Among other things, decentralization of local government is also one of the demands made of the Albanian state by the international community. Furthermore, such a step taken by the head of the executive could be regarded as a positive response to the opposition’s recent moves, such as its return to parliament. But Majko may also have put forward the idea of decentralizing local government as a way to take away from many of his ministers one of their main weapons: corruption and other abuses. The fact is that the idea of transferring as many powers as possible to the local level is being raised at a time when accusations of corruption against government officials, from within and outside the country, have intensified more than ever. So yesterday Majko put forward the idea of removing the “leash” from the mayors, who until now had no say over investment in their municipalities, since it was managed by central government,

Politics page 3

[Photograph of a collapsed building and rubble; no inscription is visible in the photograph.]

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