Socialists’ message for the local elections: TO WIN 50 PER CENT OR MORE! Although Albanian socialists (the former PPSH, taken up anew) have long been proclaiming that they have ties with this or that European left-wing party, reality shows that only the Italian Socialist Party sent a representative. Could it be that the others were not invited, or are they still making the mistake of calling them former Communists?! Let us not forget the Socialist Party of Hungary, because it is like a twin of our PS. In other words, it has only changed its name. The same goes for the Socialist Party of Bulgaria, which sent its delegates. PASOK is an exception, with whom our socialists have good relations. So where did all that noise about the PS’s international prestige go, when people were demolishing houses and coming? Because the congress was held at a time when Prof. Dr. Sali Berisha, former chairman of the PD and now President of Albania, was received by George Bush. But let us return to an analysis of the report and the discussions on the first day, because on the second day the congress doors were closed in order to win. In the report of the uncompromising chairman, [there was talk of] young socialists with contemporary convictions. But this voice, it seems, was lost in the wilderness, since Mr. Nano was once again elected chairman of this new party with such an old legacy. This was also evident in the way the report was drafted, as well as in the discussions of some leaders, who categorically opposed the reforms of the Democratic Party. Apparently, all they want is a party representing a new monism, a dictatorship of the day; one person even went so far as to call the PD a fascist party. The question is: why? Because it wants to build a market economy, because it is abolishing the 80-percent levy administratively, because it is removing socialists from leadership positions, some of them incompetent, because it is pursuing an open-door policy (read: doors flung wide open), because it is lowering our dignity and asking for aid around the world. (!) We would agree with any critic if, alongside its objections, the PS also offered ways for Albania to emerge from the difficulties into which the PPSH-PS plunged it, leaving it with an uncompromising debt, young socialists with contemporary convictions. Thus the world. (!) with a debt of ... through some private firm directed by Sali Berisha, Eduard Selami, Azem Hajdari, Blerim Çela or Aleksandër Meksi. And not because they are unable or do not know how, but because they love Albania more. The socialists, on the other hand, want and take pleasure in its misery so they can benefit from people’s disappointment. The reason? One speaker said it clearly: local power controls directors and appointments, so that our people can hold these positions. In other words, look after their people, not Albania’s development in other directions, so that ... At the Congress, the defeat of 22 March was passed over in complete silence. At a time when it had been in power and the PPSH had won the elections a year earlier, securing a parliamentary majority under Mr. Nano’s leadership, the PS, daughter of the PPSH, failed to win even 30 percent of the electorate. Anyone with a little logic can see this as a major defeat. The Republicans, too, saw their loss as a defeat, although they had never held power as Communists. Nevertheless, so that the blame would not fall on the leadership and its prestige would remain untouched, they dared ... to call even the result they achieved a success, as if socialists were governing Albania today! And in the name of the people’s great “disappointment” with the PD’s promises, the expected result of the new elections was almost called a victory. They forget that even if people notice favoritism or a mistake in the appointment of some official, they have no reason, as the proverb says, to “go to bed with the miller’s wife out of spite for their mother-in-law,” because they have already tried Communist-socialist rulers for 50 years. Those who are wavering may give them their vote. Democracy needs the votes of true democrats and honest people. They rightly appreciate all the great efforts being made to get Albania back on its feet, little by little. But it cannot be raised up, as the socialists propose, solely through a special, close friendship with Italy, Turkey and Greece. We have no objection to deepening cooperation with these countries. But we must not forget the USA and other countries, which are helping us and should continue to help us. Otherwise, we would be following the same mindset cultivated by the PPSH. We do not understand what Mr. Nano finds wrong with cooperation with the USA; or why this democratic country cannot accept Albania’s PS as a European socialist party—because it is not one. This was shown by the fact that delegations did not come from Europe itself, or even from the Socialist International. Gentlemen, they know what you are. congress doors were closed to challenge itself. In the report we did not hear the name of Enver Hoxha and his clique even once, not even in a positive light. For, for better or worse, Mr. Nano is unquestionably Mrs. Hoxha’s faithful pupil, appointed prime minister by Mr. Ramiz Alia and later made chairman of the PS, just as the PPSH went to bed with its old name and awoke with the name PS. Someone may say there is no need to dwell so much on the past. That is not so. It is a past that set us back by centuries and involved so many monstrous crimes. To hold a party’s first congress and not mention at all the legacy of the mother from which it was born means that you still feel nostalgia for it; that you have not made it truly popular and international, and that in your heart and soul you still preserve the idol of Enver and his infamous era. And yet, the delegate from the Italian Socialist Party took it to be a wholly Socialist Party of Albania. Apparently this gentleman may not have known that, among the 12 members of the congress presidium, Mr. Nano, Mr. Spiro Dede, Mr. Gramoz Ruçi, Mr. Namik Dokle and even Mr. Servet Pëllumbi had been important officials or darlings of the Hoxha family, who faithfully carried out the proverbial service: “The king is dead, long live the king.” And for this alone, they deceive us with others—young, genuine socialists. I would remind the two Euro-socialists of the socialist ideal: at the congress they spoke emphatically against the senior PPSH officials being elected again, those people accustomed to sitting only in high chairs, when the PS has a— I a debt of more than 500 million dollars. Because, as Marxism-Leninism taught us, when you negate something, you must also affirm something. Otherwise you fall into nihilism, as Mr. Nano and his party have now done. Not a single idea is offered about how the 80-percent levy could be removed; they only say that it is being removed administratively. It seems to me it is being removed in the same way it was imposed, by the very same means. What is wrong with removing it—or keeping it? But the aim is only to deny what is new and progressive. If possible, to confuse people as much as possible and prolong Albania’s stagnation for as long as possible. At a time when even the socialists, if they were true Albanians, should be interested in finding the best solutions, they rejoice at the people’s great disappointment, as they all said at the congress, in order to win as many votes as possible in the local elections. Indeed, Mr. Nano proclaimed that they aim to win 50 percent of the candidacies for heads of communes and municipalities. Someone described this sort of ambition as 70 percent! Let them win if the people want them to—but not by rejoicing in “disappointment”; they should offer concrete alternatives for development. But they have none, because they were not capable of coming up with them when they were in power. There is one thing they do well: pursuing their own personal gain, like the former Bllokmen and their successors in the government of stability, who rushed into private-profit trading. Do not forget that a private firm took root and was established in the former “Enver Hoxha” museum, with Mr. Spiro Dede as its director. Well, we do not know— ...would emerge from the difficulties into which the PPSH-PS led it, leaving it with a debt of more than 500 million dollars. Because when you deny, as Marxism-Leninism taught us, you must also affirm. party have now done. There is not a single idea about how the 80 percent can be eliminated; all we are told is that introduced. Where does the problem lie—in removing it or in keeping it? But the only aim is confuse people as much as possible so that Albania’s agony can continue the socialists, if they were true Albanians, should have been people’s great disillusionment—as we all said at the congress—in local elections. Indeed, together with Mr. Nano, they proclaimed that they aim to win 50 percent of their candidates for heads of communes and municipalities. Someone of this ilk calls it to; but not by rejoicing in “disillusionment”—rather, by offering held power. There is one thing they do well, though: looking after their own personal gains, like the former block members into business to pursue private profits. Do not forget that a private company do not know—

At the gathering called, speciously, the First Congress of the Socialist Party of Albania, Nano in many respects reminded us of the theatrical and grotesque stances and poses of the notorious former dictator, presenting himself as a political scientist and architect of a new socialist economy, of foreign policy, alliances and alignments, and of numerous maneuvers involving categorical affirmations and denials in the name of Albania’s patriotism, independence and sovereignty. And it is now known throughout the world how much the party he inherited from Enver Hoxha, Ramiz Alia and others—including himself—has “contributed” to calling the existence of the homeland and the nation into question. Nano could not utter a single word about the deeds and calamities of Enver Hoxha and his anti-national clique. He does not have the heart to. This is understandable. He is completely dominated by the shadow of the dead dictator, even in his expressions and ideas, which he has borrowed from him faithfully, with Communist loyalty and equally perverse, destructive aims. Democracy’s first great victory in Albania was its liberation from the gigantic prison of barbed wire, its opening to the world without prejudice, and the end of Albanians’ forced confinement within the hellish prison of Communism. Nano is trying to smear this achievement. At the Congress, among other things, he declared: “We condemned the policy of self-isolation, but that does not mean that Albania should become a bridge or prey to the dictates of others.” We support “the open-door policy”—open, not “the policy of doors being slammed.” Just like Enver Hoxha once did, when, to justify Albania’s complete and tragic isolation, he declared that he would not “eat the doors” to let “the boar and the sow, with or without underpants” enter here. In this way, Nano stigmatizes Albania’s vital, constructive policy of opening up to the world with the old vocabulary and mindset that Albania rejected along with the dictatorship. Like Enver Hoxha, Nano exploits our people’s sacred patriotic feelings. Plenty of original examples of such positions can be found in the archives of National Socialist ideology—or, more plainly, Nazi ideology—which the Communist regime embraced zealously. By attributing all sorts of unrealistic and denigrating characteristics to the foreign policy of the democratic Albanian state, Nano, among other things, presents as a persuasive argument the view that “Greece’s, Turkey’s and other states’ ‘noes’ and ‘surprises’ in recognizing the Republic of Kosovo show that our foreign policy is dominated not by realism, but by amateurish passions.” Nano forgets that the democratic Albanian state pursues its own independent policy and, while respecting and defending national interests, also takes account of others’ positions, without ever disregarding the interests of the outside world. He is the navel of the world and would impose his positions on it or rain down on it curses, spitting like a thug. He wants to drive wedges between Albania and its friends by weaving imaginary alliances according to his own appetites—and perhaps those of his socialist allies in the North. What does it mean to be a realist according to Nano? How should one avoid being an amateur and a zealot in politics? If recognizing the Republic of Kosovo is deemed so, then the opposite—that is, not recognizing it—would seem to be realistic, professional and prudent! Could one offer the age-old enemies of the Albanian nation, the chauvinists of Belgrade, any better service? Would that not be like stabbing our brothers of the same blood in Kosovo and the other Albanian lands in Yugoslavia in the back? Enver buried the national question, the Kosovo issue. Nano maneuvers just like him, but ultimately provides the same dark services in practice. Whether he does so consciously, for party maneuvering, out of political naivety, in continuation of an obsession, to repay a debt, or for some other reason—whatever the case, the final result does not change. Fatos Nano is the man who, when he was prime minister, failed disgracefully in his affairs abroad; foreign policy and the prospect of Albania’s successful integration into the civilized world apparently troubled him. In any case, he has no moral or professional right to accuse democracy or to fire poisoned, venomous arrows at it. The people say, “You reap what you sow.” No one is to blame but Nano for his harvest, for his plans were not carried out. He must look for responsibility in the genes that inspire his party’s politics and ideology, and in those that shape him as its leader. He cannot fill his empty, hollow words with irresponsible positions and political speculation, serving them up to us as a blessing. Democracy gives Nano the right to take whatever position he wishes. But regardless of his ambitions and desires, it also gives the Albanian government, elected lawfully and democratically, the right to consistently pursue its policy of good neighborly relations with all Balkan countries without exception, to defend the interests of the Albanian people and nation, and continually to add friends to Albania everywhere in the world. The democratic government has finally cured you of the isolated Communist council, Mr. Chairman of the PP(S). You may have your nostalgia. You have the right to dream of the lost paradise. This is a misfortune for you and the party you lead. The Albanian people cannot share in this misfortune, nor offer you the customary condolences. Face this too as the Communists did, turning it back into strength—even if Enver taught you to do so.

On Saturday morning, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Aleksander Meksi, the Council of Ministers met to consider and approve a package of decisions concerning the start of economic reform and to pave the way for cooperation agreements with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Community. The decision changing postal and telecommunications service tariffs provides for these tariffs to be doubled for the public, while for other users they will rise 3.5 times (postal tariffs) and 1.5 times (telecommunications tariffs). Under the decision changing the retail price of electricity, the price for non-household users rises from 0.6 to 1.2 lekë per kilowatt-hour. The price of electricity for the public remains unchanged. Retail prices for fuels, lubricating oils and other petroleum products are also changing. A list of the products is attached to the decision. Thus, 45–50 octane petrol will cost 12 lekë per litre, 65–70 octane petrol 18 lekë, 96 octane petrol 40 lekë, gasoil 12 lekë per litre, and so on. Other by-products, such as oil, grease, alcohol, etc., will rise by about two times. The price of kerosene for the population will not change. The decision “On the introduction of certain measures of the economic reform programme” concerns a very important step in economic reform: liberalizing monetary and foreign-exchange policy and foreign trade. Under this decision, interest rates on bank deposits and loans will change in response to inflation trends and market requirements; a free system of exchange rates for foreign currencies will be applied on the basis of daily quotations on the foreign-exchange market. This foreign-exchange policy is directed by the Bank of Albania. The same decision makes the liberalization of the foreign-trade regime official. Under it, licences and quantitative controls will be removed for most export goods. The only exceptions are food products included in the category of food aid from abroad, and certain goods of particular importance. Import restrictions and licences will be removed, except for goods related to the country’s security interests and environmental protection; the monopoly of all state bodies in foreign trade will be abolished. These decisions will enter into force on 1 July 1992. The government then approved the draft law introducing several amendments to the law “On the sanctioning and protection of private property, free enterprise, private activities and privatization.” It was stated at the meeting that international practice and experience, as well as the need to encourage privatization in the economy, have demonstrated the need for a new, more comprehensive and more suitable law. Work on drafting it is being carried out in cooperation with experts from the European Community. In the meantime, the amendments proposed in the draft law aim to resolve several problems revealed by experience to date and to give impetus to the privatization and investment process. The main proposed change concerns the allocation of land for construction to domestic and foreign natural and legal persons. The draft law provides that domestic natural and legal persons will have the right to resell plots of land. For foreign natural and legal persons, land for construction will be leased for a term of up to 99 years, instead of the previous 49. The sale of land for construction to foreign natural and legal persons will begin once the relevant legislation on sales procedures has been completed. The draft law lays down obligations to respect the purpose for which the land is obtained, construction deadlines, etc., as well as sanctions in cases where these are breached. The government then approved a decision on the criteria for valuing state property to be privatized and setting rent levels for premises made available for use by third parties. These criteria are intended to ensure the fullest and most realistic valuation possible of state property that is sold or forms part of the capital of joint companies. The decision stipulates that this valuation will be based on accounting balance sheets and carried out by commissions to be established in state enterprises and institutions. State property will be sold by auction; the determined value of the state property to be privatized will be the minimum price at which the auction begins. Several other decisions were also approved at this meeting. Press and Information Directorate at the Council of Ministers.

On 22 June, the President of the Republic of Albania, Prof. Dr. Sali Berisha, received in separate meetings the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic, Jacques Faure, and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, William Hiller, accredited to the Republic of Albania, who presented their credentials. Foreign Minister Alfred Serreqi, Foreign Ministry director Artur Kuko and others attended the credential-presentation ceremonies. The ambassadors conveyed the diplomatic regards of the embassies of France and Great Britain.