RECEIVING MR. ALEKSANDER STALJISKI — MR. BERISHA’S MEETING WITH THE BULGARIAN MINISTER OF DEFENSE Yesterday at the Presidential Office, Mr. Sali Berisha received Bulgaria’s Minister of Defense, Mr. Aleksandër Stalij ski. On this occasion, a friendly conversation was held. Also present at the reception were the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Albania, Mr. Zhulali, and Bulgaria’s ambassador to our country, Mr. Naumov.

MEETING OF BULGARIAN DEFENSE MINISTER ALEKSANDER STALJISKI WITH MR. TOMORR DOSTI Yesterday morning, Bulgaria’s Minister of Defense, Mr. Aleksandër Stalijski, paid a visit to the headquarters of the Democratic Party. The distinguished Bulgarian guest was received by the Democratic Party secretary, Mr. Tomorr Dosti. He was accompanied on this visit by the Minister of Defense, Mr. Safet Zhulali, and the Bulgarian Ambassador in Tirana. Mr. A. Stalijski conveyed to the DPA the greetings of the Bulgarian DP; at the same time, he also conveyed the warm greetings of the chairman of the Bulgarian DP, who is also the Speaker of the Bulgarian Assembly. The Bulgarian minister pointed out that Albania’s economic situation was in reality very difficult compared with Bulgaria’s, but on the other hand stressed that they were politically more consolidated than we were. Mr. Stalijski expressed his confidence that in Bulgaria, too, they would win a majority in parliament in the future, and that for this purpose they had created the Democratic Union. “I want to congratulate the Democratic Party of Albania on its sweeping victory in the political elections of March 22, a victory that any other party would aspire to.” For his part, Mr. Dosti expressed his pleasure that the Democratic Party had been visited by the defense minister of a party with the same outlook and, moreover, from a friendly country. The time has come for relations between our two countries to achieve new progress. We are grateful to you, and we will not forget how Bulgarian centers were the ones that provided shelter and created work opportunities for our patriots and national revivalists. The fact that one of the most powerful Albanian colonies existed in Sofia is a clear indication of the hospitality and love of the Bulgarian people for the Albanian people. Communism tried to attribute the friendship between our two peoples to the ideological systems that ruled in the respective countries. And I think this distorted the real image of the friendship between our two peoples. The Bulgarian minister thanked them for the reception and for the warm and frank conversation at the DPA headquarters. PRESS AND INFORMATION OFFICE OF THE DP.

— Address by Mr. E. Selami, chairman of the DPA, at the DP conference in Durrës — After a long struggle and a difficult revolution, the reorganization of the DP is a reasonable course linked to the future of our society, to the destiny of democracy and the country. The Democratic Party, having gone through a period of fierce political struggles since March 31, March 22, July 26 and other dramatic moments of the democratic revolution, had no time at all to attend to itself, to its own organization, since the whole aim of our society—and thus of the DP as well—was the overthrow of the communist system and the triumph of broad human democracy, the beginning of an era founded on the dimensions of universal freedom and justice. Thus, we now have the right to begin reorganizing the DP, because without a well-organized DP we cannot move forward or meet the new demands posed by the future of freedom and democracy in the country. Our party has taken responsibility for, and understood as its historic mission, leading reform in Albania, emerging from the crisis and stabilizing the country. For if the DP is not well organized, it will not be able to help the democratic government either. Therefore, the reorganization of the DP must be taken seriously by all its leaders, all its activists and all its people who want to take part in this reorganization. The organization of the Democratic Party must mark a new stage in Albania’s democratic development. Starting with sanctions, we must take a stand against profiteers, the corrupt, the incompetent, and compromised people. By pursuing social, family and other benefits, the DP has shown the people that we are committed to the end to fulfilling our promises of justice and integrity within our party, ... ... political [sections in] villages and neighborhoods must necessarily be areas where great poverty prevails; they should be enriched with new people, but this must not frighten us. Therefore, at the head of the se-ctions, intellectuals, people with broad vision, democratic thinking and a good reputation should be placed. In this new selec-tion, the work of sanctions must be directed toward bringing into the DP those who have supported the DP but who, through our fault, have not been drawn into its activities. This reorganization, vital as it is, calls for seriousness, creative thinking and honest commitment. The sections must be freed from formalism in their work; they must be open and rid themselves of elements who, for many reasons, do not deserve to be DP members, since this only damages the DP’s standing among the people. This activity consolidates it and frees it from artificial obstacles of the adventurer type, people of the road with a neo-communist spirit. The reorganization of the Democratic Party marks a stand must be taken ... ... This vital organization requires seriousness and creative thinking, as well as the people. In these elections, this would also serve their work. In reorganizing the Democratic Party and in all the propaganda directed toward this goal, it must be borne in mind that we have a historic responsibility for stabilizing the country, for the success of reform, and for fighting corruption, favoritism and nepotism. We have fought for pure human ideals; we have fought in the streets under the flag of freedom for everyone. The difficult situation in the country and the great poverty may frighten us, but this must not discourage us. We must view things with optimism for the future, so that we go to the people and share the difficulties with them. Many countries overcame this situation after the Second World War—Italy and others—but they overcame it with optimism, work and determination. Therefore, in these new elections we must be more optimistic, not see everything through dark glasses, and not expect help from abroad for everything. Today the DP must work carefully on selecting its cadres, and its elected representatives must also contribute more to organizing the DP. neo-communist spirit.

DEBATE Reform, if we may put it figuratively, is a large mechanism with many components; for it to work well, all these components must be put into operation, otherwise there will be breakdowns. One of these components, and among the most important, is the privatization of state property. When Mr. Meksi’s government came to power, instead of beginning immediate privatization, it suspended this process, citing the need to improve the existing legislation. With a negative budget that it inherited and an economy it carried on its back, suffocated, privatization was oxygen for someone lying on their deathbed; it was money for the state’s empty coffers, production for the country’s hungry market, and competition to bring prices down. The experience of Thatcher’s England and Gortari’s Mexico had shown that privatization ... generally, i.e. also the part concerning major repairs, is not being considered here; in this case, it is presumed that the cost of major repairs is borne by the lessor (the general rule)! This is the second discovery. I would ask the authors of this instruction: are they familiar with the condition of the properties to be privatized? If not, that is even worse and proves how far they are from the ground realities. If they are, why have they worded the instruction this way, when it is known that in every property the electrical, mechanical and construction systems have been damaged; doors, windows, roofs and everything else are missing; the machinery has not been overhauled; and all these expenses are assigned to this party. Do you really believe that the enterprise will lease out the property after carrying out these works? But where is there an enterprise today, where are the workers, and, above all, where are the materials needed to carry out these works? ... [the article text is cut off at the upper and side edges of the image; the partially visible words are illegible] ... our Government, in our life, in our future, in our life. ... a high percentage of unemployment, which has risen from 20 to 45 percent, depending on the branches of the economy and actual consumption. The authorities would follow this logic even in the opposite case, that is, leasing; this would be half the problem. Let us refer to the instruction on this matter, which states: “Taxation, unlike the case when a fixed asset is sold, for leasing the rate to be taken is ...” The second paradox A price index has been calculated that increases the value calculated above by three times. Now I want to stress that some time ago the option of distributing securities for the privatization of property was also discussed, whereas today you are asking the people to pay even for value that this property never had. If you are demanding this as a result of inflation, which was caused by all governments, why are you placing the burden on the buyer? As for the index, you can raise these values as much as you like for foreigners, because you know this people’s economic strength well. And then, how do you expect the Albanian buyer to pay, when the path to credit is currently closed to him, and even credit at an interest rate of 35 to 40 percent is unaffordable for anyone except foreigners, who through the auction will become the owners of the e- (Continued on page 2)

Interview with Mr. Ylljet Aliçka (Butka), director of the School Textbook Publishing House. Question: Mr. Ylljet, many discussions and concerns have arisen in public opinion, especially among teachers, about the shortage of many school textbooks. Can you briefly inform us about the actual situation? Answer: This year schools need 220 book titles: 90 for the eight-year school, 230 for secondary school and 20 for minorities. Of these, 163 titles have been contracted with our printing houses, including 48 for eight-year education. Of these contracted textbooks for the Minorities, about 60 titles have been published to date. Of the 165 titles still outstanding, 24 titles for mass education have been sent by the Ministry of Education to be printed in Macedonia, 22 in Italy and 6 in Greece. A large number have been sent to several other countries. Question: In the face of this situation, which seems to be worse than last year, what is the cause, and what responsibility does the School Textbook Publishing House bear? Answer: The causes are mainly objective, but there are quite a few that are subjective, and the latter fall within the remit of the SHBLSH. First of all, for a Publishing House to function, the work at our printing houses is essential; these are the main ones, yet they have suffered from a shortage of printing capacity. Work there began in March and has continued until today. Work there began in March and, given their capacity, by the end of August they had managed to contract about 40 percent of our needs. Nevertheless, it appears that the shortfall in these supplies is largely being made up through preparation, and many more textbooks will be printed at our printing houses, though their deadline ... As for the responsibility of the SHBLSH, our duty is to write and prepare school textbooks for printing (new editions, revisions and reprints) in accordance with the programs approved by the Ministry of Education. Despite the difficulties that arose, we have fully carried out this task, or the remaining part within the proper timeframe. Question: And what is the subjective cause? Answer: We believe this situation was not unknown and there was no reason for it to come completely unexpectedly. This should have been taken into account when planning the work with the printing houses; the most rational solution would have been to secure paper in the country, that is, to seek assistance from foreign countries not to print the textbooks—a process that is quite costly—but to supply paper. The same applies to the way the textbooks were sent abroad. Despite the good intentions, they were distributed without any kind of security or planning. And according to the information we have, printing the textbooks has not yet begun. Among these titles sent abroad, there are some so polished that the SHBLSH would need much more time to reconceptualize them if they did not come into our hands. There have also been cases where specific textbooks were given to foreigners who left without providing an address and have sent no kind of reply. Some textbooks may then arrive printed a year late; the texts cannot be repeated, as in the case of Biology 5 (5 came from the USA), etc. The lack of a clear forward plan, as well as the absence of long- and short-term programs, has meant that things have proceeded more “according to the emotions of the day” than through appropriate solutions at the right time. For example, the programs for the new textbooks for this year arrived only a few days ago, which has hindered teachers’ preparatory work. There are concerns that this situation may be repeated with next school year’s textbooks, since the SHBLSH has still not received the publication schedule for the 1993–1994 school year (it should arrive in May), nor any program for new textbooks. These are major problems that are directly or indirectly connected with ...

— The last communist leader in Eastern Europe also faces trial — At last, the former First Secretary of the PPSH after Enver Hoxha’s death, and former President of Albania, nominated by the Socialist Party, has been placed under house arrest, because criminal proceedings have been initiated against him. It was absurd that almost all former members of the Political Bureau had been arrested, since the accusations of abuse and major misappropriation had been substantiated, while the head of that infamous Bureau was not among them. All the more so because, among those who abused and embezzled the people’s money, he held second place. But more important than the abuses and embezzlement by this caste of arrivistes, in the eyes of the people, are the accusations that ... genocide, responsibility for those young lives that were lost as they tried to go abroad to secure a crust of bread; the odyssey of the political killings of April 2 in Shkodër may also be clarified better, because under the dictatorship it was impossible for actions of such importance to be carried out without authorization, or at least without the knowledge of, or without subsequent notification to, the top of the pyramid. And that top was occupied only by Ramiz Alia. With the arrest of former President Alia, anyone can be convinced that the rule-of-law state we want to build is beginning to function, because no one—not even the prime minister—can protect you if you have violated the laws of the state— (Continued on page 4)

The discovery or the first paradox