— President Berisha received the BSPSH chairman, Mr. Xheka, at the head of a delegation The President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, received the BSPSH chairman, Mr. Valer Xheka, at the head of a delegation that also included representatives of the Bulqiza and Ballsh Oil trade unions. At this open meeting, the trade union delegation presented the President of the Republic with a series of problems. They asked the President for the issue of Bulqiza to be resolved through dialogue. On this matter (Continued on page 4)

— Statement by the Council of Ministers — The Council of Ministers met again to review the situation that has arisen in the city of Bulqiza and the chromium mines, where for months efforts have continued to halt production and ruin one of the country’s basic economic centers, one of its few sources of foreign currency, with the aim of harming the country’s economy, des- (Continued on page 4)

On the day before Christmas, thousands of Albanian citizens witnessed a political trick that dominated the Albanian parliament: the 38 deputies of the former communist party presented their legal motion against the new Albanian diplomacy, thereby carrying out the PS’s most anti-national act in its opposition to the Albanian nation. The circumstances in which this motion was presented speak for themselves: the facts reveal an anti-national scene carefully orchestrated by anti-Albanian circles. The PS, with its deputies and its press, filled the political void of the last three days with accusations and naive propaganda about November 29, openly commemorating the policy of chauvinist Belgrade. Wearing this propaganda as a mask, the PS entered the Albanian parliament on December 24 with an unmistakable blow—a coup d’état—to overturn every victory of democracy, and especially of our diplomacy, which has been highly successful during the months of the DP’s rule. Just 72 hours earlier, while the socialists were singing the praises of the Enver-Tito alliance of ’44, deliberately promoting November 29 and attacking November 28, Independence Day, the dictator of Europe, the chauvinist and sworn enemy of peace and Albanians, Slobodan Millosheviç, triumphed in Belgrade. It is precisely with his victory that the Albanian socialists are seeking political revenge. The scenario is the same as the plot for a coup while Gorbachev was in power in the summer of last year. Then, too, the former communists—socialists—rose up and began to act. Now they are staging the spectacular action of a political campaign to bring down the diplomacy and foreign minister of a democratic state. They delivered long speeches in the parliamentary session, trying at all costs to satisfy the injustice of abandoned peasants and to undermine the diplomacy of a democratic state just as it has been established and is beginning to operate. To demand its condemnation when, only a few hundred kilometers away, an anti-Albanian dictator is triumphing over nationalist thought, and when just 500 km away this dictator is sending more than 50 innocent lives to their graves every day, is nothing less than an extremely hostile and deeply anti-national act. The statement by the socialist group in its motion against the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Albanian diplomacy is exactly like the slander and propaganda that circles in Belgrade direct against us. The diplomatic axis the Albanian socialists claim to have found is nothing other than the dictatorial axis of Serbian chauvinism; it is nothing other than an attempt to replace it with an “Enver-style” policy, allied with the Serbs and the chauvinism of certain circles in the East. In the name of this socialist coup, deputy Bashkim Zeneli demands the extreme measure of the anti-Albanian plan: the resignation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Apparently, this man, whose father is said to have been an informer for the Serbs, was himself a persecutor of the people and an executioner of the dictatorship. It is not only November 29 and the attacks on Rugova; not only the doctored publication of the interview with our president about the bombing of Croatian military positions by the Serbs; not only the anti-government campaign and the noisy promotion of Millosheviç’s victories; not only the incitement of anti-government social tensions through the occupation of mines; not only the openly unconstitutional call for new parliamentary elections; but also the campaign of anti-national slander against our policy of openness, against joining the Islamic Assembly and contacts with NATO, and, finally, against our profoundly national diplomacy. This diplomacy, which acts through secret alliances with chauvinist, anti-national forces and socialist and pseudo-Albanian chauvinists, is being relentlessly targeted in an effort to bring down the democratic state in Albania. In every country in the world, an anti-national stance is unacceptable and punishable, all the more so in Albania, where, following the election victory of a Serbian criminal, the sons of criminals call for dictatorial nostalgia and a parliamentary coup. It is unforgivable and condemnable to deny the active and profoundly national policy pursued by our diplomacy since March 22, through which the Albanian issue has found a place at bilateral and the world’s most important diplomatic tables; Albania is recognized and helped by the world; presidents and prime ministers visit Tirana; distinguished diplomats lead the Albanian state; for the first time, Western, Eastern and Islamic political leaders recognize and welcome it as friends; and the voice of 6 million Albanians is heard and justly valued at the world’s most important diplomatic forums. It is unforgivable and condemnable that deeply anti-Albanian Serbian chauvinism, which kept Albania enslaved for 50 years, should find parliamentary support among certain political and parliamentary circles in Tirana—especially at this very moment, when the crowned dictator Millosheviç is declared unacceptable by the civilized world and Western diplomacy. Neither Albania today nor its future will ever accept this. The democracy we have begun to build will not allow itself to fall into the chains of the anti-national chauvinism of the social-communists, heirs of the Hoxha-Alia dictatorship. Albania belongs to Albanians and will remain so: a country of democracy and peace.

Discussion by deputy Tritan Shehu At the outset, I want to say that this motion cannot be a motion of confidence, since it does not meet the requirements of the regulations for one. Nevertheless, today the socialists are presenting a motion of confidence concerning the foreign policy of the Albanian Democratic Government. And this motion is being presented precisely now, when Albanian foreign policy is successfully overcoming the obstacles of the past, at the European, American and global levels. This inevitably makes one think about what it is really intended to achieve. Ironically, this motion is presented by the very people who, 50 years ago, supported Albania’s isolation, and whose writings left no stone unturned in attacking the European Community, the USA and the entire world. These are the very people who turned Albania into one huge bunker, with 900,000 smaller ones inside it. They are the very people who, in their articles and speeches, called us “anar dricues.” It is also deeply ironic that these same socialists are now blackening our foreign policy, after Europe threw their defeat on March 31 right back in their faces. We are all witnesses to what Nano came back with after his visit to Europe and England. It is also very strange that the same deputies who are now demanding transparency voted, after Nano’s visit to England, against the proposal that Mr. Nano inform Parliament about what he had achieved during the visit. All of this shows that the socialists have not abandoned their old nostalgia for the red axis of foreign policy—for the policy linked to 50 years of isolation and total support for Serbian policy, a thoroughly anti-national policy. The fact that these issues are being raised precisely today, when we are emerging from isolation, and the identity of those accusing us, clearly reveal the purpose of this accusation. It can only be intended to destabilize the end of isolation; at its core, the accusation contains the same anti-national aims as our 50-year policy did. As such, this accusation is entirely in line with the propaganda of the eternal masters of Albanian communism, with the Greater Serbian propaganda represented today by Millosheviç.

Remarks by MP Ibrahim Vasjari One of the areas in which the government is applying its program most successfully is undoubtedly foreign policy: Thanks to this policy, oriented toward and grounded in the interests of the Nation, and to democracy, Albania has finally emerged from the tower of its 50-year communist confinement, from that painful harakiri. One of the areas in which the government is applying its program most successfully is undoubtedly foreign policy. It is thanks to this policy, oriented toward and grounded in the interests of the Nation, and to democracy, that Albania has finally emerged from the tower of its 50-year communist confinement, from that painful harakiri. It is thanks to this policy that at last we are returning to ourselves; reclaiming our identity; returning to our traditions, our history, and our natural friends and allies, after a quixotic adventure along uncharted paths. are returning to Europe after a long escape to Siberia, China, Korea, and Cambodia. Naturally, it could not have been otherwise, because our foreign policy is an integral part of the program of a democratic government; it embodies, reflects, and protects Albania’s new political and social realities, brought about by the great upheaval resulting from the democratic process. I believe that Albania’s foreign policy has achieved a number of successes over these 7–8 months, specifically in the following areas: 1. Albania’s orientation toward the countries of Western Europe and the USA meant that, in every difficult situation, our country received political and economic support from the European Community and the USA; it also opened doors for Albania to join many important international forums. In this regard, President Berisha himself has played an important role through his very successful visits to Italy, Germany, England, the USA, and Saudi Arabia. Albania’s membership in the Islamic Conference, despite our opposition’s unrealistic and unconstructive stance, was a very astute and successful diplomatic move. It was a new opening that added a new dimension to our foreign policy. Religious ties are spiritual bonds that unite peoples; affirming and embodying them brings nothing but good. If Albania’s membership in the Islamic Conference troubled anyone, it was Greek-Slavic chauvinism and Orthodoxism. And this was to be expected. The voice of this chauvinism was heard even in the Albanian parliament. Unexpected and unjustified was the Socialist group’s support for the disguised anti- [Continued on page 4]

— Remarks by MP Tonin Alimehilli — Honorable Speaker, Honorable Members of Parliament and participants, In the view of the contributor of slogans on the national question, the motion against the foreign minister requested by PS MPs has nothing but an invariably ideological and Marxist underlying purpose. Mr. Serreqi’s responsibility clearly reflects the substance of foreign policy during the democratic government’s less-than-one-year term in office, as well as its outlook. The debate on foreign policy taking place today shows that our country has opposing currents and coalitions in the democratic order, which are trying to advance black platforms of denigration. Just as they do with Kataviçis (Poland), whom our progressive press and honest journalists should denounce, so that people can understand what Eastern socialism is, what strategy and tactics it pursues to survive, etc. The policy of continuity is an entirely new policy, which fails to understand what is new, what is called democratic; this policy is straightforward, sincere, and national, without ideological overlays. Therefore, either the Socialist coalition does not grasp the new era of international relations, or this modern and productive policy does not suit it; hence they rush forward with communist zeal to expose and undermine it. The socialist comrades accuse the government and Minister Serreqi of lacking an axis in foreign policy. We forget that the political axes of fanatical dictatorships, Nazism, and communism today have cost peoples—and the communists themselves—more than all of human history combined. Even shadows, movements, and spaces cannot be confined to an axis with two points, before and after, east and west. Since ancient times, humanity’s orientation has sought space in the north, south, east, and west. Democracy favors sincere ties, respecting international relations with all democratic states, without preferences or sympathies based on ideologies. Our government is showing commendable momentum in opening up to the world, to make up for the terrible isolation—amounting to ignorance—which Enver’s totalitarian system, and that of the new era of Ramiz Alia, imposed cynically and even through massacres at the border. Let us make a brief assessment of the foreign policy of 1991, when you socialist gentlemen were in power, and of the eight months of this year under the democratic government. In 1991, the main international activities consisted, up to 1 ni, of holding the secret meeting in Moscow, through Comrade Islami, whose outcome is still unknown today. [Continued on page 4]