In recent days, relations between Albania and Greece underwent an immediate change and became tense after the Public Order authorities of the Gjirokastër district expelled the Greek citizen Krisostomos Maidoni, who was in Albania as a visiting priest without the necessary documents and had openly made threats for a long time and shouted slogans while displaying maps showing Southern Albania as part of Greece. He had preached religious division himself, attacking the Pope of the Vatican as well as the Islamic faith. The Greek Consul General in Gjirokastër was officially notified of the expulsion of this Greek citizen. But instead of requesting the necessary information about this visiting priest’s illegal anti-Albanian activity and distancing itself from that activity, the Greek government, in retaliation, immediately undertook a series of steps that at once heightened tension between the two countries: 1. The planned visits to Albania by the Greek Minister of Economy, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defence were cancelled. 2. The police operation “Broom” began, for the immediate mass expulsion, without warning, of Albanian emigrants employed in Greece, whose employment was to be legalised as had been agreed at intergovernmental meetings. Within one week, 20,981 Albanian emigrants were expelled, 3,401 of them holding valid documents and visas. Operation “Broom” was characterised by the use of physical violence (453 injured, 4 seriously), mass imprisonment, and the looting of savings, etc.… …and clearly demonstrate the EC’s serious commitment to Albania. The main aim of all the meetings was to reorient EC assistance in line with the phase of our economic reform, namely structural development and development projects. Their outcome was very positive, since the substantial assistance that the EC intends to give Albania was reaffirmed, always within the framework of support for a serious programme, with detailed deadlines and specific reform measures to be undertaken by the Albanian Government. Thus, the EC will continue its support with food aid during 1994 as well. After the disbursement of the second tranche of 35 million ECU of support (Continued on page 4) See page 4

— Interview with the Chairman of the Democratic Party and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the People’s Assembly, Mr Eduard Selami, by the newspaper’s editor M. Bugpapaj — …at risk of the great danger of war. But this is all the more reason for Albania to be helped. And we also made use of our presence at the EC in this regard. There is a common view that Albania will become a full member of the Council of Europe at the beginning of 1994. The delays are due only to bureaucratic procedures, since none of the appointed rapporteurs has serious objections concerning Albania and it meets the democratic criteria. In this respect, Albania took another step towards membership of the EC. As regards economic aid, we can say that this was the first time a session of the Council of Europe discussed this issue. This was an initiative of the economic committee of that institution, whose members had been to Albania. They were deeply moved by how poor and undeveloped Albania was, but also by “its conduct and the rapid steps it was taking towards democracy”. Albania was discussed at length during the session, and the report presented was well deserved. The atmosphere there was very positive towards helping Albania, based on these main arguments: First, Albania is a country with a very delicate situation in the region. Second, Albania is a European country that is far behind and should therefore be helped as soon as possible so that it can become an example. Third, Albania is a country with great material and human resources. Following this Council of Europe report, there was extensive discussion among those present, all of whom agreed that Albania should be helped. This provides a political guarantee for European and global investment and is of great importance to us, since it will intensify assistance to our country. 2. You raised at the EC the issue of the unjust return of Albanian refugees by the Greek government. How did the Council of Europe judge this position? — The issue of the Greek Government’s return of refugees, or the Greek problem as it has been called, was very delicate for us. While there, I had regular working contacts with the President, the Prime Minister and the President of Parliament, and we raised awareness among public opinion. We had a special meeting with Mr Martinez, and I explained to him that what is happening is unacceptable to Albania. Greece must not pursue this discriminatory policy. Greece is behaving like an inhospitable neighbour. Here in Europe it behaves like a European country, whereas in the Balkans it acts according to the harsh laws of revenge and intolerance, which will create many problems. Therefore, the unjust return of Albanian refugees by the Greek government must be stopped as soon as possible. There was understanding regarding the points I put forward. Mr Martinez was convinced that what Greece was doing was impermissible and intolerable. Mr Martinez stressed that, in connection with this issue, he would use all his influence and try to ensure that it was stopped. As for the persecution of Albanian refugees by Greece, even the United States has not supported what Greece is doing to Albanian refugees. Our biggest concern is also the plenary sessions. There was a very positive response there, which was applauded. In fact, the rapporteurs not only called on Greece to stop this, but asked the Council of Europe and the European Community to hold Greece accountable for the destabilising policy it is pursuing. The Balkans already have many serious problems, and Greece should not be a destabilising factor. At present Albania has special guest status at the Council of Europe, which is a step towards obtaining full status in this important institution of European democracy. Around 31 countries are currently members of the Council of Europe. Albania has a delegation at the Council of Europe that attends plenary sessions and discusses the various issues concerning Albania. In practice, this delegation is focused on working towards Albania’s earliest possible membership of this institution. These days, an Albanian delegation was present there, including Mr E.lami, Chairman of the Democratic Party and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the People’s Assembly. Regarding the delegation’s results and the current situation in the country, Mr Selami gave this interview. 1. What was special about this latest meeting at the EC, and what was concretely achieved concerning Albania’s membership in this democratic institution? The special feature of this meeting was that, this time, the Council of Europe held a session on Albania. On this occasion, we had three important issues to address. The first, and perennial, issue was Albania’s full membership of the Council of Europe. The second was aid to Albania (this was discussed at a special session at the EC). The third was the return of Albanian refugees from Greece and the issue of membership. This time Albania made greater progress at the EC, because the committees set dates for Albania’s membership process. These were the Political Committee, the Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, the Committee on Countries that are not members of the Council of Europe, and the committee of rapporteurs. All these committees set a date—the most important date—and it would be Albania’s day, when they would submit their reports and examine Albania’s situation in concrete terms. This was also noted by the authorities of this international institution. They greatly appreciated what Albania has done. Albania has been taken as a model on many issues. At a meeting with the Ukrainian delegation, they told me that they had been told at the Council session that the Albanian delegation was working well, was responsible and intensive, and closely followed regional affairs and problems in Europe. This shows that work is being done in Albania to consolidate and guarantee democracy. Thus, the climate towards Albania is highly favourable. On the other hand…

— Europe will continue to help Albania — — Economic reform achievements praised — On 30 June and 1 July, a delegation of the Government of Albania, composed of Deputy Prime Minister Mr Bashkim Kopliku and Minister of Finance and Economy Mr Genc Ruli, paid an official visit to the Commission of the European Community. The delegation met with the Vice-Presidents of the Commission of the European Community, Messrs Henning Christophersen, Sir Leon Brittan and Hans van der Broek; with the Secretary-General of the Commission of the European Community, Mr William; with the Commission’s adviser, Mr Jack Delor, for Eastern European affairs, and with Zepter; and with several directorates-general of the EEC. At the beginning of the visit, the PHARE Indicative Programme 1993–94 was signed. On the Albanian side, it was signed by the Minister of Finance and Economy, Mr Genc Ruli, and on behalf of the Commission of the European Community by Vice-President Sir Leon Brittan. Under this programme, Albania will receive 30 million ECU (approximately 38 million USD), to be used to finance various projects, mainly in agriculture, private-sector development, health, etc. At the meeting, our delegation presented an account of the progress of economic reform to date, the main objectives of the Government’s medium-term programme, and Albania’s needs for foreign support. All the senior officials of the EEC acknowledged the unquestionably very positive achievements of economic reform in our country and clearly expressed the EC’s serious commitment to Albania. The main aim of all the meetings was to reorient EC assistance in line with the phase of our economic reform, namely structural development and development projects. Their outcome was very positive, since the substantial assistance that the EC intends to give Albania was reaffirmed, always within the framework of support for a serious programme, with detailed deadlines and specific reform measures to be undertaken by the Albanian Government. Thus, the EC will continue its support with food aid during 1994 as well. After the disbursement of the second tranche of 35 million ECU of support (Continued on page 4)

An appeal to the Greek Government by several Albanian intellectuals At a time when we were all expecting stronger multifaceted cooperation between our neighbouring countries, the events of recent days have struck our people like a sudden storm. The mass expulsion of Albanian emigrants and their mistreatment have caused great distress in our hearts. Among those of us writing these lines are people of the three religious faiths practised in Albania, all on equal terms. As intellectuals, we know well that the holy books preach peace, tolerance and love among people. The facts we are seeing and hearing testify to the opposite of what those books preach and what their followers believe. The least that can be said in this case is that the political and clerical forces leading today’s campaign of expulsion and violence against Albanian emigrants neither believe in God nor take the sacred teachings seriously. What is happening, and the way it is happening, makes us strongly suspect that the expulsion of a priest, against whom no violence of any kind was used, is a pretext to justify an entire campaign involving tens of thousands of people and families. We ask a simple question: what responsibility does each of the expelled emigrants bear? Why should each of them, after paying and living alongside Greek citizens and forming friendships with many of them, suddenly be treated brutally and thrown out despite having done nothing wrong? When Albania embarked on the path of democratic processes, we looked up to our southern neighbour for many things, especially two: its democratic order and the prosperity it had achieved. The tide of Albanian emigrants towards Greece was an eloquent expression of the esteem in which Albanians held Greek society. The emigrants began leaving out of necessity for closer ties. Government officials took advantage of the circumstances and expressed understanding of the difficulties that Albanian emigration to Greece had caused its own country. The work performed by the newcomers was also beneficial to Greece. Imagine how great the disappointment was when we saw that our neighbour, who should have served as a model of democracy for us, who had lived under dictatorship, was showing signs of blatant disregard for human rights. Was the experience of a parliamentary regime not enough to create a tolerant and democratic mentality among Greek citizens? For every intellectual and person with a pure heart, the idea of mass retaliation is unacceptable. The modern European concept is incompatible with judging an entire people collectively. It is true that there are bad and criminal individuals, just as there are good and generous ones. And these individuals may be Albanian or Greek. It would therefore be absurd to purge thousands of people using brutal methods only…

The 3rd and 4th of July this year will be remembered as the days of the first celebration in Albania. By decision of the democratic government and a parliamentary vote, two weeks ago the approval of 22 March was decided. This was precisely why the communist opposition council opposed the parliamentary decision! Nevertheless, what matters is that Albanian citizens celebrated the holiday together and spent all of yesterday marking the end of 47 years of dictatorship filled with campaigns, months of attacks and emulation charts. This time, Albanian citizens decided to forget their hardships and many troubles and, with their families at the beach or in nature, at a tourist resort or at a celebration, spent their day of rest joyfully and festively, in harmony. Perhaps many dining tables were not properly filled, many others were not filled at all; perhaps many parents found it difficult to fulfil their children’s wishes; but once again everyone together enjoyed the fulfilment and appreciation of their dreams and hopes. Our capital, Tirana, the prefectural centre, was … in Durrës, people strolled in the beautiful hills around the artificial lake. Many private business owners closed for these two days to rest. Many artisans and small traders left the pavements and pro-