- The President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, also attends - On Wednesday, 22 December, the inauguration ceremony of the National University Hospital Center for Traumatology-Orthopedics, established beside the Central Army Hospital in Tirana, took place, and was attended by the President of the Republic, Sali Berisha. He was accompanied by the Minister of Defense, Safet Zhulali, the Minister of Health, Tritan Shehu, the Minister of Education, Xhezair Teli, the Chief of the General Staff of the Army, Ilia Vasho, and doctors and specialists from the hospital. After some introductory information from Minister Shehu, President Berisha took the floor and described the establishment of this center as an important event, because it creates the necessary conditions for treating this serious pathology in Albania. He praised the center not only for its equipment and instruments, but first and foremost for the skilled doctors working there, as well as for the value of this healthcare institution as a teaching and specialization center. The center has 220 beds and, in terms of its services, will serve the entire country. Forty-five million lekë were spent on construction, stabilizing and ensuring the uninterrupted operation of the water network, the laundry, and the heating system. While visiting the prosthetics center, President Berisha stressed the need to continuously equip the center, and especially its workshop. At the meeting with the doctors at the end of his visit, the President emphasized, among other things, the support that should be given to skilled doctors and specialists. He said that it is not easy to be an outstanding specialist. In addition to personal investment, one must also face professional competition. Only special treatment of skilled doctors makes it possible to create a professional elite, so essential to the development of a nation. At the end, the director of the Central Army Hospital, Ilir Kajo, and the head of this center, Pëllumb Karagjozi, warmly thanked President Berisha for attending the inauguration. - ATSH -

«THREATENING THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC WITH MURDER IS A CALL FOR CIVIL WAR -» The platform of crime on the pages of «ZP» is being sought in every issue by Albanian society. The criminal movement of the dead idols, through «ZP», justified the barbaric murders, the concentration camps, and even the bunkering of Albania and its total isolation for 50 years of dictatorship by the PPSH; and it is being articulated with continuing fidelity to the deeds of blood and the killing of the Albanian nation through this same newspaper. The movement that says «ZP is a newspaper of crime and human terror» knows the reality. In every issue it calls for blood, revenge, or the physical elimination of Democrats. Things lie dormant at the «ZP» headquarters; they are not even published, as the editor-in-chief of «ZP», Thoma Gëllçi, tries to make us believe. Instead, there are Bolshevik communist bandits such as D. A.—when he calls, «Let us use every means to uproot the power of the PD»—gangsters of the former state regime who threaten civil war and even warn President Berisha himself of an assassination attempt, declaring that “there are also Avni Rustemë” (the article published under the signature Matohiti), or Nazi women, offspring of the criminal imagination of Hoxha - Shehu, like K. Islami, with their calls: “We will drag them along, we will crush the Democrats’ heads.” So whom does Thoma Gëllçi want to convince, and Gëllçi, that he is supposedly surrounded by arbitrariness and police arrogance?! Let the reader judge for himself what Mr. Gëllçi is seeking and what injustice he wants to inflict in Albania through their calls and their platform. Mr. Gëllçi, it is not the “PD”; it is you, Mr. Gëllçi, and your bosses who order these calls and platforms of dictatorship to be made against the Albanian people. This is freedom of the press for ... For all this, Mr. Gëllçi, you must answer before the law in a democratic state, since «ZP» has committed the offense of practicing terror and making threats. It is you, Mr. Gëllçi, who deceive Albanian public opinion, who defend corruption with 600 articles written to cover up thefts and Nano. It is you, Mr. Gëllçi, and the newspaper you direct, who have defended the corruption of the red parliamentarians. You, in «ZP», took 400,000 dollars just two years ago, funds received here from the party-state and deposited in «ZP»’s account. Mr. Gëllçi, it is «ZP» that was founded on the principles of crime and blood, revenge and deception, terror and Albanian persecution. Here you continue to carry out your sinister, anti-religious work by dragging things out and terrorizing Albanian society. Mr. Gëllçi, do you also call on the other newspapers of «ZP» to call for abuse of press freedom and to carry out a democratic assassination attempt? We will remind you with these facts that recently they showed ...? ... against human history, they have it in ...? ... to lead the country toward crime, corruption, hooliganism, and their terror.

The builder remains a builder, the burner a burner and destroyer... - From the speech by the Minister of Local Government, Mr. Rexhep Uka, in defense of the draft law “On the local budget” - Our membership in the family of European democracy can be achieved only by carrying out strong, measured and irreversible reform and restructuring. The calls to block local government have by now been exposed for what they are. It happens—and is not at all surprising—that those who unblocked the whole of society are accused of being blockers by the blockers themselves. It is not surprising that in the books of old history of Alexandria than who built it, but that does not at all mean that history loses sight of the latter. No: on the contrary, builders remain builders, and burners remain burners and destroyers. Within the hierarchical structures of autonomous local and central government, the councils of communes, municipalities and districts have—and are assuming—their exclusive responsibility for ever-larger parts of public life. - THE MONOPOLY IN THE FIELD OF PROPERTY - In the field of property and the rights pertaining to it, the state is no longer the sole owner of public assets. The legislation prepared has paved the way for local authorities, as legal persons, to have the capacity and legal rights to act within the framework of civil law. - THE FINANCIAL MONOPOLY -

- The President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, also attends - TIRANA: On 22 December, a consultation on the use of securities within the framework of the mass privatization program was held at the Prime Minister’s Office. Participants included the President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, Prime Minister Meksi, as well as ministers, deputies, representatives of political parties and local government, foreign consultants, and other experts. At the consultation, President Berisha pointed out that one of the fundamental objectives for the coming year is to begin using the securities system to carry out large-scale privatization of medium-sized and large enterprises. The President stressed that this process is vital to the fate of the reform and to accelerating Albania’s development; that is why we decided to convene this consultation, bringing together specialists, representatives of political parties, government officials, etc. With the use of securities in this process, which ensures that all Albanian citizens become owners, he continued, the government will fully adhere to the principles of a market economy. To this end, it is essential that every citizen benefit from the privatization process in some way, in return for the sweat they have shed up to now, and it is likewise essential that the following priorities be respected: First, compensation for former political prisoners and the politically persecuted. Second, compensation for former owners in the amount provided for by law. Third, priority should be given to those who did not benefit from housing privatization like everyone else, as well as to certain categories of the population threatened by poverty. The President went on to say that accelerating the process of using securities requires coordination among the Ministry of Finance, the Privatization Agency, and the State Bank. The diverse uses of securities and the integration of the Privatization Boards into this process are conditions for speeding up privatization in Albania. Prime Minister Meksi stressed that laws on property have been drafted, including the land law and the law on compensation for former owners, and that other laws still need to be prepared. The government, he continued, has also taken on the problem of those without housing as part of this program. They are entitled to compensation through securities, in proportion to their contribution to the enrichment of the national economy. A reasonable value will be proposed for these. Another category is e- (Continued on page 6)

On 22.12.1993, Mr. Selami had a private meeting with the distinguished figure in international politics, Mr. Zbignjev Bërzhinski. They discussed the latest developments in the situation in the region, and particularly in the former Yugoslavia; the ways and possibilities of finding a peaceful solution in Bosnia-Herzegovina; and the steps that should be taken to prevent conflict in Kosovo, which would pose a serious risk of conflict for the entire region. Mr. Bërzhinski expressed his highest regard and appreciation for the democratic developments in Albania, which, in his view, had been the greatest mystery of the communist dictatorships. They exchanged views on the possibility of the faster accession of several former communist countries, including Albania, to NATO, as a factor that would contribute to the security of post-Cold War Europe. On the same day, Mr. Selami met with Dr. Edwin Fulner, President of the Heritage Foundation and representative of the American Republican Party at the IDU (International Democratic Union). They discussed the relations between the PD and EDU and the International Democratic Union, as well as developments and the results of the PD National Assembly. They exchanged views on the progress of reform in Albania, the possibility of increasing contact between the parties of the International Democratic Union and the European Democratic Union, and the exchange of views on several recent political and economic developments in former communist countries. They discussed concrete ways and means of attracting foreign investors, particularly American investors, to Albania. Mr. Fulner greatly praised the progress and successes of reform in Albania, its democratic achievements, and the determination of the democratic government and President Berisha to advance the reform further. The meeting with Mr. Fulner was also attended by Albania’s ambassador to the US, Mr. Lublin Dilja. Press and Information Department of the PDSH

- The local government’s revenue base is strengthened - Given that the existing local taxes do not provide the local government with the financial resources it needs, and also taking into account the particular nature of certain types of activity, it was proposed, through the draft law “On an amendment to Law No. 7800, dated 3.3.1993, ‘On the Tax System in the Republic of Albania,’” that certain existing national taxes be transferred to the local level as local taxes, and that some new taxes also be introduced. It was precisely this draft law that was discussed and approved at the beginning of the last plenary session of 1993, on Saturday, 18 December. This law thus strengthens the local government’s revenue base. The taxes being transferred from national to local are: 1. Tax on the provision of medical, notarial and mortgage services. 2. Tax on the registration of various activities. 3. Registration tax for engaging in activities, local non-winning competitions and games of chance. The new local taxes will be: a tax on slaughtered livestock, at a fixed rate. The tax is 50 lekë per head of large livestock and 20 lekë per head of small livestock. 2. A tax on new construction, at a fixed rate of 5 lekë per m2 of exterior wall. 3. A sign tax for all shops, service premises, etc., which are required to hang a sign at their entrance. The tax is 500 lekë per year. Following this draft law, the draft law “On the ratification of the development credit agreement between the Republic of Albania and the International Development Association for the Social Insurance Network Development Project of Albania” was also approved. These are two loans worth 3.9 million SDR (approximately 5.4 USD), on terms and schedules according to IDA’s own standards. Full repayment of these low-interest loans will be made in instalments twice a year (the maximum interest on the instalments will be up to 2 per cent, and repayment will be completed in August 2033). After the clarification to the law “On Official Holidays” was also approved, Mrs. Arbnori declared that this session also marked the end of the People’s Assembly’s plenary work for this year, which had been both demanding and successful. The People’s Assembly will have a ten-week recess at the beginning of next year. Director of “ADN”

IT IS A GREAT PLEASURE AND SPIRITUAL JOY, IN THE NAME OF THE PD AND ON MY OWN BEHALF, TO WISH ALL THE FAITHFUL: «MERRY CHRISTMAS, AND MAY EACH YEAR BE BETTER THAN THE LAST»! E. SELAMI CHAIRMAN OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF ALBANIA THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE NEWSPAPER «RILINDJA DEMOKRATIKE» WISHES ALL THE FAITHFUL: «MERRY CHRISTMAS FOR MANY YEARS TO COME»!

- FINANCIAL MONOPOLY - There was a single (sole) state budget that also included all local budget revenues, but it was not possible to speak of financial policy at the local level. Under the new system, local authorities have their own financial resources and will receive state subsidies calculated according to objective criteria; as a result, they will become less and less financially dependent on the central budget, and will be able to implement and put into practice local policies that respond to the needs of the people. - ADMINISTRATION - The state administrative apparatus was one of the executors of the will and dictates of the center. The public bureaucracy was also a political power passed down by the communist state. Today, in Albania, there is public administration at the local level, and, naturally, municipal, city and district councils have their own exclusive structures. Independently of the state, they are able to implement their own policies through their own administration.

- FROM THE LAW “ON THE LOCAL BUDGET” - ARTICLE 6 The revenues of the independent local budget are made up of: a) Revenues from local sources, which include: - revenues from local taxes; - revenues from service fees; - revenues from activities, enterprises and institutions owned by local government; - revenues from fines imposed in the exercise of its powers; - revenues from active interest (interest on deposits held in banks). b) Revenues from the central budget, which include: - funding from the central budget; - revenues from the share of national taxes and duties that, by law, are assigned to local government. c) Revenues from aid and loans, which include: - revenues from assistance provided by humanitarian organizations, and those arising from relations established between local government bodies and their counterparts in various states; - loans of its own for investments, in accordance with the procedures established by law; - revenues from various contributions and sponsorships. The sources of revenue under this structure are determined by the relevant laws.

The unity of state power meant that the budget alone was the provider of power for every aspect of public life. The separation of powers did not exist. There was no place for an autonomous local administration in such a system. The sphere of local authorities was subordinate to implement their own policies through their own administration.