The Press and Information Office at the President's Office announces that yesterday, on 23.02.1995, the President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, signed the decree “On the issuance and distribution of privatization bonds (lekë)”. This decree thus marks the implementation of one of the most important points in the Government's program, concerning the mass privatization of the Albanian economy through securities and the transformation of a very large number of the Albanian population into owners or shareholders. Under this decree, all citizens with legal residence in a city who are 18 years of age or older will receive privatization bonds (lekë). They will use the privatization bonds to become shareholders, partners or owners in the commercial companies that will be created through the privatization of state enterprises. Participation in privatization will be voluntary and without any kind of preference. In order to uphold the principle of social equality in the privatization process, the decree stipulates that certain categories of citizens will not receive privatization bonds (lekë), namely those who have already benefited from the privatization of state enterprises carried out without an auction, from the “On Land” law, and from certain other legislative or sub-legislative acts. The decree assigns specific duties to the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Finance and other bodies to ensure the distribution of the privatization bonds as soon as possible. PRESS AND INFORMATION OFFICE AT THE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE Yesterday in the People's Assembly Intensive work on discussing draft laws in committees The parliamentary committees continued their work yesterday, discussing draft laws...

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Albania announced its decision yesterday morning regarding the request by the PS and PSD parliamentary groups to declare the “Law on Referendums” unconstitutional, ruling that their requests on this matter be rejected. The decision was announced yesterday after the matter had previously been examined in a public hearing on 28.12.1994 and 23.02.1995. After legally explaining the report, the president of this court, Mr. Rustem Gjata, said that the Constitutional Court had made its decision in various ways. What is the real reason for this delay? ANSWER: The examination of the case and the delivery of the decision have no connection whatsoever with the differing political positions that have been discussed so much. The hearing took place on 23 December 1994, and discussions began to reach a final conclusion; we had been prepared to do so in the first ten days of January. However, because one of our colleagues was very ill, the announcement of the decision was postponed by days and weeks until today. And, as you noticed today, he was physically absent, even though he had voted from the outset. We would have liked him to be here today. QUESTION: After the announcement of this decision, Paskal Milo, representative of the PSD parliamentary group, said that the decision was politicized. What would your comment be on this statement? ANSWER: It would be better to read our reasoning, ask Albanian or foreign legal experts, and you will not find a single politicized word, only strictly legal arguments, analysis and facts. I would also like to add that the court has never acted, and will never act, on the wishes of the parties; it will always rely on the legal analysis of the facts. NDREKE GJINI decision have no connection whatsoever with differing political positions - After the announcement of the decision, the president of the Constitutional Court, Mr. Rustem Gjata, spoke to “RD” about this matter: - QUESTION: Mr. President, is the long time that elapsed between the submission of the request by the PS and PSD parliamentary groups and the delivery of the decision related to this case, which has been interpreted...

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alfred Serreqi, welcomes the visit to Albania by the Greek Foreign Minister, Karolos Papulias. Yesterday, the Albanian minister received at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the ambassador of the Hellenic Republic, Kristos Caliqis, who conveyed the Greek foreign minister's wish to pay a visit to Albania on 13–15 March 1995. During the visit, Caliqis stressed, bilateral issues requiring resolution will be discussed. Foreign Minister Alfred Serreqi welcomed the message from his Greek counterpart Papulias, expressing, among other things, his confidence that the visit would help resolve the issues and normalize Albanian-Greek relations. ATSH

The head of the regional office of the European Union Observer Mission, based in Tirana, Mr. Bob Churcher, was in Tetovo on Wednesday. He held talks with Arber Xhaferi, chairman of the new Party for Democratic Prosperity, the Kosovo Information Center reports. Representatives of this party said that recent developments had demonstrated that pressure in Macedonia is constant, with the fundamental rights of Albanians being violated, including equal use of the language, education, etc. “The so-called democratic parliament always serves as a government mouthpiece, where the vote-counting machine triumphs rather than democratic standards. We play the role of decoration there, so we decided not to take part in its work. We will return when our demands have been met,” the statement from the new Party for Democratic Prosperity said. At the end of the statement, the party representatives stressed that Macedonian radicalism has no chauvinistic premises, whereas Albanian radicalism is humanist, and its nature should not be relativized.

Parliamentary committees continued their work yesterday, discussing draft laws that are expected to be examined soon in plenary sessions of the People’s Assembly. Thus, at the Legal Affairs Committee, in the presence of the President of the Court of Cassation, Zef Brozi, as well as representatives of the General Prosecutor’s Office, lecturers from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tirana, etc., discussions continued on the draft “Code of Criminal Procedure.” The deputies who spoke pointed out that Albanian jurists, specialists from the Ministry of Justice and lecturers in criminal procedure, as well as specialists from various fields at the Council of Europe, had contributed to drafting this proposal. Yesterday’s discussions focused on Chapter II of the draft, whose specific provisions define the functions of the prosecutor, the rights of the senior prosecutor, relations among prosecutors, and cases in which they may withdraw from or be replaced in specific cases, etc. Debate also took place in the standing parliamentary committee for industry, construction, etc., where Minister Engjell Dakli provided some explanations about the “Draft Labour Code,” which, after approval by the committees, is expected to be submitted for consideration in a plenary session of the People’s Assembly. The Finance and Economy Committee, after hearing explanations from Prof. Igor Tomes, a specialist at the World Bank, continued its discussion of the draft submitted by the Government on 22.11.1994 concerning “Supplementary pensions in the non-budgetary sector,” that is, for various private entities. This draft recognizes and guarantees them the right to an early pension or to a pension greater than that covered by compulsory social insurance. This law makes it possible to obtain supplementary pensions. Thus, anyone who wants a higher pension or wishes to retire earlier must contribute to private pension institutions, which will operate in full accordance with this law.

From the meeting of Albanian and Italian representatives on the progress of cooperation A working meeting between Albanian and Italian representatives on the progress of Italian-Albanian cooperation was held at the Italian Cooperation Offices in Rome. “The Albanian side asked the Italian side to speed up implementation of the urban electricity network projects, especially in the city of Tirana, so that they can become operational during the coming winter. The same request was made regarding implementation of the Bovilla project. Among the other projects, interventions in the healthcare sector were highlighted,” Viktor Kasimati, Director of the Directorate of Economic Relations with Foreign Countries at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who accompanied Foreign Minister Alfred Serreqi on his recent visit to Italy, told ATSH. “The Italian side expressed its willingness to help Albania, while pointing out that completing the relevant procedures requires a considerable amount of time,” said Kasimati, who headed the group of Albanian representatives at the meeting. The Italian-Albanian Cooperation Programme for the 1996–1998 period was also reconfirmed at the meeting. An Italian mission is expected to come to Albania during April to define this programme.

The Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr. Claus Vollers, expressed his condolences to the Albanian Foreign Minister, Mr Alfred Serreqi, over the tragic accident in Berat. The Ambassador, on behalf of the German Government and with the assistance of the German Red Cross, secured the most urgently needed medicines requested by the doctors at the Central Army Hospital for the seriously ill patients. These medicines were handed over to the doctors at this hospital on Monday, 20 February. Press Attaché GERALD WOLF

You decorated one another for loyalty and devotion to the PPSH, which forged the people’s violence and misery Mr Haxhi Lleshi, I wanted to ask you first whether you wrote the protest article yourself opposing the removal of the decorations of the cupola nomenklatura, published in “ZP” on 18 February 1995, or whether some scribbler from among those you used to keep wrote it for you? I ask because you, Mr Haxhi Lleshi, who signed off for 30 years on the dictator’s humiliations and crimes, no longer have the moral right to puff out your chest and boast about your heroism. For what you did in the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War, you truly deserve to have been a hero, as do many others today who did not have the misfortune, as you did, of taking the side of Enver Hoxha’s infamous policy of isolating and, tragically, massacring the Albanian people. Indeed, you sat for thirty years in the chair of the chairman of the infamous Presidium, called by you the People’s Assembly, like a silent “e,” a veritable mummy. Enver Hoxha was neither a fool nor a brute, but how could you, as a war hero, allow yourself to become a robot and, with your eyes closed and without hesitation, sign those inhuman laws, sign destruction and death? With your own hand, you, the war hero, signed for decades the execution orders for hundreds and hundreds of innocent people—you signed the laws of the dictatorship of the proletariat, signed the closure and isolation of Albania, signed the infamous Article 55 on agitation and propaganda that filled Albanian prisons and destroyed thousands of families; your cruel hand signed the class war that discriminated against and divided Albanians, splitting them into friends and enemies; your hand signed the most inhuman constitution in history; it signed the collectivization of agriculture, which left our peasant queuing for 200 g of milk. Your black signatures are innumerable—they cannot all be listed in one article, but it is worth saying that they were put down by the hand of a hero of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War called Haxhi Lleshi? You, Mr Haxhi Lleshi, who puff out your chest as an enemy of the occupying invader, why did you never once have the courage to oppose them from the beginning, like Sefjula Maleshova and his comrades, or later Tuk Jakova, as a war hero (Continued on page 2)

The Conference on Planning Activities between the Albanian Army and the American Army, held this day in Bonn, determined that 35 joint activities would be carried out during the three-month period from April to June of the coming year. The Conference on Planning Activities between the Albanian Army and the American Army, held this day in Bonn, determined that 35 joint activities would be carried out during the three-month period from April to June of the coming year, reports Colonel Akil Bubesi, Chief Coordinator on the American-Albanian military team at the Ministry of Defence. In addition to reciprocal visits, seminars and symposia on the topic of preparing troops for peacekeeping will have an important place. Activities concerning airspace management, computerization of the army, and the conception and drafting of basic programmes for troop training will also be coordinated. Bilateral military relations between Albania and the United States, which began in 1992, after the establishment of a democratic system in Albania, have intensified considerably in recent months, with the first bilateral exercise in southeastern Albania held at the end of last year, as well as the bilateral exercise under NATO auspices, “SAREX '95,” in January of this year. Meanwhile, official sources have announced that a bilateral exercise will take place in the first days of March. SOKOL OLLDASHI (ATSH)

Page 5 3 million ECU for infrastructure Page 4 Italy approaching elections Page 8

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Albania, composed of:

Arber Xhaferri: The intervention by the Macedonian police and state against U.T. deliberately heightens political and interethnic tensions in Macedonia Last night, Albanian political groups in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia discussed the situation created following the intervention by Macedonian forces against the University of Tetovo and the recent arrests of Albanian political activists and intellectuals. Regarding the conclusions adopted and the steps the Albanian political groups will take in the future, Mr. Arber Xhaferri, chairman of the PPD, emphasizes: The conclusions concerning the events at the University of Tetovo are shared, and it is unanimously stated that the police interventions, the violent interruption of the educational process, the killing of an innocent young man, the wounding of a large number of Albanian passers-by, and the arrest of the rector of the University of Tetovo, lecturers, intellectuals, citizens and Albanian political activists are reckless actions that heighten political tension and strain interethnic relations, with a tendency to further worsen the situation. All the Albanian political groups were present at the meeting, Mr. Xhaferri continued. These actions were viewed with concern at the meeting as a sign of the state's transformation into a police system, which not only spreads fear among the Albanian population but also demonstrates the crisis in every segment of society. In this way, the rule of law is weakened and a police state emerges, acting with aggression and brutality in order to amplify problems and fuel tensions and conflicts. The Albanian Political Group and the League of Albanian Women in Macedonia, aware of their great responsibility for the further development of events, call on citizens to express their opposition to violence, constant pressure and the denial of their rights in a civilized and peaceful manner. (Continued on page 2)

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Albania, composed of: 23.02.1995. The President of this Court, Mr Rustem Gjata, after legally substantiating the report, stated that the Constitutional Court had decided: of: Rustem Gjata — President Feti Gjilani — Vice-President Manol Konomi — Member Franc Jakova — Member Alfred Karamuço — Member Zija Vuci — Member Metush Saraçi — Member Veli Budo — Member Hilmi Dakli — Member with Drida Filto as secretary, on 28.12.1994 and 23.2.1995, examined in an open court hearing Case No. 15/4 on the docket, concerning: APPLICANTS: 1. The Parliamentary Group of the Socialist Party, absent. 2. The Parliamentary Group of the Social Democratic Party, represented by Messrs. Skender Gjinushi, chairman of this group, and Paskal Milo, member. SUBJECT Declaration of the unconstitutionality of Law No. 7866, dated 6.10.1994, “On the Referendum,” Article 2 of this law, as well as Decision No. 262, dated 10.10.1994, “On the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania” (Continued on page 2)