When speaking of the pace of reforms in Albania, or more precisely the pace of development, one must always define which political actors in Albanian politics embody that pace. Over the last four years, economic reform has been initiated and successfully led by the government that emerged from the Democratic Party. It has carried out a reform that encompasses the three elements of a free and democratic society: the realization of political freedom of thought, economic freedom, social care, and the integrating elements of this society with modern European and global trends. The democratic instruments of the rule of law have been established and the basis has been laid for secure development, preventing any backward turn and ensuring the pace that is so important in a reform that also anticipates social problems or political tensions. All this involvement of the government in reforms also shows an ability to carry out reforms. In other words, it can be said that the democratic forces, the Democratic Party, have mastered speed. It is now also the most trustworthy force that can withstand the demands of an Albania of the year 2000. It has secured a model capable of adapting to the currents of European development. Such adaptation cannot be ensured by inexperienced governments that, moreover, do not even know the normal planning of Europe’s pace. Why does the speed of development remain an attribute of the Democratic Party? The representatives of this party in parliament have made it possible to approve the main laws of political, economic, and institutional reform solely thanks to their determination. If they had not been clear and resolute, the progress of reform in parliament could not have been achieved. Various Albanian institutions such as the Presidency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, as well as the judicial institutions, have been permanently attacked by the Socialist opposition. It was the determination of these institutions to support and implement reforms that secured the results that remain a guarantee of the rapid pace of development and the only ones that can guarantee an Albania capable of Europe. The Democratic Party has foreseen these changes in its three programs and has also secured the necessary space for their implementation during the execution of the program. The Socialist Party, together with its representatives in parliament, has played the role of an inhibitor of reform. None of its initiatives as a party has been in favor of speed. During four years they have voted against 30 of the most fundamental laws that define the establishment of the legal state and capitalist economy. They have never criticized in order to increase the pace of development, but rather to turn it back. It is enough to recall their absolute opposition to reform in the field of division and privatization. The entire anti-creative opposition has been encountered only as opposition and as the destruction of an alternative. For four consecutive years they have justified themselves only by what they will gain from the government’s experience, thus politically strengthening the Albanian scene on merit. Their lack of readiness to engage in responsibility and to implement reform naturally makes them untrustworthy to lead this country, which will become different. The negative burden accumulated over four years will also be a burden for Albania’s future. They are not involved either in the management of a transitional state, nor have they even thought of why it threatens as a necessity to govern. By staying away from the speed of development, they have not secured the institutions of the future. An Albania of the 2000s cannot begin in 1991. It must begin at least now and at these rhythms or faster.

Meeting of the PD leadership On Saturday, the National Council of the Democratic Party will meet The completion of the activities of the branches of the Democratic Party and their results were at the center of the discussions held yesterday at the meeting of the PDSH leadership. The meeting reached the conclusion that the work carried out during this period has produced positive results and for this reason it once again insisted on strengthening the role of the sections, as well as on face-to-face work with the people. These will be precisely the issues that the National Council of the PDSH will discuss, for which yesterday the leadership decided to convene on Saturday at 10:00 in the Congress Palace.

Statement by the President's spokesman In yesterday's two newspapers, the vice-chairman of the Socialist Party, Servet Pëllumbi, described the inclusion in the delegation accompanying the President of the Republic on his official visit to China of the Socialist deputy Bashkim Zeneli as “not mandated by the PS”. The President's spokesman wishes to remind Mr. Pëllumbi that it has been, and remains, the President's practice to include members of parliament in official visits abroad, both from the majority and from the opposition. This is an expression of respect for the highest institution of Parliament as well as for that of the opposition. In previous trips, Socialist deputies such as Messrs. Shaqir Vukaj, Miri Loli, Theodhori Bej e[t?], have been included. The procedure for inviting them was identical to the invitation addressed to Mr. Bashkim Zeneli, but strangely enough no protest was then made about “participation without a mandate” by the leadership of the PS. The President's spokesman condemns this insinuation, which is entirely of PS origin, as offensive and mocking toward state institutions and their loyal policies, and as an expression of the application of class struggle with the methods of the secret police to Albanian political life.

At the invitation of the President of the People's Republic of China, Jiang Zemin, the President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, accompanied by Mrs. Berisha, will pay a state visit to the People's Republic of China from 16 to 19 January 1996. The delegation accompanying the President will also include the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction and Tourism, Dashamir Shehi, government officials, members of parliament and other senior officials. During the scheduled meetings with the President, the Prime Minister and other Chinese officials, talks will be held on the further development of bilateral relations in many fields, as well as on international issues of interest to both sides. During this visit, bilateral agreements are also expected to be signed.

“KJ”: Missionaries are not Europe... those two terribly fat men dared to do nonsense... dared to say that F. Nano should not be kept in prison “‘KJ’: Missionaries are not Europe... those two terribly fat men dared to do nonsense... dared to say that F. Nano should not be kept in prison” EDI PALOKA Before the delegation of the Council of Europe arrived in Tirana, opposition newspapers had been protesting that with the arrival of the rapporteurs the democratic state would be backed into a corner, that the opposition would denounce the anti-genocide law as anti-democratic, denounce the lack of press freedom, Nano’s imprisonment, etc. If you read the left-wing press, it looked as if as soon as the Council of Europe rapporteurs arrived they would order the PD to leave power and be replaced by the PS, but... The rapporteurs came, listened to the opposition’s “denunciations,” and saw reality as well. After that they declared that democratic developments in Albania are extraordinary, expressed support for the anti-genocide law, and said there is no reason to treat all matters as issues of equal weight. Then the “miracle” happened. The opposition newspapers, which until then had been presenting the rapporteurs as the opposition’s saviors, switched sides. After the first statements of the Commissioners, “KJ” was content to call them “prosecutors” and “friends of Berisha,” while yesterday it descended into true madness. In an article by F. Cupi, the chairman of the legal committee and the chairman of the Council of Europe legal committee are insulted in the most vulgar way in “KJ”. After awaiting the verdict that Finberg and Çolumbor are not Europe, they are described as Don Quixote, as two terribly fat men who come to Albania to pocket 1,200 dollars, adventurers who seek to do nonsense, and so on, and so on. To write such madness and say such things, one must either have completely lost one's mind or be touched where it hurts. The fact is that such attacks on world political figures are not made only today; “ZP” began them and “KJ” has taken over all of them. It seems that in yesterday’s meeting of “KJ” with Nano this was also decided. In order not to discredit the PS newspaper (as it was discredited) through attacks on European figures, “KJ” has been left the role of the mad one. The fact is that the “ordered theories” of “KJ” come precisely from the fact that the rapporteurs spoke negatively about Nano. Cupi writes: “...they dared to do nonsense... they even dared to say that Fatos Nano should be kept in prison or should be released...” So this is why “KJ” has been ordered to go berserk and launch mad attacks on the Council of Europe rapporteurs. The real leaders of this newspaper are so blinded that they allow ridiculous phrases to be published. They dared to speak about Nano, Cupi writes, while the journalist of “KJ” did not tear the rapporteurs' eyes out by asking them to comment on Nano. What “KJ” “dares” to do is only a harsh reaction against the whole political media, which after being exposed in their meetings with the rapporteurs began to insult and curse Europe. Even the latest “promotion” made by “KJ” and Cupi’s article is “we need nothing from Europe, but what we think.” This “position,” this phrase, is identical to that of the PS leaders after the statements by European politicians that they should not come to power. Thus PS and “KJ” shout: “We want to find him. We are separated from Europe.” The self-isolated Dokle in the Rogner hotel after the meeting with the Council of Europe rapporteurs Photo: R. Tasho

Statement by President Berisha President Mitterrand was a great statesman of the French nation and of Europe. Through his words and deeds over the decades of his political activity and of his time at the Élysée Palace, he left a profound mark not only on French politics but also on the shaping of a united Europe. I keep indelible memories of the reception at the Presidential Palace and of Mr. Mitterrand’s visit in May 1992. He was the first head of state to receive me after my election as president. My later meetings with him were also very good. He always supported Albania and its integration into Europe. I express my deep regret that this great personality has departed from among us.

The pupil of Floragjisti, after the training course he took in Ioannina, turned into an ordinary forger and nihilist, to the point that in the theory he put forward, events and historical dates are made to be called absolute truths. Thus, on one page of the newspaper that he serves faithfully to Ruçi, Jupe writes among other things that “the first congress of the front of the PD Council was held on 27-28 October 1991”. This PD swindler forgets that since then it has also held another National Congress on 6 December 1993 and two extraordinary conferences. This is the career path chosen by Jupe according to the teachings of Floragjisti, the only student who has been able to be educated near him. M.B.

STALIN: Comrade Lenin instructed us to keep the party pure. Yes, Comrade Lenin, we will keep the Party pure. RUÇI: Comrade Fatos instructed us to keep the party pure. Yes, Comrade Fatos, we will keep the party pure. p.3

The Balluku dossier Minutes of the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the PPSH, dated 2 and 3 July 1974 p.7

As AFP reported, yesterday at 8:30 in the morning, former French president François Mitterrand died at the age of 79. All of France is in mourning for the death of its former president François Mitterrand. François Mitterrand was President of the French Republic from May 1981 to May 1995. Mitterrand was the first socialist president and a fervent supporter throughout his political career. According to doctors, he died of prostate cancer, from which he had suffered for a long time. He entered French politics as president with a new program that modernized France’s image at the end of the twentieth century. In international politics he sought the building of a united Europe. “With the death of former French president François Mitterrand, France has lost a great statesman, while Europe has lost one of the main protagonists of its unification,” declared Jacques Santer yesterday at the European Commission.

After confirming in an anonymous article that the forthcoming anti-Western offensive will be won by the PD together with the other democratic forces, the newspaper “ZP” accuses these institutions of acting “for the sake of” power, forgetting, no matter what, that these institutions cannot work for the sake of the communists and support them.

Recognizing that victory in the upcoming elections is impossible for the PS, this party has begun to justify its defeat in advance. Through its leaflet “ZP”, the party accuses the electorate, describing it as naive, one that takes electoral promises for reality, that is, it mistakes soap for cheese. With the same abnormal and deeply offensive logic, it is claimed that the Albanian electorate lacks the democratic backbone.

The underhanded policy of the PS cannot ignore the incomparable values of the democratic state BLERIM ÇELA p.3