Kadare reaffirms Socialists must not win the next elections Interview with writer Ismail Kadare given to the Albanian television studio “Viktoria” in New York on 7 January 1996 In this interview Mr. Kadare spoke about Albania’s international position and the situation in Kosovo. Regarding the domestic situation in Albania, Kadare argued that it is important that the Socialist Party not be elected in the upcoming elections. This party, he said, cannot hold power; the Albanian socialists have not reformed, they are not like the Hungarian, Czech, etc. socialists. The people hate communism and the PS has given no sign that it has nothing to do with them. Indeed, the PS should not insist on taking power. He called irresponsible the statements that the PS will win the elections and that only civil war can prevent it from taking power. Regarding political relations in Albania, Kadare dealt extensively with the position-opposition relationship. Both sides, the government and the opposition, are necessary for the country; indeed, they need each other. The government must try to bring around itself other political forces and expand alliances and coalitions. Kadare expressed his full confidence that Albania will make rapid progress and called for high morale among the people in Albania, for confidence, and rejected the claims that our people are a people without luck. “We are in fact very fortunate, and things are certainly going to go well for us,” he concluded.

Holbrooke says The United States want to open an official representation in Kosovo, in the hope of easing tensions in this region, whose population is undergoing hardship, said Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke. “We have had in-depth discussions with President Slobodan Milošević of Serbia and we will try to establish, in the very near future, an official United States presence in the capital of Kosovo,” said the Assistant Secretary of State responsible for European affairs. This American presence in Pristina is likely to be a United States Information Agency office (the American government’s information service intended for foreign countries), he said. “I hope that we will be able to reduce tensions in Kosovo (...) the oppression of the population there by the Serbs has been extremely severe,” the American negotiator stressed. AFP

The assessments in the two European Commission reports on the progress of reforms in Albania at the same time also stripped away the rust that had long covered the old anti-Europeanism of the far left in Albania. This camp was quite upset that Albania had done well, as the two rapporteurs put it, and they did not wait long before the atmosphere of their presence in Tirana had even slightly faded to vent their great anger at a guest who was not as opposition-minded as they were. At least one thing can now be learned: that Kolmberg and Gjinushi, or his newspaper, do not tolerate anything, just as little as the newspaper “Koha Jonë”, which has accepted an ordinary prisoner as its leader, Nano. It seems as though Europe has been handed over to the Democratic Party, which neither the Helsinki Committee in Tirana nor any international forum that receives memoranda from PAD and other inferior groupings of Albanian politics has cared about. The reports supported the reforms and did not take into account the half that is neither more nor less than an invented minority that still has the audacity to speak of Europe in ’95 as if it were talking about the UN Secretary-General Cuéllar in ’88. If it were up to Europe, it would not have remained to judge Albania, since it would not have existed and would have been eliminated in an instant. The Albanian experience also contains the diversity of Europe. What does the left’s anger toward the two respected Europeans show? It means that the Albanian left has remained in a practice of seeking power through the exploitation of a supposed opposition. The West has formulated quite advanced principles for the opposition and always favors it as long as it is on the side of power. It is very disappointed by the unprecedented and at the same time is also an active participant in the development of these countries. In short, this is the period and the governing opportunity by being so. So it is completely different from the way part of the Albanian opposition understands itself. In any case, the right and the left have remembered only the first part, namely the privilege, and have forgotten the other part, which is also the price that creates and keeps the opposition alive. They have not appeared as a mandate any more to resolve the natural course of Albania’s development, but on the contrary to that development. Thus, because of this tangled knot, misunderstandings naturally arise when others do not understand them. The two EU rapporteurs have not understood the Albanian far left, when they complained about reforms, laws, governance, etc. Even now, when they learn about the distortions caused by the left, they will not understand them. They know a different mechanism of debate and a different mechanism of how the opposition functions. The dishonest relations that do not hold water in Europe showed that there is no false support from its side. The victory of the left does not come from them. The attitude taken by the extreme left toward the esteemed guests of the Council of Europe is an expression of the consistency they have followed in their own isolation. The irony that has shaped their thinking has aimed at rapprochement. Within this effort, an integration of Albania into Europe cannot be expected. The absurd efforts toward integration, all the way to the southern borders, are favoring Albania by calling on alliances that can keep them alive at Albania’s expense. The bitterness of Albanian extremists because of the success of reforms, which are also approved by civilized countries, has helped build the image of Albania’s democracy. Such views have taken root and may be expressed by the Albanian left and its propaganda.

Berisha in France He will take part in the ceremonies dedicated to former President Mitterrand President of Albania Sali Berisha will take part in the ceremonies to be held on Thursday in honor of former President of France François Mitterrand. President Berisha stressed yesterday that Mitterrand left a deep mark not only on French politics but also on the shaping of a united Europe. I retain indelible memories of the reception at the Presidential Palace by Mr. Mitterrand in May 1992. He was the first Head of State to receive me after my election as President. He has always supported Albania in its integration into Europe, Berisha emphasized. Among the personalities expected to take part in the ceremonies dedicated to former President Mitterrand are U.S. Vice President Al Gore, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Mitterrand’s former leading diplomatic partner, Italian President Romano Prodi, President and Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel, UN Secretary-General Boutros Ghali, President of the European Commission Jacques Santer, Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, King Albert of the Kingdom of Belgium together with Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, British Prime Minister John Major, Austrian President Thomas Klestil, Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev, Czech President Václav Havel, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres. A mass in honor of former President François will be held at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris at the same time that Mitterrand will be buried in his hometown of Jarnac in southwestern France.

Meeting of 14 political parties on the electoral law Yesterday, following an initiative by the Albanian republicans, a consultative meeting of 14 parties of the country was held, where possible changes to the existing electoral law were discussed in favor of better guiding the overall course of Albanian democratic developments. The republican proposals concerned issues such as: the four-percent threshold, preserving the relationship between majoritarian and proportional representation at a ratio of one[?] to forty, the setting and announcement of the dates of parliamentary and local elections, equal financing of parties during the election campaign, (Continues on page 3)

Declaration by member of the Steering Council of the PS branch in Kurbin, Kol Preçi The base of the PS is becoming convinced that it is led by an ordinary swindler Declaration by member of the Steering Council of the PS branch in Kurbin, Kol Preçi The PS has been usurped by the boot of Enverism The base of the PS is becoming convinced that it is led by an ordinary swindler I joined the PS in 1991. Recently I have also been on the steering council of the PS branch in Kurbin. Yesterday the life of the parties with former secretaries of the basic organizations’ bureaus, with former directors of enterprises, with former chairmen of agricultural cooperatives, with the unreformed communists. The elements who lead the PS in the district, such as Sheftim Cani, Albert Xhufi, Ndue Laska, etc., are the most treacherous, the most dangerous, the most primitive, the most one-sided, cynical and crawling people. They ask us to hold meetings in the bushes as if we were communist cells. I have raised issues in the steering council of the PS branch regarding specific people as well as the commune of Milot. A few supported me in some way, but none rose to defend himself. Each tried to lecture us, to praise himself, to show off as an ambitious leader, to talk of dreams of taking power. Ridiculous Macheiavellianism, absurdity and all kinds of authoritarianism filled the horns of PS history and my memory. I can state that the central leadership of the PS and the leadership of the PS in the local branches are the boot of Enverism. The base of the PS is now becoming convinced that it has at its head ordinary swindlers, neo-Bolshevik careerists who fear diversity of opinion. During these four years the PS, usurped by the clan of the Enverists, has planned itself as a destructive opposition, as a nihilist opposition that fabricates artificial tensions and psychological terror. Now no one, either in Albania or in the world, doubts that the Albanian socialists are what they have been. These were the reasons that led me to leave the PS. Ruci, Pëllumbi, Dokle and Co. became Nano’s battalion. I condemn myself for having gone into that party. I abandoned it when I became convinced that the PS is a party with a false program, without alternatives. Their only alternative has been the defense of crime, robbery, and division. Their alternative remained the building of a compromise with reality only because they do not control it. I became convinced that their positions, proposals and objections created and slowed the pace of our country’s developments. That the PS remained a party of missed chances and that the PD alternative is Albania’s future. I became convinced that Albania needs PD governance, that the achievements in these four years are truly unimaginable. In the PS practice because you had lost in the PD appear Doda, Ndue Preçi, Cad Hysa, Frani Koka, Rifat Hysa, Mark Haku? and many others. The best people, the most honest people respect Milot. Now I am a convinced non-member of the victories and the broad progress of the democratic forces in the coming elections.

From the PS heritage fund Minutes of the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the PPSH, dated 2 and 3 July 1974 p. 7

The democracy of the democrats Finsberg and Columberg escape article 24/1 “The nomenklatura” answers every question, with the calculation block in hand: “There are improvements”. We will never be told that in our Albania “we have achieved it”. Thus they have referred to 24/1, because the PD could also have pushed them earlier with the reason in Re-form. PLUS MUSHTI PUBLISHED N°- ALTERNATIVA SD[?]