Message from the President of France, Chirac, addressed to President Berisha On the occasion of the visit of Mr. Rene Monory, President of the French Senate, I send you my greetings and assure you of my deep interest in the quality of Franco-Albanian relations. France will stand by you in your efforts to build a market economy and the rule of law. It is precisely in this spirit, to help alleviate the damage caused by the floods, that we have decided to send you 3,000 tons of wheat as humanitarian aid. The agreement on gold is also another important step. Albania’s European orientation has had, and will continue to have, France’s support. We support you in opening negotiations for a European agreement with your country. I am convinced that the visit of the President of the Senate is an important event in relations between our two countries.

What was said at the secret meeting of the leaders of the PS, PSD and PAD of the PS, PSD and PAD and PAD. In one of the offices of the newspaper Alenca, a few days before the PAD assembly and the PSD congress were to convene. How far can egoism drive those who claim to be leaders of a people! Party leaders conspiring against their own parties—such perverse absurdities can occur only in the minds of left-wing leaders. One February night, around 11 p.m., when it was thought that no one remained in the offices of the newspaper “Alenaca,” some of the leaders of the PS, PSD and PAD (who are also in the photograph) gathered without informing even the other heads of their parties, in order to decide the future. Some time ago, an internal PAD source revealed to “RD” Ceka and Imami’s plans to enter parliament, but only now has it become known that everything was decided that February night in the offices of the newspaper “Alenca.” It is no coincidence that most of the people gathered in that office are precisely those who know about the anti-genocide law. But what exactly was decided that night? That night, it can be said without any doubt, the creation of what is now known as the red front was definitively decided. Only one PAD member among those present at the meeting opposed this decision, but without success. The most perverse and unimaginable proposals were made that night—not only about how their goal, “victory,” should be achieved, but also about how the discreditable coalition should be disguised. The greatest disgrace lay in the fact that the agreed coalition was to be kept secret first and foremost from the respective parties and their forums. Imagine Imami’s mockery at the PAD assembly, or that of Gjinushi, Milo and Apostol at the PSD congress, as they watched their members debate matters that had already been settled at the secret meeting. The irony goes further: the very people who organized the meeting in the offices of “Alenca” were appointed by their highest party forums as coalition negotiators. Thus Imami and Ceka were appointed by the PAD assembly to conduct coalition talks. Likewise, the PSD congress appointed its leadership (meaning the trio Gjinushi, Apostoli, Milo) for the same purpose. The farce by PAD leaders continued with their supposed proposal to the PD to discuss a possible coalition, but the absurd conditions they set are now known; their sole purpose was to get a “no” in response. But why was it decided at the secret meeting that the coalition should not be announced immediately? There are two reasons. The first has to do with the accusations the PD had made against PAD and PSD, before they had concretely decided to celebrate their coalition with the PS. The second is that the PAD leaders come from outside Albania’s borders. The PAD leaders have been warned more than once that a coalition with the PS would not be viewed favorably, and for this reason they concealed it from their members. There was no shortage at the meeting of mini-conspiracies against other opposition leaders who were not present that night. At the center were those known as reformers; someone from the PSD even demanded that the PS sacrifice Ruçi, while Imami went as far as Nano, inadvertently revealing a lack of “sympathy” between them. Nevertheless, in the end the plan now published in “RD” was adopted: a PS, PSD, PAD coalition, in the hope of a victory; repeal of the anti-genocide law; and early elections to bring the genocide perpetrators into Parliament. It is strange that the PS accepted such a compromise, since if it really intended to win, it would have had no interest in holding early elections. In any case, the PS is interested in a coalition in order to present itself to the world as accepted and as being among the moderates, while the two PS figures who agreed to the compromise are also personally interested in holding new elections, which would give them the opportunity to enter parliament—an opportunity they do not have now. So, that is what was discussed on that February night among the leaders of the extreme left, or, in other words, the leaders of the red front. NOTE: We inform readers that the photograph of the meeting was published in “RD” without its author’s authorization. The author asked us to record this fact for personal reasons.

It seems that Kastriot Islami’s faction now has a strong position in the leadership of the Socialist Party, since it has begun spreading its party’s vice to other political forces. After the coup against the editors of “ZP” and their replacement with communist-press figures such as Sofo Lazri, Shaban Sinani and others, he has managed to sideline several other competitors within the leadership, even nearly rendering harmless the head of the lists, Ruci, and the party’s absentee chairman, Fatos Nano. What they do every day in the Socialist Party, they have now begun dreaming of doing in the Democratic Party as well. It has long been the dream of the Socialist Party, or the Labor Party, to destroy the Democratic Party. At first they tried to do this through agents of the Sigurimi whom they managed to embed in the party at its beginning. There were several of them. They undermined Ramiz Alia’s presidency and later his government as well. Their spying could go no further, since the Democratic Party had not been created on barren ground but on clean ground: students, political exiles, intellectuals and people who had suffered. The Ramizist contingent left the party as soon as it realized that it could no longer operate using Alia’s methods and could not go any further than contributing to the communist boss. It was precisely this period that also forced Ramiz Alia to resign, and a few months later others left the Democratic Party, one by one. Thus the Socialists’ great failure to destroy the Democratic Party and turn it into an appendage of communist power was accomplished. At a time when the Socialist Party is experiencing its greatest split and losing its own electorate, it is trying to create an alibi by claiming that the Democratic Party is divided and that factions have formed which, according to the Socialists, are trying to seize as much territory as possible within the party. This is a farce. The Democratic Party is a party of democratic thought and bases its unity not on dogma but on free thought. It has clearly and fully shaped its identity in a modern form, in keeping with the most advanced Albanian developments. It bases its position on the capitalist economy and integration into Europe. Thus, it is not governed by petty mechanisms for holding on to seats, but by universal principles of development. For it, power is not a greater motto than democracy; nor is blind monolithism its ideal, but rather creative cooperation. The opposing party knows none of these principles and has never moved with the times. Their tradition continues: the meetings of this party’s leadership differ from meetings of the Central Committee only in lacking the word “membership.” The worst factional intrigues can arise and have arisen only in a party where there is more talk of unity than of ideas, and more reliance on orders than on objectives. The value of unity lies in the achievements it secures for the country and its politics, not in the number of people in one party leadership or another, nor in the number of prominent figures and genocide perpetrators gathered around it. It seems that the Socialist Party is once again trying to revive Ramiz Alia’s schemes for splitting up various parties, especially the Democratic Party. Its maneuvering can take place only on typically socialist ground, not on democratic ground. Their dreams of schemes against this party are over. Today it is the most stable party in Albania and inherits no complexes from the past or the present. It can claim the success of economic reform, the successes of Albania’s integration into Europe, and the support of an electorate that fully trusts it and is ready to trust it again.

President Berisha received the President of the French Senate “France is part of our freedom and democracy, because it developed these in Europe and helped us overthrow the communist dictatorship and develop democracy,” President Berisha told the President of the French Senate, Monori, thanking him. President Berisha praised the Treaty of Friendship between the two countries as a treaty that advances our relations. Albania is grateful for the support France has given Albania throughout the entire period of ... time here and in the future will also visit Albania in person. You are part of Europe and will make progress in your integration into European institutions. I have learned that you have been among the best and most serious in your cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, and that you have managed to lower inflation while maintaining high economic growth, which is truly worthy of congratulations. Now our task is to encourage French investment, and I will make a particular effort to do so. Regarding developments in

Democratic developments, President Berisha told the President of the French Senate, throughout the period of the development of democracy and the market economy, and most recently for the agreement on the return of the gold taken during the War, as well as for the quantity of wheat France donated to Albania. Senate President Monori conveyed to President Berisha greetings and a message from President Chirac, who, he said, was very enthusiastic about the visit. “You have been working to improve relations and cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, and growth, which is truly commendable. in the region, President Berisha emphasized President Chirac’s essential role in changing the course of events in the former Yugoslavia. He stressed that Europe and France encouraging Serbia to engage in dialogue with President Rugova in the presence of a third party would make a very important contribution to resolving the Kosovo issue. Major: We support your democratic authorities and the President UNESCO will strongly support the establishment of democracy in Albania, Federico Mayor, UNESCO Director-General, said this morning in the Prime Minister’s Office, after a meeting with Prime Minister Meksi. Mayor and the Minister of Education, Xhezair Teliti, subsequently signed a memorandum of understanding between UNESCO and Albania, as well as a project in the field of education. “UNESCO calls for the entire United Nations system to join your efforts to build democracy. We will support your authorities, which are democratic in character, starting with the President,” Mayor said in a joint interview with Prime Minister Meksi. “UNESCO has also helped in the past,” Prime Minister Meksi said, “but today, under the new circumstances, what is needed is concrete assistance, beginning with the restructuring of higher education and scientific institutions, with scholarships and cooperation on scientific research at universities, in order to provide real support for Albania’s fundamental transformations.” Prime Minister Meksi, who had been one of UNESCO’s scholarship recipients, was asked how Albania would integrate its development programs with UNESCO’s programs. He replied: “I believe that today’s protocol on relations, as well as the contacts that have existed and will become better known in the future with UNESCO, will help us meet the challenges of our time.” Mayor and the Prime Minister reviewed areas of cooperation, including scientific research and higher education. Following this visit, Mayor left Albania at midday.

Exclusive interview with Mr. Federiko Major, Director-General of UNESCO, for the newspaper RD p. 3

Albania regained the right to its future p. 3