Austrian press on Albania

Post-election developments in the SP, historic events -Gramoz Ruçi’s escape to Nigeria. -Nano’s motion fails. -Kastriot Islami joins the SP and Gramoz Ruçi’s telefax from Salaria. PAGE 2

Today Prime Minister Aleksandër Meksi will present the composition of the government. This is the second government formed by the Democratic Party and represents a new stage in the verification of its directions at an important juncture in Albanian history. The preliminary consultations with a considerable number of parties from across the political spectrum have also brought interest in the government and in the way it will function. As the prime minister stated in his most recent interviews, the government will aim to increase the welfare of Albanians. This is a motivation to ensure a high level of competence in this government. The welfare of Albanians is no longer a foggy road but a free zone for the movement of the individual, liberated from the shackles of statism. Thus, it is clear that the government must remove, as easily as possible and as quickly as possible, any potential obstacles for others. Ideas, initiative and courage are the individual’s terrain. The Meksi government will secure this terrain by creating the necessary space for everyone, on the principle of equality in freedom. The government must turn toward the freedom of others. In other words, the government to be announced today is the government of freedom for all. When freedom is mentioned, it is natural that it brings with it its own rules. Freedom under capitalism consists of laws and their enforcement, and filling any gaps with laws is the government’s primary duty. This also constitutes its moral purpose. The Democratic Party has so far demonstrated governance to a European standard. This is the sole source of enthusiasm for the ministers who will take up their offices tomorrow. The other part is dedication to the people and the sacrifice required to meet the expectations of those who voted for them. Governance is always a problem to be solved. The past four years were not short of endless problems, just as they were not short of effective solutions. Albania ranked among the countries with the highest economic growth in the East, while inflation fell drastically. Unemployment declined to encouraging figures. Albanian capitalism took shape as a European capitalism. Privatization was carried out on a considerable scale, and people took control of the economy. Just as Albania advanced on the national front, it also advanced internationally. Agreements were signed with other countries amid disputes, and it can now be said that Albanians feel secure in capitalism and have indicators comparable with those of global capitalism. Today’s government has a rich body of knowledge to make further progress. It can solve the problem of austerity within these four years, complete privatization, secure even greater investment, and finish the water-supply and infrastructure projects. Meksi and his colleagues have the opportunity to move the country’s transition forward, providing Albanians with what they voted for on 26 May: welfare, work and security.

The harsh defeat suffered by the left in Albania during the latest parliamentary elections has plunged the Socialist Party into a chain reaction of deep political crises. While deep analyses and the assignment of responsibility for the defeat were announced, attempts by new and old groupings and clans to settle their scores once and for all became clearly apparent within the opposition’s inner circles. Nano’s people, impatiently waiting to establish the imprisoned chairman’s absolute rule over the party, hurried to take up the banner of reformers in the SP, exploiting the strong signals he had given during the two-year process of reforming the left. To pave the way for the establishment of legitimacy within the party, Nano and his working group also made the first sacrificial offering from among the ranks of the faithful servants they had inherited from the past. While the imprisoned chairman’s messages to the party were being drafted, the working group rushed to secure the people who would carry out, in every detail, the plan for the final usurpation of the party by the Loha-Ala-Kapo clans. Meanwhile, the Socialist Party would experience the rebellion of Gramoz Ruçi, Alia and Nano’s most trusted man, who, as on previous occasions, would not accept being turned into a field for the clans’ ploughing. Ruçi chose to flee to Nigeria rather than relinquish control of the party he had injected into the life of his own party. Meanwhile, with his bold resignation by telefax from Salaria, which the steering committee praised as an act of civic courage, Ruçi cleared the way for the masters to calm the situation and preserve their criminal conduct in Albanian politics. In Ruçi’s place, Nano chose the Euro-socialist Majko, whose strength is manifested in the public display of tears and emotions for the chairman suffering in prison over the theft of food that foreigners had given to Albanians. To defend and implement Nano’s messages, the hard hand appeared as a counterweight to Majko’s weakness: the mass-movement veteran of the SP, Kastriot Islami. This propagandist of the most extreme positions in current politics, by joining the SP, together with the support of his colleague who had become a general, Zabit Brokaj, and other entirely insignificant figures, tried unsuccessfully to back the motion. Without a doubt, the failure of Nano’s political initiative to reform the party is another bitter event for the Socialist Party. The criminal legacy’s historical insistence on holding back every development toward democracy in Albania will undoubtedly continue to leave the SP open to crises and the left inclined to carry regression into the lives of Albanians. [Text in the cartoon bubble: “I THINK YOU ... FLORINI ...”]

Today Dr. Karl Heine Hornhues begins his official visit to Albania The chairman of the Committee on Economics and Foreign Policy in the German Bundestag and CDU envoy, Dr. Karl Heine Hornhues, will pay an official visit to Albania from 11 to 13 July, the press and information directorate of the People’s Assembly reports. Mr. Hornhues will be accompanied by Mr. Guido Large, secretary of the Foreign Policy Committee in the German Bundestag. During his visit, Mr. Hornhues is expected to meet with the highest-ranking figures of the Albanian state: the President of the Republic, Sali Berisha; the Chairman of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, Pjetër Arbnori; as well as representatives of various Albanian political parties. Mr. Karl Heine Hornhues was born on 10.6.1939. He studied economics, sociology and Christian social sciences at the University of Münster. He has held a number of important posts, including director of the Catholic school in Holthausen and professor of social and economic policy at the University of Holthausen. He has been a member of the CDU since 1961. He was chairman of the CDU youth forum for the state of Neidersachsen from 1972 to 1974. Since 1972 he has been a member of the CDU executive in Neidersachsen and a member of the German Bundestag.

President Rugova departed for Germany The Kosovo Information Center reports that the President of the Republic of Kosovo, Dr. Ibrahim Rugova, departed yesterday for Germany at the invitation of Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel. During his visit to Germany, President Rugova will meet tomorrow with his host, Klaus Kinkel.

The gap widens between rival groups in the Socialist Party The battle “at the right time,” as both sides are saying, for reforming the party seems somewhat ridiculous, considering that it began as a reaction to the blow prepared by the man who directed “the displays of Enverism in the party of the class-based and ideological type,” according to Doka

From the Greek newspaper “Makedoniki,” 8.07.1996 PAGE 3

Islami responds on Albania’s criminal transition The same procedure was followed for dictator Alia, who was later arrested and continues to be investigated in prison for the grave crime of genocide against humanity

The Boycott Enigma: Frrok Çupi on the midnight of March 25 (And other enigmas)