President of the Republic Sali Berisha left yesterday for Crans Montana, Switzerland, where he will take part in the Annual Forum of political and business leaders, which is being held from 20–23 June 1996. President Berisha will meet with many politicians and prominent representatives of the business community participating in this forum. The Speaker of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, Pjetër Arbnori, and other members of the government had come to Rinas Airport to see President Berisha off.

The alliances between the Red Front and the most anti-Albanian circles in various countries are still active. On Wednesday, in testimony given in the annexes of the US Congress, one of the leaders of the Red Front, Gramoz Pashko, sat on a platform with the anti-Albanian and greatest Greek chauvinist, Nikolas Geixh. While Geixh declared that 55 percent of the population in Albania are Greeks, Pashko declared that 45 percent of his party were members of the minority. The financier of MAVI, the terrorist organization responsible for the killing of two Albanian soldiers in Peshkëpi, Gjirokastër, Nikolas Geixh has found elements within the Red Front who will support him in his anti-Albanian aims. It was he who sponsored the trip of the Socialist trio to Washington a few days before May 26, to create the impression that the Socialists were supported by the US if they came to power. Albania’s left-wing political forces have found allies among the enemies of Albania. In the absence of normal alliances, in order to keep communism alive in Albania, they spare not even the history of their own country. It is difficult to find such criminal elements in the entire political history of Europe. At the beginning of the election campaign, one of the leaders of the Socialist Party declared that the Bulgarian Socialists were assisting the Socialist Party’s campaign. The positions of this Eastern party, one of the most extreme in this part of Europe, are now well known. Its deputies voted against Bulgaria’s accession to NATO, and they have never hidden their close relations with Milosheviç’s Serbian Socialists. The faces of the Bulgarian assistants were seen during the campaign, on election day, and now as well. It is not far-fetched to think that a Zhubanovi, and perhaps even secret services from the former communist East, also have a place among those assisting the Socialist Party in Tirana. Three agents of the State Security Service of the OSS, along with a number of Albanian Socialist agents, have so far been identified in the OSCE observer team; they did everything possible to make the OSCE’s final report as unfavorable as possible. Considering the services they had previously rendered to Hoxha’s dictatorial state and the large sums of money they received at the time, it is thought that assistance also came from the Bulgarian Foundation of Communist Parties, which operated in Albania as the Solidarity Fund, as well as from the funds of the Panhellenic Federation, led in the US by Nikolas Geixh. The reactivation of the friendship associations that Albania had once established with Europe’s Marxists, now converted into travel agencies, completes the full scheme by which the Red Front is trying to destroy the good image that Albania and its institutions have built up during four years of democratic government. Such an anti-Albanian scenario did not exist even in 1913, when Albania was partitioned, or when some feudal lords from southern Albania sought a confederation with Greece. By trying to create a disastrous year for Albania, the Red Front seeks to avert its own disastrous year. What happened on May 26 is irreversible in Albania’s future history. May 26 was an objective reality that took no account of the now-burned scenarios of the world’s anti-Albanian circles, any more than it did of the calculations of Albania’s communists and secret police agents.

—Mr. Shehu! What is your reaction following the announcement that a resolution has been adopted by the European Parliament calling for the elections in Albania to be reconsidered? First, I want to say that two resolutions were presented in the European Parliament: one by the left-wing group and the other by the right-wing group. The left-wing group’s resolution was an aggressive one, which sharply criticized the electoral process in Albania and, in one way or another, called for the electoral process to be repeated. There was also a resolution from the right-wing forces in the European Parliament, which included the Christian Democratic and Popular Parties, and addressed the Albanian reality. Of the 624 delegates, only 174 members of the European Parliament were present in the chamber; by a majority vote, they adopted the left-wing resolution. The European Parliament is dominated by the left. Its resolutions have only advisory, not decision-making, functions, and many such resolutions are adopted every day. They have no binding force, either over the European Community or over other European countries. Today it was the Italian government that, in an open debate in the Italian parliament, spoke very clearly about its relations with Albania: it is not calling for new elections in Albania; on the contrary, despite the violations that have been noted. It was Italian deputies who sharply criticized the mass media for its speculations about the elections in Albania. Let us not forget that Italy holds the presidency of the European Community. Everything is proceeding normally, it is going well, despite some attacks that may be made. Such a great victory as the destruction of communism in Albania could hardly have occurred without some temporary concerns. —Mr. Shehu! How much of a concern can statements such as that of the European Parliament be for you, when only 10 days remain before parliament convenes and The extremist left-wing press and the extreme left in this case have always tried to isolate Albania. They have their own psychology of isolation and xenophobia. They have always tried to block aid and support for Albania; not just today, but since ’92 they have done nothing else, and they have always failed. This time too they have tried and failed, all the more so because they are no longer an existing and powerful political force in Albania. With this propaganda they can do nothing except further isolate themselves and those who devise this policy of destabilizing Albania. The left-wing group’s [proposal] was an aggressive resolution, which criticized the European Community’s solutions a repeat of the electoral process. There was also the resolution of the right-wing forces in the European Parliament, which include the Christian Democratic, Popular and Democratic parties—in other words, the parties of Mjexherti, Kohl, Chirac, Moxku, Aznar... all the right-wing parties of Europe. It was a resolution that supported Albania’s democratic processes, considered the election results fair and called for dialogue between Albania’s political forces at this stage of political developments in Albania. It was a normal and fair resolution, one suited to Albania. We take all the criticisms made, we consider them seriously, and we try to draw lessons from them in order to correct our work. Naturally, we do not think that democracy is perfect, and with the support of the European Community we will certainly correct those weaknesses and shortcomings that have been observed, shortcomings arising from growth. But such a great change as the end of communism in Albania could not have happened without some temporary concerns. “Mr Shehu! How much cause you, although only 10 days of this parliament remain and work is under way to form the new government?” Albania has friends; Albania is now an open country that enjoys the support of the international community. It will continue on this path and, undoubtedly, Albania’s future lies in full integration into Europe.

Undersecretary Serri on Italian-Albanian relations ANSA—Rome—The Italian Government considers that the recent elections held in Albania left room for “partial representation of the country, since some political forces withdrew from the electoral contest.” This is what Undersecretary for Foreign Relations Rino Serri said in the Senate Chamber, responding to questions from deputies Nicandro Marinacci and Rocco Butiglione. Nevertheless, “given the extremely fragile balances in the Balkan region,” Serri added, “and the need to avoid even the slightest disturbance of the ‘balance,’ the Italian government has declined to respond to the invitation to replace the runoff elections and intends to maintain relations of friendship and cooperation with Albania. “The first urgent need,” Undersecretary Serri continued, “is to encourage the resumption as soon as possible in Albania of political dialogue between the parties, without preconditions. The local elections scheduled for later this year may serve to verify whether democratic guarantees have been established.” Mr. Marinacci expressed his dissatisfaction, taking a critical position regarding the unjustified elections, the result of a distorted and exaggerated portrayal by the media of political developments in Albania, because only the Socialist Party

Draft Resolution submitted by the European People’s Party Group. Submitted by Ms. Pack, Mr. Oostlander, Ms. Lenz Cooperation in the interests of further democratic processes On the electoral process in Albania Page 3

Interview with Mr. Ylli Vejsiu, Organizational Secretary of the DP The PS deputies’ abandonment of Parliament would have brought nothing but a total expansion of the left-wing electorate and a deepening of the Red Front’s identity crisis Page 3

Godo: “For us, holding the elections again is unacceptable” Page 3

In the Tirana court: Page 2

Lesi and his writer find conservatives in the PS Yesterday, Fatos Nano used the name of the publisher of the newspaper “Koha Jonë” to convince public opinion that he is on the side of the reformers of the Socialist Party. A journalist’s analysis by Nikollë Lesi has found [sic] to make the pieces he will put his name to, like the imprisoned PS [sic] on the side of the new socialists being sought in the current climate. By sacrificing Pellumbi, Dokle and Ruçi, the analysis signed by Lesi presents Nano as having broken away from the conservative wing. It is clear that the latest orders coming from Bënça find Lesi once again ready to serve. After Rexhina’s interview, in which she could not hide the fact that she had found her husband’s loyalists even among the ranks of the eurosocialists, it is Lesi and the person who has convinced him that he can write analyses too who are now pushing further, speaking about the necessity of leading the PS by the new socialists. Rewriting his biography, the analysis mentions, entirely nonsensically, that Nano is a reformer because he is younger than Ruçi, Dokle and Pellumbi. The analysis, in the most idiotic way, portrays Nano as having no connection whatsoever with the past, when all Albanians know perfectly well that he is the chosen one of Nexhmije Hoxha and Ramiz Alia. It is clear to everyone that the Socialist chairman, who is in prison for stealing humanitarian aid, was unanimously chosen by the old caste of the communist regime to protect their interests after their forced departure from the political scene. After flirting for a long time with the secretary-general and the two deputy chairmen, who are older than he is, Nano announces that he has decided they must be eliminated so that everyone else will not be eliminated. Lesi and his writer think that if the three old men are removed from the Socialist Party, the communists’ lair will be called a Western-style party. He himself corrects Rexhina; the analysis commissioned by Bënça Continued on page 3