Speech by the writer Ismail Kadare at the ceremony marking his admission to the French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences PAGE 5

Interview with Prime Minister Aleksandër Meksi The SP is nonexistent The SP has now turned completely into a nonexistent party. This fact was recently reaffirmed not only by the result of the October 20 elections, but also by the latest developments within the party’s highest structures. Yesterday’s meeting of the SP’s General Steering Committee in a way wrote this party’s obituary. The entire debate held there showed that the divisions among the few figures left in this political force have reached such proportions that it can be called a nonexistent party. The charade played by rival groups within this party, in the name of preserving a false unity, has now come to an end. The clans and rival groups have now come out into the open and are attacking each other fiercely. The conservatives, placed at the head of this party on Ramiz Alia’s orders, having carried out their scenarios to eliminate and suffocate every kind of genuine renewal, have now openly come out with their calls to find new allies among socialist parties that can support them, rather than among those European socialist parties that have criticized them. Thus the isolated leadership of the SP is now openly seeking alliances with the SP of Serbia or someone else in the East, not hesitating to openly denounce the most prestigious European institutions simply because these institutions expressed a positive assessment of the local government elections in Albania, judging them free and democratic. And it so happens that the new government ... What was expected to happen in the SP has happened. After the major erosion of its grassroots base, the upper echelon of this party has now openly expressed its fervent desire to leave its structures. Almost all those who brought the party to this point are ready to resign, quit, and leave. All those who, solely because of their own criminal involvement, egos, or orders they had received from their father, together with Alia, brought about the closure, obstruction, and suffocation of the party’s highest structures and led the SP to a thoroughly deserved defeat, now prefer to leave it, as if they had played no role or borne no responsibility in this party, which we can now say is on the verge of complete dissolution. Everyone accuses everyone else of the very things they planned and carried out together. Everyone is ready to denounce, insult, and vilify not only Alia, Nano, Agolli, Islami, Ruci, Mejdani, etc., but also one another, simply to show that they bear no responsibility for the crushing defeat they suffered. These figures, who can no longer constitute a party, with the chaos of the statements they scatter in every direction, reveal the deep crisis and irreparable division that has not only taken shape but has also run its course and been declared within this political force, whose mission now definitively belongs to the past. What remains for these desperate, army-less “generals” is to write nostalgic memoirs about the time of their reign through violence, prisons, and political killings. Then they can send these memoirs for publication to ZP or KJ and collect generous royalties... Only in this way can they find consolation, feeding themselves with the idea that their lessons are still “valuable.”

Interview with Prime Minister Aleksandër Meksi The government’s task is to complete the entire plan for the country’s reconstruction and restructuring, so that we can enter 21st-century Europe with our heads held high. But we cannot enter it without modern roads, water supply systems, greenery, telecommunications, airports, ports, etc. There are quite substantial plans for all of these involving the World Bank and the European [institutions], private investors, the state budget, etc. We already have the projects in hand, the studies for them, and the teams set up. In the first months of the year, work will begin in several areas on building the East-West Corridor, from Durrës toward Elbasan and then Qafë Thanë, from Kakavija toward Tepelenë, as well as from Milot toward Lezhë and Shkodër. These are the most important projects, alongside the Vorë–Tirana one, which aims to complete the highway. At the same time, studies are being carried out for the Tepelenë–Vlorë road, which will connect the port with Qegrina e Veriut and southern Albania, and for other roads such as the Tirana–Dibër e Madhe road, bringing not only the northeastern part of Albania but also the territories inhabited by Albanians, and areas beyond Albania’s borders, into the country’s main markets. PAGE 3

The two chairmen of the polling stations in Kotë clarify the matter for the public First, we read “KJ” regarding the Italian observers, to whom we supposedly offered money and drugs. The truth is as follows: The only language either of us knows is Albanian. The Italians came. They were observers. Three people in all, two men and one woman. They had an interpreter with them. The conversation took place. They asked us about the elections. [We explained] the voting procedures here. The two men split off and stayed at polling station No. 1, while the woman stayed at polling station No. 2. At polling station No. 1, they asked us: “Can we stay for the counting of the votes? Is there a problem?” We said, “No, there’s no problem; stay until the end.” They stayed. We communicated only with the interpreter. We were astonished by what “KJ” wrote. Also, as polling-station chairmen, we did not hear anyone mention “ngre” or any other foreign word as a means of communication. We communicated in Albanian, in accordance with the rules. The Italian observers communicated only with the representatives of the SP and another opposition party, who knew this foreign language. EDMOND ZENELI THOMA KAPURANI

The Socialist Steering Committee de facto dismisses the PS leadership -Meta, Hajdaraga and dozens of others call for the resignation of the leadership -Jupe, Braçe, etc. declare that the local elections were free and blame Nano and the new Socialist leadership for the PS’s defeat -Dokle is ready to resign, but only if Mejdani and others follow suit The meeting of the Socialist Party’s Steering Committee shifted responsibility onto the Socialist base. At the end of yesterday’s clash, they approved a statement suggesting that the analysis of the defeat should first be carried out by the PS “units” in the districts—as Mejdani calls the PS organizations there—and then move up the party pyramid to the leadership. Although this was achieved through a voting system, and it is known that most of the votes were cast by members of the current leadership, who had been manipulated even before the meeting, the major clash between the sides could not be avoided. FRESH chairman Ilir Meta proposed, as he had also stated in the press, the resignation of the current Socialist Party leadership, which he considered the main cause of the crushing defeat in the local elections. His demand was also supported by a good number of members of the Socialist Steering Committee, both at the center and at the grassroots. Thus, in addition to Meta and Hajdaraga, the resignation of the leadership was also called for by PS leaders in the districts of Korçë, Lezhë, Pogradec, Elbasan, and others. Agasi’s argument that the defeat was due to Berisha’s regime was rejected by members of the Steering Committee. Agasi of Durrës, Aulish of Vlorë, and Sankaj of Shkodër were reminded that they had run three times and had never won. Thus, the repeated defeat has become an established fact. The leadership elected by the second congress and Nano were held responsible for the local election defeats, while many speakers stressed that the elections had been free and fair. “ZP” commentator Hamdi Jupe, who is also a member of the Steering Committee, said that he had visited several polling stations on election day and found them to be in very good order. None of the claims about manipulation or anything else is true, he said, demanding instead the resignation of the leadership and the creation of conditions for the renewal of his party. The meeting, which lasted until late in the evening, was continually marked by heated debates, but it never managed to break the deadlock of the physics teacher Mejdani. Throughout, he confined himself to the role of listener, although from time to time he repeated that Berisha’s regime was responsible for his party suffering the greatest defeat that could befall a political party. Braçe called for the leadership to step down and a new leadership to be elected, saying that the leadership had come to the meeting unprepared. Namik Dokle, from the PS’s middle ranks, said that he would be the first to resign, but only if the rest of the party leadership followed his example. Dokle’s move seems to have made it clear that a major institutional clash within the party can ultimately be avoided, since the assessments will be carried out in the PS “units” in the districts. Finding a solution that consists of spreading responsibility across as broad a section of the PS as possible cannot explain its leaders’ position. A large part of the grassroots has formed the view that their party is a ruin. The assessments in the districts will be more critical of the leadership, because now more than ever they understand that the electoral model “Nano-Mejdani-Islami,” like the model “Nano-Pellumbi-Meta,” was completely spent in the May 26 elections and is entirely out of place in the political practice of a reformist and democratic country. Yesterday’s meeting reduced to a minimum the Socialists’ claim that there was factional debate within the party, while “de facto” overturning every decision of the PS’s second congress. Yesterday’s meeting of the PS Steering Committee reflected the full measure of the PS’s current condition, from which it cannot emerge through long meetings; nor can it be represented by a grassroots base that has been drastically reduced, owing to a lack of alternatives and, naturally, the Socialists’ defeat. Correspondent 1, “RD”

The seminar defines development strategies The seminar “Albanian energy policy for a shared future” concluded

Albanians boycott the teaching of Serbian rule

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