PD—a guarantee for democracy in Albania
President Berisha at the National Council of the Democratic Party
It is vital that we seek the support of all the activists, sympathizers and electorate of the Democratic Party, first and foremost of the Democrats who have lost money in pyramid schemes. But this can be achieved first of all by telling them openly that, although the primary direct responsibility for private borrowing and lending rests with the free citizen, the free individual, and although it is an element of their free initiative, we, as a party and as a Government, I as President, all institutions and all political forces, nevertheless have our responsibility.
It is vital that we seek the support of all the activists, sympathizers and electorate of the Democratic Party, first and foremost of the Democrats who have lost money in pyramid schemes. But this can be achieved first of all by telling them openly that, although the primary direct responsibility for private borrowing and lending rests with the free citizen, the free individual, and although it is an element of their free initiative, we, as a party and as a Government, I as President, all institutions and all political forces, nevertheless have our responsibility to the voters of the Democratic Party and of other democratic forces to protect democracy and its values, and not to allow one loss to darken and blacken our future. I invite you to engage in an intensive dialogue, on an equal footing with an election campaign, through which we can prevent developments that threaten the future of the country’s political and economic stability. On this occasion, I want to say to all activists, party militants, sympathizers and the electorate of the Democratic Party, and to all Albanians determined to overcome the problems and difficulties created by the collapse of the pyramid schemes and to fight against violence and the flames of red terror, that they must denounce them because, as President Berisha emphasized, these flames threaten not only the rights we have achieved to date, but also our freedom, dignity, property and future. In this dialogue, the President emphasized, pyramid schemes. But this can be achieved first by being frank with them: institutions and all political forces nevertheless have our responsibility. We must not expect the red terrorists who built their election campaign on pyramid schemes and robbed tens of millions of Albanian voters to hold democracy hostage to blind violence, exploit and provoke citizens’ grief and despair; instead, we must acknowledge and analyze our mistakes in order to correct them. First, we must apologize to citizens for failing to warn them in time about the risks of these schemes. Weeks ago, in this hall, I sincerely apologized to them, and once again I apologize to all those Albanian citizens who, had they received my warning about the danger of high interest rates, would not have put their money into these schemes; it is clear that high interest rates carry high risks. Likewise, I acknowledge our responsibility in drafting and approving the law on the transparency of these schemes. I also want to emphasize that, after the State Bank law prohibiting deposits except in banks was passed, the relevant institutions did not exercise their institutional authority to ensure that this law was enforced, nor did they engage the courts to resolve the legal conflict between the Civil Code, which recognizes borrowing and lending at interest as an inalienable right, and the law that prohibits deposits. I believe citizens are right to demand full transparency on all these issues, and despite the efforts we have made, this transparency has not been fully achieved. By acknowledging our moral responsibility, I believe that, in addition to consolidating our support among the people, we will increase their trust in us and our commitment to a joint resolution of the problems that have arisen. We must make it clear to people that we are not taking on their debts, but that we are determined to help them: to provide them with loans if they have lost their homes; to try to extend credit for their private businesses; to change ownership and increase the profits of joint-stock companies; to give them the opportunity to check everything, in detail, about the activities of the usury firms; and to draw up economic programs to accelerate development in the districts that have suffered the most. But, President Berisha stressed, today I invite all Democrats and all Albanians to value democracy and its values, and not to forget that our achievements over these years cannot be darkened by one negative aspect of the free market under our government. I urge them not to forget that, through their protests or their silence, they are favoring the activities of terrorist groups of left-wing extremists who, in cooperation with the red mafia and the international mafia, are now seeking to destroy democracy, the free economy and the country’s stability. I urge them not to allow these groups and an irresponsible minority to trample on their dignity, their achievements and the dignity of their country. Today, various solutions are being discussed. We have been and remain committed to dialogue. I invited them to dialogue even when they were organizing the burning of Albanian cities. But for us, the greatest political solution lies in the involvement and commitment of all members and sympathizers, and in scrutinizing the firms’ details and activities. President Berisha strongly condemned violence against the police and praised the police forces for the courage and restraint with which they faced difficult situations. He strongly condemned the criminal act of killing police officer Shezai Zani and expressed his condolences to the family of the deceased. He also condemned the killing of Artur Rustemi, expressed his condolences to the Rustemi family, and pledged that intensive investigations would be carried out in both cases to bring the killers to justice. President Berisha stressed that those who ignore the value of dialogue with the people and offer formulas for coalitions with the organizers of terrorist groups are seriously mistaken. To these gentlemen, President Berisha said, I want to say that within the sections of the Democratic Party, among its voters, activists and sympathizers, there is a greater sense of responsibility for democracy, for its present and its future, than among those who, whenever difficulties arise, suggest flirting with the red front as a way out.