PD and PS sit down at the negotiating table The Democratic Party is analyzing the situation and will soon come forward with concrete measures Page 3 days ... for resolving ... all the problems ... of the country, ... their firms ... the roads ... created in ... Parliament. ... economic, ... hunger strike ... sacrifice ... left ... repayment of ... in the part ... another measure, ... by the ... government ... with ...

President of the Republic Sali Berisha received the EU delegation The EU values the economic, political and other changes that have taken place in Albania. Convinced that Albania belongs to Europe, the EU respects the values Albania is building and its ambition to join Europe. Only recently, the conclusions of the EU Council of Ministers once again expressed the EU’s support and its determination to continue helping Albania in various fields. The problem of the pyramid schemes will be resolved fully within the framework of the rule of law, with full respect for the principles of democracy. Yesterday at midday, headed by Mr Marchant Et. D’Ambrennou. President Berisha first expressed his full support for the conclusions of the EU Foreign Ministers and his commitment to implementing them. He expressed his profound readiness to acknowledge all the assistance the EU has given and continues to give Albania, and emphasized Albania’s determination to continue comprehensive reforms, to consolidate the rule of law, ... democracy and the market, and to integrate the country into Europe. President Berisha expressed his determination to continue dialogue with all political forces and cooperation with the international community. Expressing his full commitment to overcoming the difficulties that have arisen through a series of concrete measures and the establishment of dialogue, he stressed that the pyramid schemes would law, with full respect for the principles of democracy. In addition to experts from the IMF and the World Bank, President Berisha invited EU experts to come both to help analyze the pyramid schemes and to provide assistance to the banking system. The head of the EU delegation assured President Berisha that fields. President Berisha, describing as very important the assistance that the European Union has decided to provide Albania in various fields, such as tourism, assistance to farmers, credit for small and medium-sized businesses, and regional development, stressed that this would significantly support private business and open up new opportunities for every individual. Jan Marchan at d’ Asembourg, representative of the EU Presidency, when asked by journalists about the conclusions of the visit to Albania by the delegation he headed, said: “I have come only to deliver the message of the EU Presidency to the President and your Foreign Minister. The text of the message is already known, and I came only to clarify it further.” The conclusions of the latest meeting various fields. Asembourg held meetings with Prime Minister Meksi and with the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Tritan Shehu; it was reported yesterday that he had also met with President Sali Berisha. Asembourg stated that “the economic situation is one of the causes of our concern.” Regarding the provision of new economic aid, Mr D’Asembourg did not rule out the possibility of providing it in the near future. The EU envoy insisted that he had come to support what had been said in the statement by the EU Foreign Ministers, and that “there is no change in that policy.” D’Asembourg said he had been informed by the opposition about the demonstrations, but that they “cannot be supported.” Yesterday at midday, President of the Republic Sali Berisha received the European Union delegation, expressing Ministers and his commitment to implementing them. President Berisha also R. Floqi-ATSH

I have come only to deliver the message of the EU Presidency to the President and your Foreign Minister EU Presidency to the President and your Foreign Minister Jan Marchan at’d your Foreign Minister...” ... near future. The EU envoy, although the statements by the EU Foreign Ministers, and

Interview with Prof. Dr. Ylli Vejsiu, organizational secretary of PDSH When it comes to the future stability of the country, a spirit of tolerance and understanding should prevail Page 3

The European, dated 27 February, writes: Francisco Becerra

According to breaking news this afternoon, armed terrorist groups attacked the National Intelligence Service building in Vlorë with firearms. This act comes after calls by leaders of the extreme left and the newspapers “KJ” and “ZP” for civil war.

It distorted the text of an interview given by the representative of the EU delegation in Albania, Jan Marchand Radio “Zëri i Amerikës” distorted today the text of an interview given by the representative of the European Union delegation in Albania, Jan Marchand/D’Asembourg, according to information carried in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs press. The press delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in response to “Zëri i Amerikës” in Tirana, states that its report says the European Union does not currently intend to provide economic aid to Albania. In fact, in the response by the representative of the European Union delegation to the journalist’s question, “Did you confirm a little earlier that aid to Albania will continue? What exactly do you mean, please?” Everything is clear in the text released to the press. says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in [a statement about] the European Union, which was sent to Tirana... [illegible part]. We have put forward another argument? ... [illegible part] “Zëri i Amerikës” ...

Left-wing extremists incite armed gangs to terrorize the cities According to information from Fier, a terrorist gang from Vlorë, made up of former members of the State Security Service as well as militant Socialist Party activists, armed with rifles, axes and other weapons, rode in a convoy of cars to Fier and put pressure on the people of Fier, shouting: “Get up, lads, Vlorë has arrived.” This aroused indignation among the residents of Fier, who, keeping their composure, saw the faces of terrorists among the uninvited guests. The march of these terrorist groups toward Fier took place after the visit to Vlorë by Messrs. Rexhep Mejdani, Bahri Borici and Fatos Çupi. The latter said in his speech that you symbolize Albanian civilization and that your mission is to liberate Albania. Also, according to information received by RTV on Wednesday evening, Socialist Party officials in Tirana and their cells in Vlorë made phone calls, spreading disinformation that tank brigades had entered Vlorë. On the other hand, they informed various embassies in Tirana that a terrible war was raging in Vlorë. According to the same sources, these offices devised a series of terror scenarios not only for Vlorë but also for several other cities. It is also reported that the Brokaj clan, with several elements infiltrated into the hunger strike, is directing and manipulating every student strike for political purposes. Zabit Brokaj, a member of the PS Presidium, instructed the party cells in Vlorë not to reduce the intensity under any circumstances, because otherwise the PS’s democracy would fail too.

The newspaper, already declared anti-Albanian, has now definitively been classified as this country’s terrorist newspaper. The verbal violence perpetrated by this newspaper is more than terror, more than division; it is the most disqualifying element for Albanians. For days on end this newspaper amplified Albanians’ protests over losses in loan companies, carrying them to the very extreme of those protests. This was done with a single, specific aim: to denigrate Albanians’ protests, diminish their dignity and inflame the revolt. It has never happened in any country, at any time, for a newspaper with any kind of platform to become an instrument of vice and turn against the nation, the country and democracy. For many days it has cast off every mask, thus declaring civil war and the revolution of the rabble in Albania. It has proclaimed buffoonery as morality and is serving up political immorality among Albanians as a natural standard for the country, the media, its readers and those who do not read. It is selling, duty-free, the morality it has concocted for itself, and is embalming the Albanian F. Çupi, the man who has made up his mind and his feelings too. In Çupi, feeling has outgrown the flesh that keeps him on his feet. The same is true of the prostitute mind of some journalist with a speedboat, who found a Slavic soldier on her doorstep and for this should be investigated and checked somewhere else—not by the Ministry of Defense of her own country. Blushi’s newspaper, with its live-in father, is unable to get past its resentment toward civilization and freedom, its resentment toward people who generally are not like his father and himself. “Koba Jone,” the crusader against the pyramid schemes, their promoter and the greatest nationwide fraudster? [unclear passage] keeps the lists of percentages hidden; it owes people redress for the deception, which it cannot replace with the daily sale of filth, as the water runs out on its pages. The terror it has presented as Albania’s image is a great debt to the country and its people. The difficult situation will pass after this. [illegible passage] It began in Vlorë. No one can understand, perhaps not even imagine, this real situation in Vlorë. You have to be in Vlorë to understand the reality of what is happening here. A real war lacks neither [unclear], nor soldiers, nor an “enemy” or supporters; neither “horrors nor fires”; weapons and ammunition. Not even its heroes. The heroes of the 1997 Vlorë war are 46 students confined for eight days in a hunger strike. For them, their struggle has been symbolized as one with ... [illegible passage]. ... every eventuality. In their hands you find weapons in abundance, from automatic rifles and pistols to axes, daggers and sickles. An un[conscious] people, hostile... ANILDA IBRAHIMI Vlorë, 27.02.1997 written at the Serbian embassy. ... an easy firm... ensured for us that r, if not the ... , and ... . The people ... must have it good in order to ... the revolt that is coming ... from that ... terror which will not ... the catastrophe of ... uncertainty ... must ... manipulation of ... the ... and peace ... will suffer ... of chaos will be ... [partial text] ... Thus forced ... These ... to ... ... called influence, part of the lesson. ... ZP ... the dissemination of ... in ... part ... protests ... be ... ... explosion ... ... Thus forced ... These ...