The current president is the same first responsible figure from the Party of Labour who accepted Albania’s February 1991 state upheaval, the signatory of the manipulated 31 March elections and a deputy who had done publicity stunts with a photo of Enver Hoxha in Cërrik. The state of emergency for the gangs is lifted. The Imam restrains the gangs. The Imam: “they are taking us back to 1945” The current president is the first responsible figure from the Party of Labour who accepted Albania’s state upheaval in February 1991, the signatory of the manipulated 31 March elections and a deputy who had done publicity stunts with a photo of Enver Hoxha in Cërrik. The state of emergency for the gangs is lifted. Imami restrains the gangs. Imami: “they are taking us back to 1945” The PD declares that the mandate of deputies Ladorol Laço and Zef Bushati, A revanchist reflex of the Socialist majority Mejdani signs the first decree Nano takes Tino’s place Yesterday’s president before the entrance to Parliament: “Where should I hang Ramiz Alia’s jacket?” The exclusion imposed on the PD deputy Zef Bushati from the mandate verification commission was a warning of what would happen in the first session of the Parliament elected on 29 June. The first omens of this parliament appeared yesterday. Through an empty chair, in the Assembly hall the Albanian people had the chance to glimpse indirectly the panorama of Socialist deputies with the proclamation of Fatos Nano as prime minister and the elevation to the highest state office of the former 1991 secretary of the Central Committee of the PPSH, Rexhep Mejdani. The miserable and ugly atmosphere, a political decor openly displayed even with such a symbol, was enough for their numbers to show that the Assembly elected on 29 June will be content with half-measures and with political witch-hunts against opponents. The chairman of the Mandate Verification Commission, Spartak Braho, opened the session with an unusual request. He asked the Assembly to leave deputy Zef Bushati without a mandate. Later, the head of the PD parliamentary group, Tritan Shehu, accused him that “the deputy had no executive post that would make the mandate incompatible.” When asked by Socialist Democrat deputy Paskal Milo, Mr. Braho admitted that “there was no such case in the election law.” The accusation raised was that Mr. Bushati, chairman of the Property Restitution and Compensation Commission, was in an executive post at the moment he was declared a deputy. The Socialist opposition claimed that his removal from that post took place after he had won the deputy mandate. A comic situation that recalled the accusations of 1991, when today’s Socialists used the same tricks against the same deputy who would become a symbol of the democratic victories in the north. Zef Bushati has headed the property commission for years. Despite the protest of the democrats, who demanded that the matter be judged by the Constitutional Court, the Socialist majority rejected their request. Next, Parliament voted on the Mandate Verification Commission, rejecting the composition proposed by the opposition. Faced with the procedure for checking mandates, the atmosphere in the chamber quickly took on strong political colors. Another important vote was that for the new prime minister. Fatos Nano received the votes of the majority and took the place of Aleksandër Meksi. The formula presented by the Socialists was part of an expected transfer of power, but the opposition called it an expression of an alliance of clans and interests. On the other side of the political day, President Rexhep Mejdani decreed the new institutional situation. His first decree as president was seen as a clear symbol of the new political orientation. Opposition representatives described this as a revanchist reflex of the Socialist majority. At the entrance to Parliament, a remark made about Ramiz Alia’s jacket became the news of the day in the corridors, as a metaphor for the return of old political figures and spirit. ON PAGE 3 Mejdani before the entrance to Parliament; “Where should I hang Ramiz Alia’s jacket?”

Nalako and Shehu oppose the election of the former communist minister as head of the Parliament of Kalashnikovs The PS decides to declare the mandates of non-communist deputies invalid ON PAGE 2

This voice represents clan interests and by no means those of the whole nation or of the self-formed base of the PS After the manipulation of the elections and the usurpation of power, the PS is hastily preparing for the functioning of parliament. Its newly elected leader as prime minister, Fatos Nano, by postponing the parliamentary session for days in order to give legal character to the government newly formed by him and to appoint at the head of state a figure already openly described as a clan president. The election of Rexhep Mejdani at the head of state yesterday has formalized not only the loss of hope of this force to emerge from its deep identity crisis, but, what is more important, it has dramatically increased the contestation against it among the majority of Albanians, despite the manipulated vote of 29 June. Starting from the alternative of the victorious president of the community for Parliament, it is clear that we are dealing with a power in which the anti-reform and anti-national formula seems to be at work. In this selection, the clan and personal interests of Fatos Nano have their own role. They are linked to calculations connected with the election of the Speaker of Parliament, a post entrusted to Skënder Gjinushi, and with the appointment of the president. The exclusion of any candidacy proposed by political or social forces outside the narrow circle of this majority, and especially the imposition of the figure of Rexhep Mejdani, shows that the PS is not aiming to build an institutional balance, but is narrowing its own base and fueling the crisis of trust. Moreover, many reservations have also emerged within the Socialist electorate itself. Yesterday’s vote has prompted numerous reactions in political and media circles, where it has been emphasized that a president identified with a particular clan cannot play the role of a national arbiter. It remains to be seen whether this development will accelerate the processes of polarization and political confrontation in the country. In any case, Mejdani’s election does not offer an exit from the crisis, but deepens it. It is no coincidence that in his speech and in the public profile that has accompanied him, there is no sign of a broad vision for institutional and social reconciliation. This makes his mandate even more problematic from the outset. ON PAGE 5

Yesterday’s president before Albania’s entrance They hide 5 years of Albania’s history The Socialist Party dismantles the gangs Hum with the lifting of the state of emergency from which Nano’s people benefit in order to overturn all the laws ON PAGE 3

There is tension before the Rome meeting on Albania The Italian Foreign Minister, Lamberto Dini, and the U.S. ambassador in Rome, accredited, oppose the delegations in Albania to claims that the economic aid provided by the new Socialist government… at yesterday’s meeting of the government in the presence of the Albanian presidency and the state… These are the questions that will not only receive answers at the 1 August meeting to be held in Rome, but also an affirmation of what these trends are. On yesterday’s pages of the Italian press, the statement by the Italian foreign minister, Lamberto Dini, was also highlighted. He openly contradicted the statement of Gianni De Michelis, according to whom the new government in Tirana is “ready to prevent, by administrative means, the distribution of money belonging to Albanian citizens harmed by the pyramid schemes.” Dini judged that such a thing is not possible and that the new government has the duty to compensate depositors with a clear and transparent plan. He added that the Rome meeting will be an important test of Tirana’s credibility before international partners. ON PAGE 5

After the attack in Malësi e Madhe, 750 million lek seized After the attack in Malësi e Madhe, 750 million lek seized ON PAGE 2

The Tirana court does not indict the agrarian of the plan-making ON PAGE 2

The Albanian ambassador protests to the government in Athens Greece: "hope will continue" The Albanian ambassador protests to the government in Athens ON PAGE 2