The parties of the “Union for Democracy”—the Democratic Party, the Legality Movement Party, the Christian Democratic Party, the Social Democratic Union Party, the Albanian Democratic Union Party, the Association of Democratic and Anti-Communist Political Persecuted, the Independent Miners’ Union, the National Associations “Kosova,” “Çamëria” and “Fan Noli,” the National Association for the Return of the Promised Money, and the Small and Medium-Sized Businessmen’s Union—invite all their members and supporters, as well as all the citizens of Tirana, to a peaceful rally on Sunday, 12 October 1997, at 11:00, to demand: - an end to all acts of violence and persecution against the Albanian opposition; - the return of the money promised by the Socialist Party and Prime Minister Nano; - increases and indexation of workers’ wages; - the removal of taxes on low wages; - lower taxes for small and medium-sized businesses. [Photo of a crowd with a banner]

The dispute between government officials and VEFA continues. Alimuçaj: Government officials will leave Albania in three months [Photo of a seated man, his head resting on his hand]

Albanians are becoming increasingly convinced each day that, for more than two months, they have been governed by a deceitful prime minister and a pyramid government, whose end seems destined to be the same as that of all pyramid schemes. For a long time, the Albanian prime minister has been competing with the Finance Minister in choosing thuggish language with which to insult the heads of the companies that remain in the investment-scheme business, while the citizens of this country wait for him to keep his much-publicized promise made in Flag Square to return and compensate them for their lost money. The serious accusations Nano has made against the heads of the investment companies, the insults and threats—which have in many cases been accompanied by serious financial speculation and arbitrary measures—are the path the prime minister has chosen to evade the simple responsibility that all the Albanians who trusted him on 9 June expect him to fulfill. “When will he return the promised money?” Those who gave Nano their vote on 29 June solely because of his promise that, after coming to power, he would ... successfully smooth things over in Flag Square, do not care at all who wins the disputes between the prime minister and Alimucaj. They are not even interested in the prime minister’s level of decorum, which is far below that of Alimucaj and the other bosses and former bosses of the pyramid schemes, because they are waiting for just one answer: what about the promised money? But although many citizens are still unclear about what the structures left behind by the major investment companies really represent, since the transparency process has not yet been completed, almost everyone is gradually reaching the conclusion that they have been deceived in the vilest way by the current prime minister and government. And if tomorrow it is proven, with irrefutable evidence and testimony, that all the investment firms were fraudulent pyramid schemes, this would only strengthen Albanians’ conviction that Fatos Nano is the chief deceiver. Put more clearly, even if it were conclusively proven that VEFA was—conclusively proven that VEFA was one of the companies whose financial administrators were members of the Socialist Party, all the pyramid schemes, and Nano’s and Malaj’s disputes with the bosses of the schemes, would be nothing other than an ordinary fight among their own kind; in this case, the person who should have had no right to accuse anyone of fraud should have been Prime Minister Nano. If the companies’ pyramid schemes robbed Albanians of some of their savings, Fatos Nano and his party robbed them of stability and peace of mind, of their 29 June vote, and of the hope that the phenomenon of pyramid schemes would no longer threaten Albania. If the names of the bosses of the investment firms are forgotten for a while, Fatos Nano’s name will remain in this country’s history as the prime minister of the great fraud, at the head of a pyramid government born of the 29 June elections, held and violated by shorit, held and violated by shorit, held and violated by shorit. Because it is entirely acceptable in a society to have ordinary fraudsters and mafia gangsters, who, when discovered, are then brought to justice. But it is completely intolerable for a country to be governed by a prime minister who has deceived and lulled his citizens, in the strangest and most public manner, so that there is absolutely no need for justice to change 16. Fatos Nano is now a proven deceiver, and precisely for that reason his hold on power will not last long.

The DP deputy joins the parliamentary delegation to the annual assembly of the North Atlantic Assembly Murders, imprisonment, torture and ill-treatment of political opponents, and extreme poverty for all Albanians are unfortunately taking hold in Albania ON PAGE 3

The miners’ strike in Memaliaj continues. Today is the fifth day ON PAGE 3

Italy: Left-wing coalition government falls ROME, Enter ANSA/ - Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi announced his resignation yesterday, after the Communists refused to support his government. Romano Prodi announced his resignation yesterday after the Communists withdrew from the cabinet. Prodi, 58, said he would hold talks with President Oskar Luixhi Skalfaro yesterday afternoon. The fall of Italy’s 55th government since the end of the Second World War came after the Communists rejected the prime minister’s appeal to maintain their support for his cabinet. In a heated parliamentary debate, the Communists rejected Prodi’s compromise agreement on the 1998 budget. Prodi had asked the Communists not to withdraw their support for the sake of European unity. “We are just one step away from achieving our goal,” the Italian prime minister told Parliament, referring to the European monetary union planned for 1999. On Tuesday, Prodi said the fall of his government would halt the country’s reform and jeopardize its membership in the European Monetary Union. He said that if the center-left cabinet fell, it would be “the craziest crisis in the world.” Prodi’s fall represents a setback for Italy’s efforts to integrate into the European Union’s monetary reform. How the Italian crisis could be resolved Skalfaro is most likely to begin consultations with political forces in the coming days to decide whether a new government can be formed. After consultations with former heads of state, former parliamentary speakers and party leaders, Skalfaro may decide to ask someone else to form a new government. If a sufficient number of political forces call for early elections, Skalfaro may have no alternative but to dissolve Parliament three and a half years before the end of its term. However, Skalfaro is said to be opposed to early elections, because they would disrupt plans to implement institutional and constitutional reforms, which are expected to be presented in both chambers of Parliament at the end of the year. Skalfaro may ask Prodi to try to lead a new coalition. In this scenario, Prodi would begin consultations with political parties to determine whether he could form a new majority. But Prodi said that the coalition that was brought down, which no longer has a majority because of the withdrawal of Rifondazione Comunista, is the only government he would want to lead. But he may be persuaded to lead a new coalition. Opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi said Italy needs a government of a multiparty coalition to ensure rapid membership in Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). If Prodi is asked to form a new government but fails to do so, the head of state may ask someone else to try. The President could ask an institutional figure, such as a former central banker or parliamentary leader, to try to form a non-political technocratic government. If no government can be formed, Skalfaro will have no choice but to dissolve Parliament and call early elections.

Protests continue in Skënderbej Square If TV wants to find a scoop, Pollo said, it should have been at the Hotel Rogner three nights ago and filmed Nano late at night, when, completely drunk from glasses of whiskey, he ended up in the pool behind the hotel together with his adviser ON PAGE 3

The major award comes as a surprise for the Italian playwright “I am surprised” was Dario Fo’s first reaction when he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday. He heard the news while driving his car along the Rome–Milan motorway. “I got the news from a car that pulled up alongside mine, shouting: ‘Dario! You have won the Nobel Prize,’” he added. The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Italian playwright and actor Dario Fo, the Royal Swedish Academy announced in Stockholm on Thursday. In Albania, Fo is known through two of his works, “A Leg Stolen Brings Good Luck in Love” and “Not All Thieves Come to Harm.” The first was staged at the National Theatre, directed by Mitko Kutali, while the other was performed on the stage of the Academy of Arts by drama students. Described as a “master of Italian comedy,” Dario Fo is not only a comedian but also a director, screenwriter, and actor. His hobby is long-distance running, and he has said that if he had not chosen comedy, he would have become a very good athlete.