Harsh signals from the Presidency. Parliament could be dissolved. The President: We have built an autocratic state, not a civil and partisan one Harsh signals from the Presidency. Parliament could be dissolved. The President: We have built an autocratic state, not a civil and partisan one Mejdani: I am not a puppet Brokaj: the prime minister is sabotaging the army Disgruntled prosecutors over the decisions of Sofokle Koçi and Berndshi's bile[?] "Nano is irresponsible" The Minister of Defense resigns Mejdani, the first victim of authoritarianism The main message conveyed by the final submission of the head of state is that Albania and its future cannot be built by placing hope in institutions and not in power. In an atmosphere of anxiety and police terror, created by rulers with acute legitimacy problems, the only concern of public opinion today is to know, even partially, the truth about the political process, in a context where most of the media are controlled by the government. What happened to Mejdani is not a rosy story of political intrigues behind the scenes. This event contains within itself the meaning and essence of our present and our future. ON PAGE 4

The main message conveyed by the final submission of the head of state is that Albania and its future cannot be built by placing hope in institutions and not in power. In an atmosphere of anxiety and police terror, created by rulers with acute legitimacy problems, the only concern of public opinion today is to know, even partially, the truth about the political process, in a context where most of the media are controlled by the government. What happened to Mejdani is not a rosy story of political intrigues behind the scenes. This event contains within itself the meaning and essence of our present and our future. The solution given to the crisis by the PS parliamentary group and its leadership, by sending a reassuring message to the president, should not be seen so much as a temporary overcoming of the latest conflict within the Socialist family as as a submission to the government's and the prime minister's pressure to legalize the usurpation of the constitutional prerogatives of the President of the Republic. At a moment when many still hoped that Mejdani would resist as a last guarantee against the country sliding toward a new socialist dictatorship, his stepping aside in practice leaves the ruling majority free to carry out on the ground any scenario of its plans. If a real meaning can be drawn from the end of this battle, it matches the failure of an illusion nourished all this time: that calming political crises would open the way for the functioning of the normal mechanisms of democracy in Albania. On the contrary, the development of the situation in these recent weeks and hours now makes clear to public opinion that even in the conditions of the peaceful overcoming of crises, the general spiral created by the Socialist revenge will continue to operate with the same logic. This is the logic of a power which, in the name of stability and normalization of the country, seeks only the submission of independent constitutional institutions to executive control. The serious causes and reasons that pushed Mejdani to this retreat cannot be called into question. The coordinated political and media pressure, exerted by brutal means during these days, reached the point of lynching the president's figure, turning his function into an object of aggressiveness and hatred. Mejdani's retreat undoubtedly also has other party-related causes, but whatever its reasons, the inevitable effect it brings is the creation of yet another precedent more dangerous for the country's future. As a result of the compromise imposed these days, the president will not only face a reduction in his constitutional prerogatives, but also a severe loss of political and moral authority. This will practically give the executive free rein to establish in the future increasingly submissive relations with the institution of the president. All the more so since this is a president whose mandate has never come as a result of direct popular support. From the outset he has been a president imposed by the logic of political bargaining and not by the need for balance and the necessary national cohesion. Therefore, his current retreat is quite normal and understandable to anyone who has known the nature and limits of his figure. From this perspective, today's event also contains the elements of an announced comedy. It sheds light not only on the failure of Mejdani's figure as an independent and worthy protagonist of Albanian politics, but also on the deep and dead-end crisis into which the Albanian political system has sunk. The political system that emerged from the elections of 29 June is essentially a model incompatible with the rule of law and with democracy. Its essence is the usurpation of power, pluralism, and media freedom by a handful of people who have taken the country's political life hostage. This is why the stability created during this period is only a false façade of calm, which does not solve any of the major problems of Albanian society. On a broader level, what is happening with the president is also clear proof that the center of political gravity in Albania has definitively shifted toward executive power. Any illusion that the political crisis can be solved by restoring balanced relations among the powers or by respecting their classical constitutional separation is now shattered. Parliament, dominated by a majority that recognizes neither legal nor moral limits, has turned into a formal instrument for legalizing executive decisions. The courts, powerless and submissive, have neither the will nor the means to guarantee control of legality. And the president, who in theory should have been the last point of institutional balance, retreated before the pressure and accepted the fait accompli. After this event, Albanians must know that the hope of building a democratic order can no longer rest on the improvised compromises of the political elite. Democracy does not survive if its institutions lose autonomy and if rules are replaced by the arbitrary will of a group of rulers. What happened to Mejdani is an alarm bell for all those who still believe that the Albanian transition can end without a serious confrontation with the distortions of power. EDUARD SELAMI

22 Kosovars are housed in the hotels of Kukës The General Staff of the Ministry of Defense had data from border observers that the airspace had been violated, but by Albanian military men. They were activated and took to the air this day was not exposed ON PAGE 4

Within the week, the EC is expected to discuss the possibility of re-sending to Albania in June of the European parliamentary Troika ON PAGE 3

Within the week, the EC is expected to discuss the possibility of re-sending the European parliamentary Troika to Albania ON PAGE 3 Astrit PATOZI

Nano orders the demolition of the kiosks around his headquarters ON PAGE 4

Komisioni Ngjela, supporter's complaint[?] that has made aware and of a terrorist deke behind[?] The PS refuses to read the message of Mejdani and Mediani[?] PP will not depologe[?] before the government's masks Komisioni Ngjela, supporter's complaint[?] 'consists in a of the experience of a criminal case with terrorist behind'[?] ON PAGE 3

Parliament usur- ps the Constitutional Court The opposition provokes again ON PAGE 2

Work at the Batër mine is suspended for two days ON PAGE 5

Milisurta: We do not have the money to build the apartments ON PAGE 5

Teta executes mix- ing, a project of disarmament of Berndshi's ministries cabinet[?] ON PAGE 4