- Taxes set the state’s rusty gears in motion. - Taxes are a heavy burden on the backs of Albanian consumers. - Taxes keep afloat a state that is unable to set our economy in motion. - Customs duties will also be paid on food products: such as meat, flour, rice, oil, sugar, etc. - Taxes set the state’s rusty gears in motion. - Taxes are a heavy burden on the backs of Albanian consumers. - Taxes keep afloat a state that is unable to set our economy in motion. The normal capitalization of a state comes when its ?-cances are empty. In other words, the state needs its finances and budget. The state secures ways to strengthen its finances through various means, which must preserve the balance between its wealth and the income its citizens earn. Breaking this balance has consequences. A state that has managed to make the main branches of its economy efficient has strengthened itself as well as the society it represents. Economic strengthening is precisely the basis on which its budget grows, mainly through taxes and duties collected by the state from economic activity—commercial, private or state-run. For every state and every government, this equation is the alpha of its functioning. The same should be true for the Albanian state. But unlike other countries, the Albanian economy continues to live through the crisis of its collapse, with no signs of recovery in sight. The closure of enterprises, unemployment, the decline in national production, etc., deprive the state of the possibility of securing its revenue through taxes and duties collected from this sector. Necessarily, revenue will then have to come from commercial activity involving mass-consumption goods. But while the state secures revenue in this way to keep itself going, it does nothing other than shift the burden of the crisis onto its own consumers. Although they are only taking their first steps in a market economy, consumers are now convinced that every increase in taxes and customs duties on goods entering Albania is accompanied by an increase in the price of those goods. The rise in the price of the goods they consume, in conditions where there is no increase in ... for the consumer. For this reason, fearing the revolts that might arise from below, [the state] exempted food products from customs duties. This is what it says: the following food products are exempt from customs duties: meat, eggs, dairy products, rice, flour, cooking oil, sugar, pasta and laundry soap. Well, people, that was half the battle. The ministerial saviors, who want to preserve their armchairs and prestige, have already forgotten this. Now our people are no longer protected by this clause. From now on, customs duty will also be paid on all the food products listed above. Without doubt, the duty collected by the state on food products will increase the costs incurred by Albanian or foreign private traders, which will lead to higher market prices. Let the state say as much as it likes that prices are not rising. It does not need to declare that food prices in Albania have risen when it can use other indirect methods: But the rightbit do not have a long life. Under the package presented to the Albanian parliament on 14 July 1993 by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Mr. Genc Ruli, and whose customs tariffs were approved in principle that same day, tariffs will rise by 5 percent on all imported goods entering Albania. In addition to this 5 percent, food products will incur a further 5 percent surcharge. So, will food prices rise? The power of prices has felt the pull whenever the state has intervened in customs tariffs. Those who benefit from the increase in customs tariffs on all goods, and especially on food products consumed every day, include everyone who ... even customs employees, the pampered darlings of the financial system who have «stolen» a great deal up to now. They are allocated a certain percentage of the revenue collected to make their workplaces more comfortable, as well as for bonuses that amount to as much as 10 monthly salaries a year. All these privileges are granted when scandals and corruption in our customs offices are glaringly obvious. The unrestricted increase in taxes was finally approved on Tuesday, 20 July 1993. The so-called fiscal package, whose increases ... food tariffs were approved by our parliament after two parliamentary groups had walked out, can do whatever it wants. It does whatever it wants in the name of «democracy», in the name of «the people», in the name of «reforms», in the name of «the market economy». But people are now convinced that all of this is a bluff. Undoubtedly, the squeeze on our people’s living standards will grow in proportion to the government’s increases in customs tariffs and taxes. The government has found the key to keeping itself alive. DEDË KOLA on consumer goods. However, while the state secures revenue to sustain itself by this means, it has done nothing but shift the burden of the crisis onto its consumers. Although the economy is only taking its first steps toward accompanied by an increase in the price of goods. An increase in the price of the goods they consume, when wages are not rising, leads to a fall in their income—in other words, to their impoverishment. Since coming to power on March 22 of last year, our state has pursued a fiscal policy that does not protect its consumers. The customs duties law has been changed three times. And all within one year. On 22.9.1992, the law on the Customs Tariff was approved; on 2.3.1993, another law on customs tariffs was approved, amending the first law. And four months later, another package concerning the fiscal system was presented. The state knows that the people are becoming impoverished this way, but it is more concerned with its own interests. The Albanian state lives on taxes alone. Its budget can breathe only because of them. But this kind of breathing is becoming increasingly constricted. The state pursues this fiscal policy because its plans to set the economy in motion are failing, it is failing to secure foreign investment, and it is failing to reduce unemployment. In March of this year, when the law on customs tariffs, with increases compared with the law of six months earlier, was presented to parliament, it was said that it would not be much of a burden

Protest by the Trade Union Section of the Agriculture Federation of Laç district Gentlemen of the government, As we have repeatedly brought our concerns to your attention through petitions, discussions and various meetings concerning the problems of the state agricultural enterprises and the employees who worked in these enterprises all their lives, their situation has now fallen to zero. The former state agricultural enterprises in the district, with a land area of approximately 4,000 hectares, previously reclaimed and developed, and with an economic balance that met the needs of the employees and the state, [unclear text] employees and the state, under the policy pursued by the democratic government, after the former agricultural cooperatives, suffered the misfortune of being destroyed one after another in a single year, leaving more than 3,000 employees without work and lowering the economic level of 30,000 residents whose lives were tied to work in these enterprises. The aims are now clear. The democratic government has set out to destroy the enterprises, but the workers have also organized themselves into a confederation. Following the democratic government’s laws for their privatization, the situation has now reached what was predicted. Only land remains in them now, as everything else has been stolen and destroyed. Despite the laws and decisions issued, their current situation is as follows: 1. The employees have not received land; the plots in the state agricultural enterprises cannot be divided according to the law because their former owners will not allow it. 2. The facilities are being privatized without consulting the trade unions, disregarding them as a party. As a result, the facilities have been given to the landowners. 3. There is corruption in the division of assets, since only the corrupt and those claiming to be landowners benefit from it. 4. The stolen property, both livestock and other assets, has not been returned to the employees. 5. The wheat planted by the state agricultural enterprises has been appropriated and wrongfully sold by the former landowners, with executive committee employees also involved. We strongly protest all of this and demand: 1. That the land be divided by reorganizing the enterprises into associations under the laws in force, since this will improve the people’s welfare. 2. That the property stolen from the employees of the state agricultural enterprises be returned. 3. That all violations of the law be rectified. 4. That it be determined where the aid allocated for the floods has gone, the culprits identified and held legally accountable. For all these matters, we request a meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Executive Committee by 30.7.1993. Otherwise, we will use all democratic forms and means to defend the interests of the employees.

Day after day, facts are convincing us that the authorities

- Nevertheless, this does not mean that the President of Albania does not like the members and supporters of the National Unity Party On 12 July 1993, after the president’s entire assembled ... delegation and Sali Berisha against Beqiri’s idea, the leadership of the National Unity Party made a written request to the President of the Republic, asking him to find time to talk with them about several very important issues. However, the democratic transparen­ti who has the good fortune to be President of the Republic of Albania—that is, the president’s right—did not agree to meet with the members and supporters of the PUK, although he has not hesitated to receive even criminals of the Gjonmarkaj type. That’s his business. He has always declared that he is open to dialogue with anyone who accepts the logic of dialogue. But at that time he was still a presidential candidate. After taking office, his conduct changed. Changes also changed Sali Berisha himself, who has imposed very strict rules and conditions for meeting him. God bless you! ARBER KORABI

Day after day, facts are convincing me that our law-enforcement authorities are not depoliticized, but politicized in every cell. The law-enforcement authorities must know the law and carry out every action in accordance with it. But the Public Order Department in Berat is doing the opposite. Regardless of the legal umbrella it holds, it is completely politicized. Here is what they wrote in reply to our request from the Veterans’ Organization for the 10 July 1993 celebration of the 50th anniversary of the formation of the General Staff of the National Liberation Army: «The day the army was founded is 4 December, not 10 July. The history of the Albanian people begins with the Illyrians, not with the National Liberation War...» Thus, even from this excerpt from the reply of the Berat Public Order Department, it is clear that we are dealing with a police force politicized from head to toe. It decides when someone should be born and [unclear]. The gentlemen of the Public Order Department in Berat should remember that history and its dates cannot be made by decree or by [unclear] law. Historical dates are carved in the blood of martyrs, not with the pistols of the Shenepremte and Shtambar families. The day is not far off when history and its dates will be respected and put in their proper place. It is a fact that, for the programme marking the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the Sinjë area, the veterans submitted a request, just as the Public Order Department had required in its letter No. 1516, dated 28.6.1993. But at the meeting we had with the officials of the Public Order Department, Mr. Ali Shenepremte, head of that Department, arrogantly refused to accept the completed request. Despite the organizing group’s insistence, the gentlemen of the Public Order Department excused themselves by saying that they had received no warning of clashes, had no forces available, that the programme had not been submitted together with the request, etc. The Public Order forces, wherever they may be, are not the ones who make history and set dates or commemorative holidays. These have been established by this people with blood and the barrel of a rifle. The Public Order forces would do well to guarantee the organizers the right to hold their celebrations in accordance with the law, rather than obstructing them from commemorating and celebrating them. Because one day they will answer before the law for breaking the law... BELUL SINJA

... how ... are ... 1992 ... by hand ... ... work ... cooperative ... ... action to block the roads ... in the village. In Fushë ... (and ... of the abandoned village) ... at this time ... Këndra... perhaps, those who opposed ... the disappearance of the electricity in the levers after ... these ... and ... clash ... They had even managed ... village ... the action to block ... at the NB-ve ... The blocks ... ... when the village lands were divided ... a new model; seven ise received the fruit trees ... this ... This division has brought the problem of roads, paths and land to boiling point. On this occasion, television could not raise ... give it the reported timing ... and the NB-Kastrati were distributed without problems.

Ismail Stafa is one of the lecturers at the «A. Xhuvani» university in Elbasan. After this month's exams, someone is expected to be standing near a kiosk set up opposite the building. There were several of us, «pluralist» friends. And the conversation turned to the difficulties and whims that often leave it empty while the students have reached the stratosphere... How much is a university lecturer's monthly salary? Ask yourself. There are classifications, Ismail explains, but I receive either 320 new lek a month, or, more precisely, exactly 3169 lek. I receive more ... and, squeezed ..., publishes ... come out. I am the director of a village eight-year school. I receive over 4000. Ismail, a talented university lecturer ... He also does ... Trying to keep the conversation going, but ... adds that this was about ... the salaries of university lecturers are truly appalling. ... Not as recognition, another adds, but to single out how the state treats our lecturers ... who have contributed particularly, directly and indirectly, to the democratic processes; this is unforgivable. LUAN SHMILLI

• A spectacular own goal by Mr. Pjetër Arbnori - I read Mr. Pjetër’s speech at the meeting of the DP parliamentary group with particular pleasure and a feeling of joy, especially the part in which the accusations that he was a State Security collaborator with the pseudonym «Koromania» were refuted. I believe every reader felt the same, because it is no small thing to accuse the Speaker of the Albanian Parliament of being a State Security collaborator. But my joy did not last long, because my reading reached the passage that said: «Koromania is not my pseudonym, but that of a relative of F.N. who was a State Security spy in prison». Oh, Mr. Pjetër, oh, what a mistake you made. According to the practices of the security services, it never happens that an ordinary prisoner, as you were, is the pseudonym of an important spy in prison, because if it happened otherwise, whom would he reward? That is the rule of a spy’s work. So, Mr. Pjetër, how do you know that F.N.’s relative had that pseudonym? Two possibilities arise. The first (which is easily dismissed) is that you may have had access to the files (a very risky thing), since that makes you morally and legally responsible; but this possibility is ruled out because those files are under the president’s authority and he is «dealing with them» (as he has stated). The second possibility (which is also the more credible) is that you, who know the pseudonym of another State Security collaborator, are «Rejhan» yourself. In other words, you are in a higher position than «Koromania». In short, you are still a State Security collaborator, only not an ordinary one, but a chosen one who has risen through the ranks. In short, Mr. Pjetër, you’ve scored an own goal. That’s what happens when you rush, write in all haste and gouge out your eyes instead of your eyebrows. JETON DRAGOBIA