Statement of the Association of Professional Journalists of Albania For the attention of: Mr. Sali Berisha – President of the Republic; Mr. Aleksandër Meksi – Prime Minister; Mr. Dylber Vrioni – Minister of Finance For the attention of: Mr. Sali Berisha – President of the Republic Mr. Aleksandër Meksi – Prime Minister Mr. Dylber Vrioni – Minister of Finance The publishers of nongovernmental newspapers met in recent days at the headquarters of the Association of Professional Journalists to discuss the serious financial problems facing the print media in Albania, and especially the independent and opposition press. The meeting noted that, thanks to the major efforts of their publishing staffs, these newspapers managed to survive during 1994, despite irrational taxes and fees and the many restrictions in the press distribution system. The struggle to remain on the brink of existence has come at, and continues to come at, a high cost for Albanian newspapers, which, for economic reasons, find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to organize themselves according to even the most modest standards of professional journalism. The meeting noted, with regret and justified indignation, that the Meksi Government has also failed to fulfill any of the promises it made in response to the strike by ten newspapers in August of last year. Through its representative in the talks with the strike committee, the Government undertook to review, reduce and abolish certain taxes. The Government promised a fair and lawful distribution of the benefits of the National Privatization Agency and the National Housing Authority, abandoning its favoritism toward the government press and its discrimination against the opposition and independent press. But all of this has remained mere words. As for the press, the rates charged by printing houses and the (Continued on page 3)

Continuing a scandal All it would take is a verbal order or a phone call for the gas heaters, blocked by the Health authorities for two years, to be put back on sale on Sunday. Arriving two years ago as part of emergency aid from Italy worth 5 billion lire, intended to heat the population, the “smuggled” goods were impounded in a warehouse in their first few days, following an analysis report from the Tirana Directorate of Hygiene. Specialists from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Construction and the Municipality called their arrival unexpected, suspicious and outside technical specifications, and demanded that the consignment be returned to Italy. Controversies and accusations began in the Albanian press. In concrete terms, the facts and evidence needed to launch an investigation are sufficient to clarify the issue. The people who “selected” them, brought them in and distributed them are known and identifiable. The problem becomes even more entangled in the labyrinth of scandal if we add the latest action by “unknown” persons, who ordered their distribution and sale at low prices because of the worsening energy situation in the country. In other words, “someone” has more power than the orders and decisions of the Ministry of Health and the laboratory analyses. And naturally, this “someone” is the person who allowed them to be brought to Albania as aid, knowing their poor quality. The Italy. Controversies and accusations began in the press. Deputy Prime Minister Kopliku was placed at their center; at the time the goods arrived, he headed the Government Heating Commission. According to sources within the commission, it was Mr. Kopliku himself who initially opposed the arrival of this type of heater, but it was not long before he himself gave the “green light” for their entry into that warehouse. Only a few months after their arrival, MP Teta presented a list in Parliament naming politicians accused in the press of involvement in various scandals and called for investigations against them. On that list, the fourth and fifth names were Kopliku and Foreign Minister Sërreqi, in connection with the heating equipment. But nothing happened. The blocked heaters were accompanied only by press polemics, in which Mr. Kopliku also made his “contribution.” The competent bodies of the Prosecutor’s Office and the State Audit did not take a single step. ordered the distribution and sale of them knowing their poor quality. In any case, there are two issues; the first is purely financial and concerns their value. The Italian credit converted into these heaters should, after their sale, end up in the state treasury. But what will end up in that treasury when their prices are at the minimum? What value of aid worth billions of lire will reach the budget? The second issue is political in nature. There are specialized bodies within the Prosecutor’s Office and the State Audit which, whenever they have facts and evidence, begin investigating the issues and holding the relevant people accountable. But in this case they have only remained silent, because the names of Deputy Prime Minister Kopliku and Foreign Minister Sërreqi are involved. For Mr. Çela, just one article published in Italian newspapers was enough—after which the newspapers themselves were later taken to court in Italy—for him to (Continued on page 6)

SHKODER The government forgot the highway; the fate of the company building it is in the director’s hands! November 1989 marks the beginning of work on the Fushë-Krujë–Shkodër–Hani i Hotit highway, considered the first Albanian highway. A special company was established to build it, with highly specialized engineering and technical staff and heavy machinery that had been used at hydroelectric power plants. It was called the Highway Construction Company. With a workforce of 650, it managed to complete the first nearly 12 km, from Fushë Kruja to Thumanë, along with 600 m of bridges, and to build the 6 km embankment from Thumanë to Milot. At the pace with which the work began, the highway should have been completed at least two years ago. But in 1991, work here was halted for lack of funds, with the intention of resuming it later. The workers worked on the projec- ...and other things, filling some deficits. In 1992, they remembered him—apart from the workers, who, after many protests, managed to resume work here, only for it to be halted again after three months. At a meeting Mr. Meksi held in November of that year in the city of «Migjeni», he promised that work on the highway would continue, and would even begin from Hani i Hotit. But nothing was done. That work which had been done on the highway, for which millions of lekë were spent, is now falling into ruin. Even for the current year, the government’s program does not mention the Shkodër highway, begun seven years ago, at all, while other highways have started being built! The fate of the highway in question... (Continued on page 2)

Yesterday, the city of Lushnje commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Congress of Lushnjë, an event of importance in the history of Albania. The Congress of Lushnjë convened at a time when Albania was seriously threatened with being partitioned by neighboring chauvinists. Celebrations for the 75th anniversary of the Congress of Lushnjë had begun days earlier with a series of activities that culminated yesterday. The President of the Republic, Sali Berisha, also took part in yesterday’s celebrations and delivered a speech on the occasion, recalling the Congress’s values. A scientific session was also organized. Correspondent of “Zëri i popullit”

MILOT Fuel station—closed for three months The fuel station in the town of Milot has been closed for three months. According to the station’s employees, Prend Ndoci and Skënder Haxhiu, it is not operating because the former owner of the land, Mr. Xhemal M. Kasmi, has blocked it, allowing no one into the premises of the fuel station. According to these employees’ statement, the main thing is for the fuel station to resume operations as soon as possible; the employees no longer work at this station. It and the owner’s [unclear] and its owner, who are [unclear] of the former owner. Everything [cut off] ...we believe that it must be resolved in accordance with the legislation in force. The secretary of the Milot commune, Mr. Selman Hasani, tells us that a notice and protest have been sent by one of the commune’s officials to the General Directorate of Fuels, the district’s sh.b.k., and the law-enforcement authorities. Yet, strangely, no one is taking action on this problem. And citizens travel from the Milot station to Laç and Mamurras to get fuel. Correspondent of «Zëri i popullit»

Prof. ZIJA XHOLI Prof. YLLI POPA The scientific community, and the broader social community as well, has recently learned of a request addressed by a majority of the members of the Academy of Sciences to Mr. Shaban Demiraj, President of the Academy, as well as of the response given to it in the government newspaper “RD” by interested parties. Many people noticed a certain nervousness in that response, which was in no way consistent with the spirit and content of the letter. In fact, the letter was an invitation to reflection and moderation, befitting issues concerning such a serious institution as the Academy of Sciences. It asked Mr. Shaban Demiraj to take the initiative to convene the Academy and resume its work after nearly three years of wholly unjustified suspension. Second, Mr. Shaban Demiraj was urged not to allow the Academy of Sciences to be destroyed and dismantled, “for it has been and remains the result of the efforts, hard work, dedication and aspirations of an entire army of researchers and scientists.” In this statement, “RD” saw an inaccuracy, because, according to the paper, the Academy exists to this day and functions through the institutes that make it up. This is true, but above all, those who know well the institutions that have been established know that everywhere and at all times an Academy has institutions under its authority, but, first and foremost, draws its strength from the members who make up its Assembly. Since the Assembly is an essential component of the Academy, it follows naturally that when the Assembly is blocked, the Academy itself is blocked as well. And rightly so, a newspaper asked a few days ago: “Does Albania have an Academy of Sciences?” Under present conditions, that question could be answered: Albania has had no Academy of Sciences for three years. Why not? God knows! “1 and 2. From the explanations Aleksandër Meksi gave in RD, I gather that the Academy of Sciences of Albania is blocked because it was politicized and ideologized and had not been reformed; a new democratic academy must be created. Is Mr. Meksi’s assertion true, and how politicized and ideologized was our Academy? If we were serious and called things by their proper names, we would say that in the Albania of the past there was no state institution or civil servant (there were no non-state officials and employees then) that was not subject to the demands and rules of the politics and ideology of the party in power. In this sense, Mr. Meksi himself, for as long as he worked at one of the Academy’s institutes, for as long as he published an article, and for as long as he was sent abroad for work, observed all the rules established by the system; in other words, he too was politicized and ideologized. Otherwise, he would not have been able to do or accomplish any of the things he did at that time. The Assembly of the Academy was subject to this general rule, no more and no less. Thus, it remains entirely incomprehensible how, for the same “offense,” one person can become prime minister while another is declared excluded. Once we accept this truth and point out that, by the very nature of its work, the Academy of Sciences was relatively (Continued on page 5)