Eduard Selami, the current chairman of the DP, was asked in Shkodër, at his party’s meeting, whether there was any other condition for Albania’s admission to the Council of Europe besides the constitution. He replied: “Yes, there is another condition, but this is not the place to say it.” The same answer was given at the press conference he held yesterday. It is not difficult to understand that this refers to the most discussed issue of the past two years, the issue that is holding Albanian political life hostage: the Nano issue. This is the same chairman who, two years ago, came out with the slogan, “Either Nano in prison, or the DP is destroyed,” and who has now managed to understand that the interests of the DP, its strengthening or destruction, do not depend on imprisoning political opponents, but on its own internal spirit. It is precisely the use of violence against political opponents that brought the DP to its present state, where only state structures have gathered around it and the people are counting the days of its rule. Now the party chairman himself has more or less understood that the path he embarked on led nowhere. There is no need in this article to repeat the arguments that Fatos Nano’s imprisonment was carried out for purely political reasons, nor to point out that more and more people are becoming aware of this every day and are seeking a solution to the way the constitution is to be approved. Now that open discussion has begun within this party and the possible paths have been clearly outlined, many other issues still remain taboo, and people dare not mention them for fear of political lynching. The fact is that a great deal has been invested in some issues, such as the Nano issue, as well as others, by the DP’s propaganda and all its structures; and it is understandable that it is difficult to come forward with new ideas and break with the bad past. Yet every day it becomes clearer that this is having consequences for the DP itself. Its ordinary members have the opportunity to see what has become of the ideals for which they fought and shed blood, and around which they rallied to the DP. But they, and they alone, are responsible for the fate of that party, which is directly linked to the fate of democracy in Albania. This is precisely the time for the emancipatory voices of Albanian politics to unite and speak louder and more openly. If we paraphrase E. Selami, who said some time ago that his views were premature, we would say that for some issues it is becoming too late, and we can wait no longer. Albania belongs to everyone, and it is not built with declarations couched in Cold War terminology, with imaginary spies and gangs, but through sincere acceptance of free political competition. The power of a few, or of a group of people, is no longer political freedom. people, is not as if the road that had been started led nowhere. It is unnecessary imprisonment was carried out for purely political reasons. It is certainly unnecessary to mention that, every day, more and more people are becoming aware of this and are calling more forcefully for his release. This issue has now begun to be taken into account even within the ranks of the PD and its leadership—certainly not openly, but sotto voce and by implication. Mean- declarations echoing the rhetoric of the Cold War, with spies and imaginary gangs, but through the few people, or of a group of people, cannot be accepted as synonymous with democracy. This is precisely the time when we must understand this better.

The preparation and publication of an alternative draft Constitution is an important event in the political life of the country. The initiative taken by four opposition parties was prompted by the situation that had arisen after the draft Constitution submitted for approval by the Democratic Party government was rejected in the November 6 referendum, and by the general desire to facilitate the adoption of a constitution, which, as is known, is one of the requirements for Albania’s admission to the Council of Europe. The Democratic Party’s restrained, irritated reaction, and the characterization of the opposition parties’ draft as illegal by DP representatives, express an unrealistic and nonobjective position, a desire to have an exclusive monopoly on every initiative that benefits the country, and prejudice against every action by the opposition. Moreover, there is no constitutional basis for the claim that the opposition’s initiative is illegal. It is true that Article 44 of the Law on the Main Constitutional Provisions stipulates that the draft constitution shall be prepared by a special commission appointed by the People’s Assembly, which shall submit the draft to the People’s Assembly. But the initiative of the opposition parties does not conflict with Article 44, because it does not seek to replace or eliminate the special commission. On the contrary, the four opposition parties have repeatedly emphasized, including now on its publication, that this draft will be submitted to the new special parliamentary commission; that commission was then set aside, and the draft submitted to the referendum was prepared in haste. The latter draft was also taken into account in preparing the alternative draft. Naturally, critical comments published in the press about the draft rejected in the referendum were also taken into account. To a large extent, these comments focused on the relations among the different branches of government, the role of the President of the Republic, the real independence of the judiciary, and so on. In the draft, these relations are defined on the premise that Albania will be a Parliamentary Republic, as it has been until now. One might ask why the parliamentary character of the Republic of Albania is not expressly specified, as it is in Article 1 of the Law on the Main Constitutional Provisions, especially since that article states that Albania is a parliamentary republic. However, the alternative draft emphasizes Parliament’s role as the sole legislative body and its right to control the government. Without going into detail, Article 58, paragraph 2 of the draft also outlines the parliamentary electoral system, so that the electoral law, which is of great importance to the composition of the legislative body, cannot be manipulated by future parliamentary majorities according to changing circumstances. To implement the principle of separation of powers more consistently, incompatibility has been established between serving as a deputy and holding the office of minister; consequently, under Article 62, a deputy appointed minister is replaced for the period during which he holds that office. To strengthen the guarantees concerning parliamentary immunity and to close

The Institute of Statistics accepts no responsibility for the figures served up by Television, ATSH and Rilindja Demokratike. Figures have been put into circulation as propaganda-indistikt, to be used as political arguments. Within a span of 24 hours, the government press and media, with particular and unjustified zeal, published indicators for the execution of budget investments made by the government during 1994. On Thursday the newspaper Rilindja Demokratike and the Albanian Telegraphic Agency published a comment stating that “The Meksi government achieved 99 percent of budget investments.” The same news, accompanied by the corresponding chart, appeared that evening on the Television screen, and was followed yesterday by the pro-government newspaper “Rilindja Demokratike”; only this time the figures were presented much more clearly than by ATSH, alongside what was supposedly a commentary, but without an author. The newspaper “Albania” states that the source of the above figures is the Institute of Statistics, while the economic statistical data are specialized in the field, and since the registration of the Democratic… what material, who calls out a figure and who is made to work for two, and who is interested in what is being said… “The figures shown last night on Television for the 99 percent realization of investments in 1994, as well as those from ATSH, ‘RD’ and other newspapers, are not ours. We do not know where they came from, but not from us. ATSH has no reason to cite our Institute when we have not yet issued the analytical economic indicators for 1994. In this case, we accept no responsibility for what Television, ATSH, ‘RD’ or other press outlets have reported,” they told us yesterday at the Institute of Statistics. It cannot be ruled out that the above figures were improperly made public by the State Bank, the International Monetary Fund or the Ministry of Finance. During the same period last year, the economic indicators for 1993 were published by the International Monetary Fund, specifically by its representatives in Albania. Those were precisely the figures “which our politicians, as well as foreigners, used at international meetings to claim that Albania had achieved the highest [growth] in Europe, although in reality the domestic and outside opinion was presented in other terms and, to put it mildly, was accompanied by words.” But the Institute of Statistics is unaware of such publications, as noted above; responsibility for this speculation lies with those who publish them. Indicators of investment execution are among the most important and tangible indicators for (Continued on page 2)

Will his option be rejected, will he be dismissed as party chairman, or will he be expelled from the Party? — The constitution is lost! Selami advertises another condition for admission to the Council of Europe, but is afraid to say what it is. “I will remain a reformer in my position; those who do not understand me have called me a rebel”—this is how the PDSH leader Eduard Selami described himself yesterday at noon, at a press conference. The latest chairman of the PDSH and Azem Hajdari, the first chairman of the PDSH, expelled from its leadership; Spartak Ngjela, who expelled himself from the PAD; a lawyer and author of the statement “60 percent of the Albanian people are…”—the turmoil drew the attention of journalists and analysts as he left the Conference Center at the Palace of Congresses. This was the epilogue to yesterday’s press conference, or the prelude to the Extraordinary Conference of the DP, which will convene at the “Commemoration” of the death of dictator Stalin on March 5 in Tirana. The leader of Albania’s Democrats, coming from the extraordinary conferences of the DP in the districts of Tiranë, Shkodër, Korçë, Elbasan and Fier, sought yesterday to create the impression of widespread support among the party’s grassroots for his position that the constitution should be passed by Parliament, and equally widespread rejection of President Berisha’s demand that he be dismissed. He attributed the opposing view to disinformation by RTVSH, about which he said ironically: “Nobody has said that RIV is independent; RTV itself has not even claimed to be independent; we still do not have an independent RTV.” But these were not Mr. Selami’s most pointed words yesterday. His political move to pass the Constitution through Parliament was accompanied by a demand for a new constitutional model. “Since the first path and model of the constitution was rejected by the people, a new path and a new constitutional model are needed, and the most disputed points were the powers of the President of the Republic,” Selami said. These demands, previously put forward by the entire Albanian political spectrum in October 1994—the month when the draft and Berisha’s proposed path were announced—were rejected emphatically by the Albanian president, causing condemnations and leaving the country even further without a constitution. Alongside this, doubts about “Mr. Berisha’s desire to give the country a constitution” also became more explicit. Asked about the “seriousness of Berisha’s advertised desire,” Selami said that he had spoken with Berisha many times, had asked him whether he was serious, and had become convinced that Berisha wanted a constitution—a reply that provoked the participants’ laughter. The full explanation of Mr. Selami’s position led journalists’ questions toward clarifying his stance after the “Commemoration” on March 5. On this point, the Democratic leader stated (Continued on page 2)

— Letter from U.S. Secretary of State Kristofër to Papulias — U.S. Secretary of State Uoren Kristofër has sent a letter to Greek Foreign Minister Karolos Papulias, suggesting which issues Athens should prioritize in order to improve the climate and normalize Greek-Albanian relations. Many observers regard this as a very important message on the eve of the Greek foreign minister’s visit to Tirana in the middle of the month. The letter was delivered to Mr. Papulias by the American ambassador in Athens; however, its text was made known by Washington through Greek correspondents there. This fact, according to diplomatic sources in Athens, demonstrates the special interest that the Clinton administration attaches to Greek-Albanian relations. Kristofër’s letter states explicitly: “The American government attaches particular importance to the stability of the southern Balkans, and Greece and Albania will play an important role in this regard.” The suggestions included in the U.S. Secretary of State’s letter also, in a way, constitute the agenda, as has been made known in (Continued on page 4)

It was an operation by the financial police of Librazhd, which seized 70 m³ of beech logs from smugglers in a single day. The largest beech-log smuggling operation involved stacked logs, on and with sloping timber, from one of the forests of Pogradec to various cities around the country. Thus, in addition to the elgërave, a considerable quantity of 46 elave was impounded last week in Librazhd (the branch) of the elave is Mulli Zj), along with several accused food products; the financial police have turned their attention to the illegal timber trade from Pogradec, as well as from the forested areas of Librazhd. The absence of a felling permit, documentation for the purchase of beech logs and plisës, as well as the removal of the destination, constitute, in these prejudices in the documents, grounds which, under the law on the financial police, provide for the seizure of goods. Nevertheless, it seems that spring will be the “golden season of timber smuggling.” So far this illegal activity has been modest, because the forest roads have been blocked by winter snow, but with the opening of the roads this activity may increase, says the head of the Librazhd financial police branch, Mr. Fatmir Venetik[u]. Something makes you suspicious, after all these facts: Librazhd is a transit point. It is possible that the smuggling operations are not being carried out in plain sight of the financial police inspectors of the Librazhd district, along the two sides of the national road.

In the text of the draft constitution published in the newspaper “Zëri i popullit” on 28.2.1995, Article 58, paragraph 1, should read no fewer than 140 deputies. We apologize for this technical error.