The DP’s electoral program states: “Privatization will be carried out by distributing free securities to the adult population, which they will be entitled to exchange freely and as they wish for shares in enterprises to be privatized throughout the four-to-five-year period” (underlining by Z. P.). So, as every Albanian can read, only in the final year of its mandate (and not throughout the four-to-five-year period), and only after the main part of the national wealth—what was easiest to privatize through securities—had been sold off, and only when the DP found itself facing total failure, did it remember that it had promised something that could now serve as a golden cover for its failures. But it is too late…

The Socialist Party parliamentary group unanimously expressed support for continuing mass privatization BUT IT DEMANDS: - Full transparency - Economic efficiency - A fight against corruption and the secret and open plunder of national wealth THE SOCIALISTS ABSTAINED ON THE PRESIDENT’S DECREE BECAUSE IT LACKS: - A privatization strategy - Guarantees for combating corruption - The legal framework for full implementation - Assurance that the value of the vouchers will be preserved The Socialist Party parliamentary group, expressing its humanist spirit and relying on its social program, proposes that the following groups of people also benefit from privatization through securities: - Landless peasants and those who have little land - People who did not benefit from the law on the privatization of state housing and are still homeless - Orphans of all ages - In addition to age, the voucher coefficients should also take into account that those who have unjustly benefited from large amounts of property through privatization to date should not receive vouchers For all these proposals by the Socialists, the DP parliamentary group voted: AGAINST!

The Socialist Party parliamentary group unanimously expressed support for continuing mass privatization BUT IT DEMANDS:

- Speech by MP Dr. Theodhori Bej - The President’s two decrees “On the issuance and distribution of privatization vouchers,” issued within the space of a month, the second supplementing and correcting the first, have by now become known through the mass media. The Government, with its specialized bodies at both central and local levels, is working intensively to put them into effect. But today, besides the decrees, we also have before us the comments of the Economy and Finance Commission, which in my opinion are essential and must be assessed as such, because we are dealing with a very important issue that is economic as well as political and social. Without going into technical matters, I feel it necessary to set out here some of my thoughts on this issue, which has rightly made us all concerned, emphasizing three points: First: I am not opposed to the President’s legislative initiative concerning the issuance and distribution of privatization vouchers, as a right of his arising from the Constitutional Provisions currently in force. My criticism concerns the President’s haste in undertaking this initiative. Had there been no such haste, we would not have had two irreconcilable decrees on the same issue, nor all these comments from the Commission, which in fact amount to a third decree and will guide the administrations preparing and distributing the privatization vouchers, as well as all those who will benefit from them. And this haste occurs, as in many other cases, (Continued on page 2)

- Speech by MP Dr. Leontiev Guci - From the outset, I wish to remind the majority’s MPs that mass privatization through securities (privatization vouchers) is one of the most fundamental elements of the PS’s economic program. We have called for privatization to be carried out in this way from the very beginning of the transition; indeed, guided by this logic, we have opposed every form of privatization carried out by the Meksi government through its politically and administratively motivated, abusive and corrupt decisions. Starting from this position, we opposition MPs cannot reject mass privatization through securities in principle; we cannot contradict ourselves, since we have declared dozens of times that this is the only form that distributes state wealth as equally as possible among individuals. But agreeing in principle does not mean agreeing with the methods, criteria and mechanisms of the imp- (Continued on page 2)

We Socialists did not enter politics to secure some chair or to propagandize against our political opponents in power. We have embarked on this path and will succeed for the interests of the people and Albania. In Kurbin, poverty and insecurity are present in both town and countryside, because the people of Kurbin have benefited very little from private enterprise, from natural advantages, or from the possibility of developing industry—chemical and copper industries, in which Laçi had built up valuable experience. Domestic production is almost nonexistent, and social life is burdened. Such was the climate at the meetings held in this district on Friday. In Fushë Mamurras and Sanxhak, the deputy chairman of the Socialist Party and the chairman (Continued on page 3)

Yesterday «Gazeta Shqiptare» published a notice from the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office concerning the opening of a case regarding the «ZP» printing house. Asked to comment on this notice, PS deputy chairman and head of its parliamentary group, Namik Dokle, told us: «Everyone who has begun dealing with the so-called “Dokle Case” knows that, legally, they cannot bring even a civil case against me, let alone a criminal one, because to this day neither the Council of Ministers nor any court in Albania has annulled the decision that made “Zëri i Popullit” the owner of the financial resources for purchasing the printing house. But they have been ordered to break the law. They have been ordered to conduct a psychological campaign against the opposition. They have been ordered to become involved in the processes of the “legal elimination” of the political opposition. That is why I am spiritually ready for anything, because people know who the real person ordering the violation of the laws is, the one ordering the trampling of the political rights of the opposition. He is the political chieftain of democracy, who, for outstanding merits, also wears the “Arsidi” decoration.»

Meetings of comrades Gramoz Ruçi and Sabit Brokaj in Vlora The three mass meetings of the MPs, Gramoz Ruçi and Sabit Brokaj, in Vlora. Kuçi, as well as the particular political disposition traditionally held by the people of Labëria in this city. They are distinguished by the difficult times they are going through, facing hardship as a result of the reform and the government’s indifference. The head of the village of Ramicë, Shpend Curraj, pointed out that this was the first time that senior leaders of a political party had come to this village, and that we wanted to share our concerns with them. … your wish and ours to hold this meeting together, said Gramoz Ruçi. In Natyra, then, there is a brotherhood of democratic processes, as the area and the opposition are also concerned with their work and with taking stock of their political credibility. We assess the Socialist Party on the basis of fact. (Continued on page 3)

We must present ourselves in Europe with dignity as Albanians!

On page 2: A bandit-like act of police violence against the PS District Council in Rrogozhinë On page 3: Sali Berisha in Moscow: «As a partisan or as a Ballist» By LUAN M RAMA