- Is the President of the Republic lying, or is the state he directs? - The figures are «nonsense», and the President «falls for them like a magpie» Berisha: «Investments over these three years… exceed 2 billion dollars» The Presidency: Investments over the three years amounted to 518 million dollars State Budget: Investments in 1994 amounted to 120 million dollars Institute of Statistics: Investments in 1994 amounted to 100 million dollars Secretary of State for Foreign Economic Relations: Investments in 1994 amounted to 140 million dollars Director of Foreign Investment: Foreign investments in 1994 amounted to 61 million dollars From the podium of the Democratic Women’s conference held a few days ago, the President of the Republic, Mr. Sali Berisha, found an opportunity to speak once again about the magnificent victories of the Democratic Party during its three years in power. Among the figures the president cited in this context, the one that surprised many people was the figure of 2 billion dollars in foreign investments supposedly made in Albania over the past three years. 1. Investments in Agriculture: 51 million dollars. 2. In the Food Industry: 15 million dollars 3. For water-supply systems: 45 million dollars Sali Berisha, on the occasion of March 22 this year. This official document, which was evidently prepared by the Presidency, gives the following figures for investments made in Albania over the past three years:

An unconstitutional appointment: a chronology President Berisha and Prime Minister Meksi violate the Constitution?! Dylber Vrioni, a government minister and president of the Italo-Albanian Bank, in an unconstitutional arrangement!! - The deputies who gave their vote of confidence on 21 December 1994 knew nothing about it - Another scandal has engulfed the Albanian leadership. Once again, the highest echelons of Mr. Berisha’s administration are at the centre of a cyclone, an unconstitutional scandal. This time, the public term «scandal» refers specifically to a flagrant violation of the «Basic Constitutional Provisions», which currently govern the entire political, legal, economic and administrative life of this country. The names involved are undeniably highly prestigious: Sali Berisha, President of the Republic; Aleksandër Meksi, Prime Minister of the Republic; and the People’s Assembly of the Republic of Albania. They are joined by another major office, held by Mr. Dylber Vrioni—that of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Albania. Everything is quite simple—at least on the surface—and contains three mini-scandals: the violation of constitutional provisions by the President of the Republic, Mr. S. Berisha, and the Prime Minister of the Republic, Mr. A. Meksi; the violation of legal provisions of an economic nature; and the scandalous deception of the Albanian Parliament and its deputies. At the centre of these mini-scandals is Mr. Dylber Vrioni’s appointment as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Albania. This is because Mr. Vrioni held, and continues to hold, another position: president of the Italo-Albanian Bank. On 25 November 1994, Albanian Prime Minister Aleksandër Meksi proposed several changes to the then government to President Berisha. Mr. Berisha, for his part, requested that these changes be implemented after Parliament had approved the draft law on «Privatization and the creation of several ministries». On 1 December 1994, the People’s Assembly decided to dissolve and establish several ministries, among which was not the Ministry of Finance of Albania, then headed by Mr. Piro Dishnica. On 4 December 1994, the President of the Republic, Mr. Berisha, issued Decree No. 973, «On the transfer and appointment of several ministers», decreeing: «Pursuant to Article 28, point 7, of Law 7491, dated 29.4.1991, “On the Main Constitutional Provisions”, and on the proposal of Prime Minister Meksi, I decree: 13. Mr. Dylber Vrioni is appointed Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Finance of Albania.» On 5 December, the first meeting of the «Meksi» Government was held, at which the Albanian prime minister congratulated the ministers on their new duties. In a photograph of this meeting, seated in the front row, to Mr. Meksi’s left, is his deputy, Mr. Dylber Vrioni. On 5 December! On 21 December 1994, the Albanian Parliament gave its vote of confidence to Mr. Meksi’s third cabinet. This is the unconstitutional chronology. We call it unconstitutional because Article 35, first and third paragraphs, states: «The Council of Ministers consists of: the chairman, deputy prime ministers, ministers, and other persons designated by law. Members of the Council of Ministers must hold no other state or professional position, apart from the mandate of deputy, nor participate in the governing bodies of economic and commercial organizations». The entire unconstitutional appointment chronology found and left Mr. Vrioni in the position of president of an economic and commercial organization, the Italo-Albanian Bank. Did the Albanian Parliament know this on 21 December 1994? The decree of the President of the Republic, Mr. Sali Berisha, contains no explanatory memorandum. Rilindja Demokratike—the government’s daily newspaper—publishes brief biographies of the three new ministers, Brojka, Laço and Frashëri, but unfortunately and strangely forgets the fourth and most important one, Deputy Prime Minister Vrioni. Members of the Albanian Parliament told «Zëri» yesterday that nobody had informed them that Mr. Vrioni was president of the Italo-Albanian Bank. Indeed, Prime Minister Meksi, in his address to the deputies—although he repeatedly spoke about the position of deputy prime minister and minister of finance—said nothing about Mr. Vrioni’s second position. After all this, anyone would ask: Why was the Constitution violated? The appearance—the outward face—of the scandal has only the «unconstitutional» aspect, on a spectacular scale. Inside, everything is heated and connected to a major financial scandal.

Yesterday, PS Deputy Chairman Professor Servet Pëllumbi held a meeting with the chairman of the National Unity Party, Hidajet Beqiri. Yesterday, PS Deputy Secretary Professor Servet Pëllumbi held a meeting with the chairman of the PUK, the National Unity Party, Hidajet Beqiri. The meeting was attended by PS Vice-Chairman Namik Dokle and PUK Vice-Chairman Professor Bedri Dedja. During the meeting, views were exchanged on the situation in the country and on the efforts being made by extremist elements in the government and the PD to heighten tensions and divert people’s attention from the hardships caused by the PD’s corrupt and incompetent governance. It is the moral duty of all Albanian political forces, left and right, to come together and condemn this strategy of tension pursued by the Berisha regime. The monopoly on power and true democracy does not belong to presidential podiums, but solely to the free vote of the people. The meeting was held in a constructive spirit. PS PRESS SPOKESPERSON

Foreign investments Democratic Women’s event Mr. Sali Berisha, once again spoke the figure of 2 billion dollars in investments supposedly made in Albania, according to the president, over the past three years. Here is what the president said verbatim. «It is enough here to recall that investments over these three years, made from the state budget or through loans and aid from friendly countries, international financial institutions, foreign and Albanian private firms and companies, Albanian emigrants or individuals from the old diaspora, exceed 2 billion dollars. (“RD”, 19 April 1995, page 2, first column, paragraph 3.) Although the figure of 2 billion dollars in investments is supposedly payable by donors to date (even though the president says “let us recall”) and has astonished readers, we once again turned to the official statistics published so far to verify how true the above figure mentioned by the president is. Because if this figure is true, the natural question arises: where are the projects built with these 2 billion dollars in investments? What does the Presidency’s official document say? First, we turned to the official document distributed to journalists at the latest press conference organized by President of the Republic This official document, investments 4. For existing hydroelectric power stations: 54 million dollars. 5. For oil exploration: 105 million dollars. 6. For Tourism: 78 million dollars. 7. For national roads: 40 million dollars. 8. For telecommunications: 50 million dollars. 9. For Light Industry: 40 million dollars. 10. For village roads: 40 million dollars. TOTAL: 518 million dollars. How accurate these figures presented in this official document are, we will show below. But even if we accept them as true, they amount to only 518 million dollars in investments. So where does the president get the figure of 2 billion dollars in investments? The document in question says that «investments in small-scale privatization and small enterprises are not included», but the figures for investments in this type of privatization that we will give below are so negligible that they cannot raise this figure from 518 million to 2 billion dollars. In the figure of 2 billion dollars in investments, the President of the Republic also includes investments by refugees and long-standing emigrants. But to date we know of no official statistics on the amount of money sent in by refugees, let alone the amount of their private investments. It is well known that most of their money is used to support their families in Albania. From what we have said above, the figure of 2 billion dollars mentioned recently by the President of the Re... (Continued on page 3)

After being displayed in Tirana, samples of goods manufactured in the Russian Federation were made available to businesses in Elbasan Prefecture. Stands displaying various products, such as pipes, machinery, construction materials, plastic products, etc., were set up in the foyer of the «Skampa» theatre. Besides businesspeople who had come from several districts, local government representatives also attended the ceremony. The Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Albania, Viktor Neruballov, was also present.

An anti-democratic act The phenomenon of opposition newspapers being burned by PD fanatics has reappeared after three years. Such an ugly, anti-democratic gesture took place in Selenicë. Anti-democratic elements burned dozens of copies of «Zëri i Popullit» and «Koha Jonë» intended for Selenicë. This act is a concrete expression of the growing social tension that is reaching a peak ahead of the new elections. Who will stop such actions from being carried out? A request for an «earthquake» (!) It was the municipal council of the city of Gjirokastër itself that now requested the same municipal housing enterprise, during the review of a report on the financial audit conducted there. Fulfilling this request could ...be accompanied by a general cleanup of the city’s rubbish, since, as is known, earthquakes are also accompanied by large cracks and ruptures. One-day strike in Gramsh Schools in the Gramsh district remained closed on Thursday. In protest at the government’s silence over meeting their demands, 840 teachers walked out of their classes. Without waiting for Saturday, the day on which a national strike is said to take place, Gramsh trade unionists, repeatedly disappointed by the deals struck by the central union leaders, decided to declare their strike two days early. Meanwhile, the teachers’ strike has also been supported by nearly 400 health workers and telecommunications employees. A few days ago, the Trade Union Confederation organized a protest rally in Gramsh, where dissatisfaction with the way the current government is governing was expressed. Traders—the «Bank» Many traders who do business with Regjin set off on their journeys dressed and «bunkered» in money. Declaring it at the border is a small matter compared with the great tension (they carry tens of millions, while the big banks themselves are attacked for less); in the districts there are banks and the losses they incur from exchanging inevitably... The economic ties we have with this country are well known. Therefore, it would be appropriate to discuss setting up a joint bank, or some other arrangement that banking specialists deem suitable—an institution that would facilitate and encourage everything in economic relations. More attention to flower gardens This is the first year in this period that the flower gardens of Peshkopi have been planted and have taken on the colours of the season. On the city’s main boulevard, in the spaces within the neighbourhoods and beside the greenery enterprise, work has been quietly under way to prepare the soil and plant grasses of the gramini-... The roses and flowers ... [text cut off]

Following the one-hour strike a few days ago, education and health workers have gone on a one-day strike today. The separate efforts made by the leaders of the Independent Trade Unions, as well as by the Federation of Teachers and the Federation of Health Trade Unions, with Deputy Prime Minister Shehi and with Ministers Blloka and Dajçi produced no result. The main point of disagreement concerns the demand for wage increases. The Independent Trade Union asks for 25 percent, the Confederation 25 percent, the Confederation of Trade Unions 40 percent, while the Government agrees to a 10 percent increase in wages. The Independent Trade Union, although asking for a 25 percent wage increase, wants to be the only union, but the Government is no longer listening; the unions cannot even reach agreement with one another. Under these circumstances, organized a few days ago ... the Confederation of Trade Unions ... invited the leaders of the other Independent Trade Union to cooperate in defending workers’ interests. But the heads of that union responded negatively to the invitation, calling it «demagoguery» that leads the trade-union struggle astray and harms their interests. Nevertheless, the disagreements among the union leaders are very mild compared with those in the schools, where teachers, regardless of which union they belong to, are ready to intensify the struggle and fulfill their demands, which, under conditions where wages are being squeezed and the cost of living is always very high, are becoming increasingly urgent. Health workers are also on strike today, without wanting to, as they regard it as a day of leave. They see the contracts and believe that their rights, like those of teachers in democratic countries, have been left unprotected.

- A message addressed to the families of martyrs and to the bases of LANÇ is approved. The history of Albania textbook for secondary schools is unanimously denounced in a statement as material that distorts and falsifies historical and scientific truth. Yesterday, the National Committee of LANÇ Veterans of the Albanian People met. The chairmen of the district committees of LANÇ veterans, as well as other veterans, were also invited. The meeting was opened by comrade Pirro Dodbiba, chairman of the National Committee of LANÇ Veterans. On behalf of the Presidium of the National Committee of LANÇ Veterans, a report was delivered by the secretary of this Committee, comrade Qamil Poda, concerning the work carried out and the tasks to be undertaken by 9 May. On 9 May, commemorative activities about Nazifascism will be organized. The report showed that the National Committee had «strictly» adhered to the «Statute of the Veterans’ Program». The National Committee, its body and the district committees of LANÇ veterans have worked and stood against distortions and falsifications of history, denouncing them. «Open and free»! They have not accepted them; they have opposed and denounced the actions of the so-called «revisionists» who allegedly sought unification. The National Committee has maintained positions that are ... (Continued on page 2)