Yesterday at the SPPA headquarters, the SPPA deputy chairman, Ilir Meta, and SPPA Presidium member Bashkim Zeneli received the Head of the Eastern Adriatic Political Section at the Foreign Office, Mr. Matfew Rycrof, and the British chargé d’affaires in Tirana, Mr. Stephen Nash. At the meeting, they exchanged views on the political and economic situation in the country, the situation in the region, and Albania’s European integration. Tirana, 29.5.1995 Press and Information Office of the SPPA

Keeping the situation tense, constantly attacking political opponents, and further intensifying propaganda are the three pillars on which President Berisha has based the strategy of the new election campaign. At the latest meeting of the National Council of the Democratic Party, he called for and assigned as a task the further intensification of party propaganda, in order to highlight more prominently the achievements of the government and the reforms under the leadership of the DP. Creating in people’s minds the image that, under the DP’s leadership, successes have been achieved and that it is a force capable of moving reforms forward should have become the party’s number-one task and, at the same time, the platform on which the new election campaign would be conducted. The question of what slogans to use before the electorate in the upcoming elections has troubled Berisha ever since he sensed the disappointment and failure of the DP’s reforms. In recent days, accompanied by his party-radio-television entourage, he has undertaken a series of visits to various districts of the country. This time, the meetings are somewhat different. He has given up large gatherings at rallies and in squares, and gone into homes, workshops, restaurants, and hotels. He has met with farmers who have managed to grow cucumbers in their home greenhouses, with owners of bars and discos where unemployed Albanians spend their hours, and with poultry workers whose businesses are being “closed” by imports of eggs, and so on, in order to deliver to his people the great “message” that reforms are on the right track, that the DP has kept its promises, and that it is a force capable of taking the country’s development to new stages. But one must look beyond this television and propaganda “show” and clearly state the purpose and objective he has set himself to achieve through these visits. The purpose is clear. He wants to say: You socialists say there is no increase in production; you say people have no jobs; you say the reforms have stalled—well, look at what has been done. Naturally, those he has met, and whose real value has been realized, deserve great attention and recognition. Through their abilities, they have put their minds and hands to work, achieving results that nobody has concealed or denied. It is a fact that this section of the population has established greenhouses, businesses, hotels, enterprises, and production workshops, but in any case they are few compared with what could have been done and what the DP promised in its program. Production rates, economic development, and the people’s actual circumstances must be viewed beyond this group, which is small in any case—Berisha manages to see it, but does not dare to publicize it. If he is going to proclaim “economic growth,” Berisha must have the courage to say what the privatization vouchers have actually ended up being worth, how privatization was carried out, what its boards represent, what the criteria were for distributing wealth, how high inflation is, how much the foreign debt has risen, how projects are being implemented, why the farms and their assets were destroyed, why factories and enterprises have closed or have been left in a bad state, although they could have been efficient, and so on. But he cannot do this, because then it would be goodbye to the grand successes in leading the party, goodbye to economic growth—the highest in Europe; there would be no progress in reforms and, ultimately, the DP would not have fulfilled its promises. He knows that he cannot enter the new election campaign with outdated slogans such as “the fight against communism” or agricultural cooperatives, as Tiran Shehu does. That “bogeyman” is now dead, not only for the electorate but for Berisha as well. That is why he wants to strike at issues that are vital and nerve-centre issues for the electorate, such as work, housing, school, security, and so on. And, despite all the noise, despite the propaganda and declarations, the electorate has settled into its own course, from which Berisha’s campaign strategy cannot dislodge it. All this is his desperate attempt to make up for what he has lost. He does not understand that the Albanian electorate has definitively divorced itself… …will continue to meet with Berisha, have been left in…

VOUCHERS: “A GREAT DEED!”—DEVALUATION OF UP TO 80 PERCENT Privatization vouchers—between hope and disillusionment Staggering devaluation of privatization vouchers. Why are the enterprises to be privatized not being published? Shoddy legislation—draft law on Investment Funds under lock and key! IN POLAND There is a parliamentary committee There is a ministry for privatization There is support from the banks IN ALBANIA There is no parliamentary committee There is no ministry for privatization There is no support from the banks The first phase of privatizing state property passed by the interests of Albanians as if they were of no consequence, only to be transformed into the hands of a certain minority of individuals who moved about in the half-light of the blue government. Instead of a tight parliamentary filter, which the ruling majority, which also holds power, deemed unnecessary, everything was decided by a government decision, through whose checkpoints hardly anyone could pass. Nevertheless, the government presented this as an achievement of the transition. After that, it was decided from above that the second phase of privatization would take place through privatization vouchers. But all the government propaganda on this issue, which began in the middle of last year and continued until the day the privatization vouchers reached their recipients, was accompanied by the most contradictory statements, at the extremes of which stand idyllic calls from above and fear of disappointment from below. The distribution of privatization vouchers followed the distribution of securities (also intended for privatization), with a large … Perhaps, even though information about the start of voucher distribution is provided every day (the first to receive them were pensioners), there has also been no shortage of reports about their devaluation. The wave of their distribution, proceeding in turn from one city to another, has been accompanied by another wave carrying a dose of disillusionment. The first installment of these vouchers, worth 20 thousand lekë for pensioners, is exchanged just a few metres away for 2 or 3 thousand lekë. The decline is … Now hardly anyone believes its promises. If the devaluation of privatization vouchers was not anticipated by the skeptics who sit in the state’s armchairs with the credentials of experts, if they are advocates of the idea that the state should keep its hands off people’s interests, relinquishing its role of protecting individuals against the struggle of … and competition and speculation, then this formula of management and governance is viewed differently by Prof Sa- (Continued on page 2)

— In addition to the delegates, representatives of foreign embassies took part. — Although invited, President Berisha, Prime Minister Meksi, and representatives of the DP were absent. Yesterday in Tirana, in one of the halls of the Academy of Arts, Albania began its proceedings. Delegates from all districts of the country, representatives of national federations and their trade-union sections, as well as guests from local trade-union sections and councils, took part in the Congress. The vice-chairman of the People’s Assembly, Shaqir Vukaj, attended the congress. Representatives of institutions, political parties, trade unions, associations, the press, local media and foreign agencies based in Tirana also took part. Representatives of several embassies accredited in Tirana also attended, as did delegations of sister trade-union organizations, from the World Confederation of Labour, and representatives of confederations and trade unions from Italy, France, Greece, Bulgaria, China, Romania, Macedonia, etc. The Congress was opened by the Secretary General of the Confederation of Trade Unions, Mr. Alfred Xhomo. The report “On the activities of the National Council during the four-year period and future tasks” was delivered by the chairman of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Albania, Mr. Kastr[i]ot Muço. In his report, Mr. Muço provided a detailed analysis of the confederation’s work over the four-year period, the problems that had arisen, and the tasks ahead. He harshly criticized the Government’s policies, which had created major problems such as unemployment, high prices, low wages, corruption, and a lack of prospects, etc. Mr. Dodë Lleshi, chairman of the Confederation’s Audit and Inspection Commission, delivered the report “On the activities of this commission.” The Congress continued its proceedings with speeches by the delegates. Those who spoke included Mrs. Lili[a]na Driza, delegate from Gramsh; Mr. Kol Nikolli, chairman of the Miners’ Federation; Mr. Haki Disha, delegate from Mat; Mr. Irfan Dushi, delegate from Tirana; Mr. Bardhyl Beikaj, delegate from Sarandë; Mr. Isa Koliqi, delegate from the Tropojë district; and Mr. Fatmir Smajli, delegate from the Shkodër district. Representatives of the foreign delegations also addressed the congress: Mr. Vladimir Perceak, on behalf of the World Confederation of Labour; Mr. Gioacchino Carella, on behalf of the Italian Confederation; Mr. Jiang Lieqing, on behalf of 100 million Chinese trade unionists; Mr. Henri Renar, on behalf of the French Confederation of Labour; and Mr. Baiko Atanasov, on behalf of the trade unions— (Continued on page 3)

According to information available to the criminal police of the Durrës district, we learn that this city is a hub for trafficking foreign clandestine migrants. For some time, a certain group of people has been engaged in trading and transporting clandestine migrants from Greece to the city of Durrës. After staying in this city for several days, the clandestine migrants (mainly Kurds) are transported by speedboat to Italy. To prevent this widespread phenomenon, the criminal police, in cooperation with the public-order police, managed in recent days to apprehend around 20 groups of Kurds, consisting of 5 to 7 people each, who were staying in this city in… (Continued on page 2)

Yesterday afternoon, at around 3 p.m., the RTV journalist and well-known presenter of television shows Ardian Krasta was assaulted and badly beaten by several unidentified young men. There is no information about the motives for this barbaric act or for the attack on Krasta. But violence against a journalist is, even without knowing the motives, something to be despised and condemned in every form. In one part, our testimony shows…, and in the other, the journalist is placed in… [unreadable text] …indirectly by the authorities, which in various overt or economic forms, amid a period of … and …, have begun a campaign against freedom of speech. This general climate also benefits gangs and ordinary criminals. The editorial staff of Zëri i Popullit, while expressing its regret over what happened to our colleague Krasta, strongly condemns every act of violence against journalists, from whatever direction it comes, just as it condemns every other kind of violence in today’s Albanian society.

SHKODËR They come every day to the municipal offices to collect the economic assistance, but leave with the answer “tomorrow” instead, because there are no funds today. Yesterday, a group of citizens at the doors of these offices began to grow angry over this runaround. They say that it has been two months since this assistance was given to us. When they protest about this delay, they are told that there is a lack of funds. Instead of thinking about filling the gap in this assistance, they say, now they are not giving us even the amount they have budgeted, on time, when we have no other income. They say that more than 5,000 families across the four districts of this city depend on this assistance. M. M.

More than 2,000 dead and missing are being counted. Everyone in the town of Neftogorsk is either dead, injured or missing; among them are 450 children in the small town of 3,500 people. A devastating earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale almost razed the small town of Neftogorsk in the southern part of the Russian island of Sakhalin, Russian officials in the town said on Monday. Seventeen residential buildings and hundreds of animals were flattened, leaving more than 2,000 residents of the town behind; it seems they were taking the last sleep of their lives. In the town of 3,500 residents, local officials said that everyone was either dead, missing or unaccounted for; this number includes 450 children. More than 500 disaster-response specialists and several dozen helicopters and aircraft to transport aid and the injured have arrived at the scene. So far, 300 injured people have been evacuated and taken to nearby hospitals on Sakhalin Island; they are in extremely critical condition, the island’s deputy governor, Viktor Gureviç, said. Doctors say they have been forced to amputate the legs of many of those they managed to save. Rescue workers said they were desperate because they could hear living people moving beneath the ruins of mountains of rubble and bricks. (Continued on page 4)