Editorial The Lie in Broad Daylight The government decides to grant loans without having a single lek in hand The Albanian government was yesterday in yet another difficult situation with the depletion of foreign-currency reserves that had been covering the panic of citizens with rewarding banks and pyramid companies. According to its data, it has consumed 5.8 billion lek from savings deposits. In practice, this money makes up the budget planned by Parliament, which has sounded the alarm over this situation. Today the printed media, Albanian television and the BBC, Prime Minister Meksi said that the fund deposited at the central office of the State Bank and from the savings bank. In practice, as soon as this money arrived it was limited and consumed by the end of the week. Meanwhile, the figures mentioned by government officials range from 250 million dollars, to the alarm raised by the senior government official Meksi, as well as the fantastic promises of this government to restore the lost value of money through income from colossal privatizations and foreign-currency reserves. Hearing these figures and especially the absurd promises that today’s government has money to return to the citizens, it is clear that this is another fraud. Meksi, as well as his deputy minister and the spokesman, are injecting a dose of lies into the public’s calm. If the government has lost control of the financial situation, then it has become incapable of governing. If the government promises billions and hundreds of millions of dollars, and the Albanian government is deciding to grant loans to restore the lost sums for the affected citizens, does the central bank have liquidity capacity? That bank has declared that it will provide loans for the settlement of obligations. To obtain a loan, it must have a clear repayment plan and the economic guarantees of the Meksi government. How will the government meet these conditions for the second-tier banks? What collateral will it offer? Where and in what manner? Moreover, the minister of finance and the governor of the central bank of Albania have offered no direct public explanation on this hot issue. Prime Minister Meksi appeared for the second time in the evening on Albanian television screens. But all his promises presented the citizens’ real problem in a blurred and unclear way. He ruled out the possibility that the government would provide unlimited assistance. He also downplayed the scale of the damage when speaking about small and large depositors. This is another lie to the citizens of Albania. All signs show that the government is in the process of politically covering up a large financial scam, rather than offering a real solution for the citizens. Meksi, bargaining the government’s name on television with promises, warns administrators not to leave Albania. This too is an unheard-of absurdity. What kind of state is it that does not stop the administrators of fraudulent firms by law from leaving, but instead makes television appeals to them? This shows that either the government does not control the state apparatus, or it does not want to act. No serious government can replace the law with a television appeal. The conclusion is clear: the government is lying in broad daylight. It is carrying out propaganda and using the screen to calm citizens with dry words, while the financial reality is dramatic. Instead of transparency, citizens are being offered fog; instead of responsibility, speeches; instead of the law, appeals. This is pure political deception.

After the PD’s invitation for the meeting with the PS, on 19.02.1997 PSSH and the Forum for Democracy state first and foremost their optimism regarding the start of dialogue at the round table called by the Forum for Democracy (it will meet on 18.02.1997?) and to which almost all Albanian political parties have been invited. After the PD’s invitation for the meeting with the PS, on 19.02.1997 The PS is open to dialogue PSSH and the Forum for Democracy state first and foremost their optimism regarding the start of dialogue at the round table called by the Forum for Democracy (it will meet on 18.02.1997?) and to which almost all Albanian political parties have been invited. Page 2

The Forum for Democracy invites the civic groups of Tirana At the big rally with the participation of the future Commune, on Thursday, 20 February 1997 at 13:00 in "Skënderbej Square". The Forum for Democracy invites the civic groups of Tirana Let’s protest together At the big rally with the participation of the future Commune, on Thursday, 20 February 1997 at 13:00 in "Skënderbej Square".

Today, 18 February 1997, the Forum for Democracy calls on all parliamentary groups and the chairpersons of the parliamentary parties to make public their position in response to PD’s invitation to the round table that will be held on 19 February 1997. We ask all entities as well as organizations to express themselves publicly without hesitation. The Forum has neither sides, nor enemies, nor morals. Monday 17 February 1997

On 19–20 February, at 11 o’clock, in the main building of the gymnasium, the major paid organization will take place for the training of the neo-didacticist.