Minister of Finance Arben Malaj in Parliament: “I gave all the money to the Ministry of the Interior” The Socialists will ask whom Deputy Minister Agim Shehu paid with this money Minister of Finance Arben Malaj in Parliament: “I gave all the money to the Ministry of the Interior” The Ministry of the Interior “steals” the police officers The Socialists will ask whom Deputy Minister Agim Shehu paid with this money Arben Malaj, Minister of Finance “One of the first decisions of the Government of National Reconciliation was to increase police officers’ salaries by 300%. In accordance with this decision, I opened the necessary fund for the Ministry of the Interior and, with the money I provided, the salary increase for the police officers is fully covered.” Arben Malaj, Minister of Finance. “One of the first decisions of the Government of National Reconciliation was to increase the salaries of the police officers by

GOVERNMENT: POLICE OFFICERS: GOVERNMENT: “Police officers’ salaries have been increased by 300%.” POLICE OFFICERS: “We have not been given the promised money” Page 3

Berisha aims to fully criminalize the Democratic Party

NOTE Does SHIK exist? We thought this notorious agency had disappeared from the face of the earth after the popular uprising in the North and South of the country, because it had shown itself to be the most destructive force of Berisha’s regime. But we were wrong. We thought that when Prime Minister Fino said in Gjirokastër that from that day onward this agency no longer existed—a piece of news carried by all the foreign radio stations broadcasting in Albanian—it marked the much-welcomed step toward uprooting this cancerous mass from the exhausted body of the state apparatus. But we were wrong. We thought that the head of this agency, the man without a profile, B. Gazidede, who disappeared into the darkness for a few days and then emerged like a [?] rooster in Parliament, after making up a few tales about internal and external enemies, had finally resigned. But we were wrong. We thought that the Government of National Reconciliation had cut off the funds to this repressive agency that had the people by the throat, that it had left its people without a way forward—which was a sign that SHIK was disintegrating and surrendering. But we were wrong. Now some SHIK spokesperson appears on RTV and denies a report published in the foreign and Albanian press. So SHIK is alive. Indeed, it feels strong enough to issue denials and say, “not like this, but like that.” SHIK is strong and alive because, before [the phrase is unclear in the source] tales about internal and external enemies, he had finally supposedly resigned. But we were wrong. SHIK is needed as a special unit, like the kamikazes of old, to always be there for him in the even more difficult days that lie ahead. What we are saying is not speculation. For days the press has been talking about “presidential troops,” as if we were in an African country or in Chechnya, and nobody has denied that they actually exist. Apparently, this is SHIK’s new name. But keeping SHIK on its feet, whatever its name, is a crime. These structures are illegal, and by maintaining them, those responsible for their crime add further sins to their file, already opened by the people.

Berisha aims to fully criminalize the Democratic Party The incriminated people are the only ones Berisha has left Organizational Secretary of the DP?… The incriminated people are the only ones Berisha has left Behind Agim Shehu stand all those DP militants, armed on Berisha’s orders, whose sole aim is to sabotage the Government of National Reconciliation and prevent the free and fair elections scheduled for the end of June Page 4

Italian Minister of Defense Andreatta warns: A decisive condition for honoring the electoral commitment will be the continued existence of the coalition government headed by the Socialist Fino. If this government were to fall, Albania would end up in chaos. “It would be a breach of the pact and, quite openly, an act that would pave the way for civil war,” Andreata stated emphatically during the debate, in which the Fino government is the sole point of reference for the entire international operation. Page 2