ITALIANS AND ALBANIANS: A JOINT PLAN We will eliminate the mafia gangs PAGE 16

THE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR MEETS HAJDARAGA The army is ready to defend the country PAGE 2

THE KOSOVAR PRESIDENT CONFIRMS THE VISIT Rugova in Tirana, invited by Meidani PAGE 9

Socialist secretaries are absent Photo: A.Rama TIRANA—More than 500 young Euro-socialists celebrated yesterday in Tirana the 7th anniversary of the creation of their forum. At around 18:00, at the International Center of Culture, the joy of a new generation was strongly nurtured in order to bring a little light to the gloom of a generation seeking rebirth. Around this central theme, the entire evening organized yesterday felt more like an appeal to memory addressed to Albania’s young statesmen. At the center of the hall where the event took place were two large banners: “We want jobs”; beneath one of them lay pickaxes and shovels, symbols of the direction in which Albania’s development should be steered. Meanwhile, opposite the history of FRESSH, its full story was presented through banners symbolizing the seven years of this forum’s existence. “May it win,” “Free F. Nano,” “PS in power,” “Long live the Euro-socialists,” “Down with dictatorship,” “Do not divide us,” “No to the 7th Constitution,” “Albania needs Euro-socialism,” “Yes to the Constitution, this beginning and the future”—this is how the seven years of FRESSH were portrayed. Ilir Meta, chairman of this forum and also deputy prime minister, briefly recalled the past, bringing these very seven years back to mind. Meta recalled that even bloodied, they had managed to survive in the face of a brutal regime and, at the same time, had managed to reform the largest opposition party, the Socialist Party. He said that FRESSH’s mission would continue and improve until they celebrated the forum’s 70th anniversary, just like its counterparts in Europe. Meanwhile, Meta’s words were accompanied in the background by the new image of FRESSH, the image of this year in power, filled with student conferences, employment conferences, and education conferences. Thus, yesterday FRESSH put its seventh year behind it and embarked on its eighth. The entire West sent greetings to the largest Albanian youth forum in the hall yesterday. (Continued on page 3)

The Albanian Prime Minister meets D'Alema and the leaders of the Freedom Party D'ALEMA: KOSOVO AT THE CENTER OF ATTENTION Berlusconi: Democratic institutions in Albania must be respected, the DP must enter Parliament, and the speedboat law must be enforced Prime Minister Majko, his wife and his accompanying group concluded their one-day visit to Italy last night. The Albanian prime minister’s visit was received with extraordinary interest in Italy following recent discussions by the Italian government and press about Albanians and the trafficking of clandestine migrants. But yesterday’s visit was not simply a visit to the Italian Republic; it was a visit to the Holy See, that is, the State of the Vatican City. Majko’s meeting with the Pope was a meeting with symbolic significance, a kind of baptism of the Albanian prime minister by the Holy Father. Majko also held meetings at every level of Italian politics, including with opposition representatives and with Italian Prime Minister D'Alema.

NATIONAL LIBRARY TIRANA