ALBANIAN PRESS REVIEW - Friday, 12 May 2006

POLITICAL AFFAIRS

Meta: I do not trust Rama (Korrieri p. 2)

In an interview with the Klan television yesterday, the former Prime Minister and the leader of the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) Ilir Meta said that he does not trust the Socialist Party (SP) leader Edi Rama as a politician. Meta said, however, that his opinion on Rama does not prevent him from facing him in a TV debate to clear their political positions. “I do not think that Rama has a clear political profile. Despite his ups and downs, I do not think it would be a problem for me to meet him and Mr. Blushi (the SP Political Secretary),” Meta said.

Berisha’s wealth ALL 4 million (Gazeta Shqiptare p. 8)

Gazeta Shqiptare reports that Prime Minister Sali Berisha has declared an amount of ALL 400,000 in cash for 2005 in his declaration of assets. In 2004, the Prime Minister had declared ALL 500,000 in cash. In his declaration for 2005, the Prime Minister has stated that the amount of 400,000 is a collection of his pays as Member of Parliament for the first eight months and as Prime Minister for the last four months.

MEDIA AFFAIRS

Assembly passes amendments to electronic media law (Korrieri p. 2, Gazeta Shqiptare p. 6)

The Assembly voted yesterday in favour of the government-proposed amendments to the Law on Public and Private Radio and Television. The amendments, which basically change the composition formulas of the National Council of Radio and Television (NCRT) and the Steering Council of Albanian Public Radio and Television (SCAPRT), were passed only with the 71 votes of the governing majority. The opposition Members of Parliament (MP) boycotted the vote in a sign of protest against the amendments. They argued that the amendments unjustly interrupt the mandates of the current members of the two Councils. According to the opposition, the two Councils, which according to them were politically balanced until now, will be transformed into tools in the Prime Minister’s hands. The amendments also included a proposal by the Demo-Christian Party (DCP) MP Nikolle Lesi whereby electronic media owners are not allowed to participate in state-funded tenders.

A pirate television licensed (Gazeta Shqiptare p. 7)

Gazeta Shqiptare reports that, on their last working day, the National Council of Radio and Television (NCRT) renewed the licence of the A1 television, which has installed antennas beyond its authorised broadcasting area. The decision was taken in the presence of five out of seven members of the NCRT while the Assembly was voting on the government-proposed amendments that change the composition formulas of the NCRT and the Steering Council of Albanian Public Radio and Television (SCAPRT). The newspaper reports that out of the five present NCRT members, only the NCRT chair Halil Lalaj did not sign the decision. In a preliminary decision taken a month ago, the four members had signed against renewal of the television’s licence. According to the newspaper, A1 has installed illegal antennas in Korçe, Vlore, Elbasan and Shkoder.

ECONOMY/ENVIRONMENT

IMF unhappy with government’s efforts against money laundering (Korrieri p. 6, Tema p. 5)

Head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission Istvan Szekely said yesterday that the capacities of the fight against money laundering and terrorism financing in Albania are weak. “Despite a number of important achievements, the economy remains fragile in some aspects due to a culture of fiscal evasion, high and short-term domestic debts, weakly-supervised financial non-banking institutions and weak capacities for money laundering prevention,” said Szekely in a summary of Albania’s macroeconomic indices.

RULE OF LAW/HUMAN RIGHTS

London, Tirana and Ankara agree to fight criminal gangs (Korrieri p. 9, Panorama p. 5)

British Foreign Affairs Minister Kim M. Howell, who arrived in Tirana yesterday, called on the Albanian authorities to co-operate with the Turkish and British law enforcement agencies to fight against crime. Howell met Prime Minister Sali Berisha, Minister of Foreign Affairs Besnik Mustafaj, Minister of Interior Sokol Olldashi and Minister of Justice Aldo Bumci. At these meetings, he suggested that they strengthen their co-operation with Turkey as the ties of the Turkish and Albanian criminal gangs operating on the territory of the Great Britain are increasingly getting stronger. Offering his country’s assistance in this respect, Howell said that the new governments always need help.

REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Mustafaj dismisses reports about freezing of relations with China (Korrieri p. 5, Gazeta Shqiptare p. 8, Panorama p. 3)

Foreign Minister Besnik Mustafaj declared yesterday that the conflict between Albania and China over the five Chinese asylum-seekers does not affect the diplomatic relations between the two countries. Mustafaj dismissed the media reports that Albanian authorities have cancelled their visits to China and made it clear that the relations between the two countries continue to be very good. “I have not cancelled any visit. I will visit China in autumn at an appropriate time for both my colleague and myself,” the Minister said.

Government to decide on Greek soldiers’ graves soon (Shqip p. 3, Shekulli p. 5)

The Government is expected to take a special decision soon on an agreement on construction of two cemeteries for the Greek soldiers who were killed during the Second World War in Albania. Minister of Defence Fatmir Mediu stated following cancellation of his Greek counterpart’s visit to Albania over construction of the cemeteries that the two countries are in the phase of discussing the technical details of the agreement. Mediu said that his Greek counterpart’s visit was postponed for the second time because the agreement has not been completed yet. Foreign Minister Besnik Mustafaj said that one of the two cemeteries will be constructed in Bularat and the other one in Kelcyra, both villages in Permet.

Compiled and written by Suela Shala