ALBANIAN PRESS REVIEW - Tuesday, 16 May 2006

POLITICAL AFFAIRS

Majko: Meta’s scheme causes division (Gazeta Shqiptare p. 8, Korrieri p. 9, Tema p. 4, Standard p. 6)

Socialist Party (SP) Secretary General Pandeli Majko said yesterday that the proposal by the Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) for co-operation with the SP grassroots in a number of electoral zones in the upcoming local elections aims at dividing the left-wing camp. Majko called on the SMI leaders to prepare their proposals and discuss them at a joint roundtable. “The SP has never neglected the SMI’s proposals for co-operation among the left-wing parties,” Majko said.

Rama awards Salzmann Key of Tirana (Gazeta Shqiptare p. 15, Shqip p. 6, Korrieri p. 9)

Yesterday, Mayor of Tirana Edi Rama handed the Key of Tirana to the outgoing Head of the European Commission Delegation in Albania, Ambassador Lutz Salzmann, in a sign of gratitude for his mission in the country. “With this key, you do not have to knock on the door of Tirana when you come back,” Rama said to Salzmann, who leaves Albania in June.

Berisha “crucifies” Basha (Korrieri p. 5, Tema p. 3, Shekulli p. 5)

Prime Minister Sali Berisha strongly criticised at yesterday’s meeting of the Democratic Party (DP) parliamentary group the Minister of Transport, Public Works and Telecommunication Lulezim Basha for sluggishness in carrying out his duties. Sources from the DP group said that Berisha’s only target throughout the meeting was Basha, widely seen as his Benjamin. Korrieri comments that Berisha’s criticism of Basha showed that he will be merciless on the other members of the government in case of possible apathy on their part. According to Tema, Berisha criticised Basha for poor communication with the structures of his Ministry.

Mjaft: This is how we can control lawmakers (Gazeta Shqiptare p. 7, Korrieri p. 7)

www.unevotoj.com is a website initiated by the Mjaft! campaign that aims at making parliamentary activities more transparent to the public. The visitors of the website will now have a chance to know about the activities of the 140 Members of Parliament (MPs), their speeches in the plenary, the promises they have made and how much they have kept them. Transcription of the parliamentary sessions will be also put up on the website. The movement’s primary goal is to narrow the gap between the current political transition and the real democracy in the Albanian society by educating and raising awareness of citizens about the way the Assembly functions. The Mjaft! leader Erjon Veliaj and the Head of the OSCE Presence in Albania, Ambassador Pavel Vacek, announced the initiative at a joint press conference yesterday.

ELECTORAL ISSUES

RP convenes a roundtable on electoral reform today (Shqip p. 6, Korrieri p. 5, Standard p. 6)

Head of the Republican Party (RP) parliamentary group Arjan Madhi extended an invitation yesterday to all the right-wing parties to participate in a roundtable on electoral reform due at 12 hours today. The invitation said that the RP parliamentary group is very much interested in preparations of the electoral reform in due time. The RP also said that that ad hoc Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reform should be set up as soon as possible. Madhi said that, following the left-wing parties’ proposal to change the Assembly’s decision on the composition of the ad hoc Committee, the right-wing leaders should meet immediately to discuss this proposal.

Majko concerned over electoral reform committee (Shekulli p. 7)

Head of the Socialist Party (SP) parliamentary group Pandeli Majko asked the Speaker of the Assembly Jozefina Topalli at yesterday’s plenary session to execute the parliament-taken decision of several months ago on establishment of the ad hoc Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reform. “I want to know why the Assembly’s decision is not being executed. The SP expresses its will to reduce the number of its representatives in the Committee in order to fulfil the demands of the smaller parties,” Majko said. Topalli said that the parliamentary groups leaders should discuss the issue of the composition before the Committee is set up.

MEDIA AFFAIRS

Steering Council of public broadcaster dissolved (Gazeta Shqiptare p. 6, Korrieri p. 8, Standard p. 7, Shekulli p. 6)

A resolution on the Steering Council of Albanian Public Radio and Television (SCAPRT), drafted by the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Media based on the Council’s annual report for 2005, was passed yesterday by the Assembly with 65 votes in favour, 40 against and 1 abstention. The resolution called for reformation of the Council in line with the latest government amendments to the electronic media law, which were earlier passed by the Assembly. “The Assembly believes that the Steering Council has failed to become a public institution that fully serves the public. This Council needs a thorough reformation. During 2005, it also failed to stay away from political pressure despite the strong criticism on this”, the resolution said.

Lesi calls for transparency of 2K company’s tenders (Gazeta Shqiptare p. 6)

Demo-Christian Party (DCP) Member of Parliament (MP) Nikolle Lesi filed a request with the Assembly yesterday asking Prime Minister Sali Berisha and his government cabinet to provide him with written information on tenders, procurements and privatizations of publisher Koço Kokëdhima, also President of the 2 K company. Lesi said that the government has the obligation to reply within three weeks from the date of the request. More specifically, Lesi’s request asks the government to make transparent the relations that the State has had with Kokëdhima between 1997 and 2006.

Post Office distributes newspapers to remote areas by noon (Standard p. 11)

In an interview with Standard, the Director of Albanian Post Office Arqile Gorea said that his institution has now taken up distribution of the press to the country including its remote areas, in line with a government policy on this issue. Gorea said that the press has been absent so far in 50 per cent of Albania’s territory. “Since the Albanian Post Office is the public operator with the largest infrastructure in Albania, we decided to take advantage of this and use it to the benefit of both citizens and media outlets,” Gorea said. He recalled that the Post Office has not been offering this service since 1992 and that its aim is not to undermine the interests of those who have contributed to the distribution of the press until now. “We will be present on most of Albania’s territory. The daily press should reach the destination by 12 hours. As for the non-daily press, we guarantee to cover the entire territory of the country,” he said. Gorea indicated that 21 dailies have responded positively so far to the invitation to be distributed through the Post Office.

ECONOMY/ENVIRONMENT

Czech Deloitte to inquire into selling of Albtelecom (Gazeta Shqiptare p. 5, Shqip p. 4, Korrieri p. 3, Tema p. 3)

The Albanian Ministry of Economy, Trade and Energy chose yesterday the company Deloitte Czech Republic to inquire into the procedures of purchase of Albtelecom by Calik Enerji, a Turkish company. The former opposition, now the current governing majority, had expressed concern over the selling of Albtelecom to the Turkish company, considering the procedures to be irregular. Following the former opposition’s criticism, Prime Minister Sali Berisha decided to hire a company to make the selling procedures transparent.

SECURITY ISSUES

Ankara decides in favour of Aldo Bare’s extradition (Gazeta Shqiptare p. 2, Shqip p. 10, Korrieri p. 11)

A Turkish court decided yesterday in favour of extradition of Aldo Bare, who was arrested in Ankara on 25 March this year on charges of murders, drugs trafficking and leading of a criminal gang. The lawyers for Bare said that they will appeal the court decision and that the process will take from three to six months. On the other hand, the Albanian judiciary will have to face another challenge after Italian authorities officially requested yesterday Bare’s extradition to Italy as the latter has been under the country’s investigation for three years on drugs trafficking. Bare is considered to be one of the Balkans’ biggest suppliers of drugs for Italy. The Albanian Ministry of Justice officially requested his extradition to Albania by the end of March.

Klosi: Unidentified pre-paid mobile phone cards help terrorism (Gazeta Shqiptare p. 4)

Former head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) Fatos Klosi told News 24 television yesterday that he was in favour of registration of pre-paid mobile phone cards in order to help Albania fight terrorism. “Albania is the only country where these cards are sold in the street and, as I far as I know, most of the subscribers of both AMC and Vodafone have pre-paid cards. This makes very difficult identification of those subscribers who might be suspected of being involved in crimes or terrorism activities,” Klosi said.

Compiled and written by Suela Shala