1.
Edi Rama
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Edi Kristaq Rama is an Albanian politician, artist, writer, and the current Prime Minister of Albania since 2013. He has also been leader of the Socialist Party of Albania since 2005, Rama served in the government as Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sports from 1998 to 2000, and he was Mayor of Tirana from 2000 to 2011. He led a coalition of socialist and left-wing parties that won the June 2013 parliamentary election, Rama was born in Tirana to Kristaq Rama, a sculptor and native of Durrës, and Aneta Rama, a graduate in medicine from Vuno. Kristaq Rama was member of the Presidium. Edi Rama is a relative of late communist politician Spiro Koleka through his mother. ”As a teenager, Rama became involved in sports by becoming a player of Dinamo, a basketball team. Following the collapse of communism in Albania, he involved with the first democratic movements. He entered the student movement but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters, meanwhile, while a professor at the Academy of Arts of Albania, Rama published a book with various notes together with publicist Ardian Klosi entitled Refleksione. He also became engaged – and later married – to actress Matilda Makoçi, with whom he had a son and he separated from Makoçi and in 1994 emigrated abroad. Upon arriving in France, he conducted the life of an artist by taking part in exhibitions with his close friend Anri Sala. In January 1997, during one of his trips back to Albania he was physically assaulted, in 1998, Rama was asked by Prime Minister Fatos Nano to become Minister of Culture. He accepted and immediately known for his extravagance in a variety of ways. In October 2000, he entered and won the race for the Tirana mayorship as a Socialist Party candidate against writer Besnik Mustafaj. After taking office, he undertook a campaign to return many portions of Tiranas center. In 2003, he appeared before the Albanian parliament in a commission on abuse of funds in the Municipality of Tirana. During the session, he was seen speaking using a loudspeaker, the commission was eventually closed and Rama acquitted. Also in 2003, he won a term by defeating lawyer Spartak Ngjela. During the later campaign, his rivals published some photos of Rama in intimate poses on a nudist beach in southern France, in October 2005, Rama became the leader of the Socialist Party following the resignation of Fatos Nano. As mayor he compiled the Tirana City Master Plan including the Skanderbeg Square project, in 2010, Rama married Lindita Basha, a civil society activist
2.
Tirana
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Tirana /tᵻˈrɑːnə/ is the capital and largest city of Albania and as well the heart of Albanias cultural, economic and governmental activity. It is located on the center of the country surrounded by hills with the Dajti Mountain on the east. The city is located some 700 kilometres north of Athens,290 km west of Skopje,250 km south-east of Pristina and 160 km south of Podgorica. Tirana is a city with a history dating from the Paleolithic times back 10,000 to 30,000 years ago to the present day. The oldest settlement located in the area of the city was the Cave of Pellumbas, as argued by various archaeologists, Tirana and its suburbs are filled with ancient Illyrian toponyms as its precincts are some of the earliest regions in Albania to be inhabited. One of the ancient monuments, the Tirana Mosaic is believed to have part of a 3rd century ancient Roman house. Later, in the 5th and 6th centuries, a Paleo-Christian Basilica was built around this site, Tirana was founded as a city in 1614 although the area has been continuously inhabited since antiquity. An almost unimportant centre until the beginning of the 20th century, the Congress of Lushnjë proclaimed Tirana as the capital of Albania, Tirana is one of largest cities in the Balkan Peninsula ranking 7th with a population of 800,000 and the largest Albanian-speaking city in the world. The municipality, has a population of 800,986. It is also the biggest Metropolitan area in Albania and the one with a population of over 800.000. Being Albanias primate city, Tirana is the political, social and cultural center of Albania. Almost all of the largest companies, media and scientific institutions have their headquarters in the city, the city is ranked in the Top 10 of the sunniest cities in Europe with a total of 2,544 hours of sun. As argued by various archaeologists, Tirana and its suburbs are filled with Illyrian toponyms, as its precincts are some of the earliest inhabited regions in Albania. A castle possibly called Tirkan or Theranda, whose remnants are found along Murat Toptani Street, was built by Emperor Justinian in 520 A. D. the area had no special importance in Illyrian and classical times. Records from the first land registrations under the Ottomans in 1431–32 show that Tirana consisted of 60 inhabited areas, Tirana is mentioned since 1572 as Borgo di Tirana. In 1614, Sulejman Bargjini, a ruler, built the Old mosque, a small commercial centre. During this period, the Ethem Bey Mosque, built by Molla Bey of Petrela, was constructed and it employed the best artisans in the country and was completed in 1821 by Mollas son Etëhem, who was also Sulejman Bargjinis grandnephew. In 1800, the first newcomers arrived in the settlement, the so-called ortodoksit and they were Vlachs from villages near Korçë and Pogradec, who settled around modern day Park on the Artificial Lake
3.
Social democracy
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In this period, social democrats embraced a mixed economy based on the predominance of private property, with only a minority of essential utilities and public services under public ownership. By 1868–1869, Marxism had become the official theoretical basis of the first social democratic party established in Europe, in this period, social democracy became associated with reformist socialism. The origins of social democracy have been traced to the 1860s, with the rise of the first major party in Europe. 1864 saw the founding of the International Workingmens Association, also known as the First International, another issue in the First International was the role of reformism. Although Lassalle was not a Marxist, he was influenced by the theories of Marx and Engels, however unlike Marxs and Engelss The Communist Manifesto, Lassalle promoted class struggle in a more moderate form. While Marx viewed the state negatively as an instrument of class rule that should only exist temporarily upon the rise to power of the proletariat and then dismantled, Lassalle accepted the state. Lassalle viewed the state as a means through which workers could enhance their interests, Lassalles strategy was primarily electoral and reformist, with Lassalleans contending that the working class needed a political party that fought above all for universal adult male suffrage. The ADAVs party newspaper was called Der Sozialdemokrat, Marx and Engels responded to the title Sozialdemocrat with distaste, Engels once writing, But what a title, Sozialdemokrat. Why dont they simply call it The Proletarian. Marx agreed with Engels that Sozialdemokrat was a bad title, there was a Marxist faction within the ADAV represented by Wilhelm Liebknecht who became one of the editors of the Die Sozialdemokrat. Friction in the ADAV arose over Lassalles policy of an approach to Bismarck that had assumed incorrectly that Bismarck in turn would be friendly towards them. This approach was opposed by the partys Marxists, including Liebknecht, opposition in the ADAV to Lassalles friendly approach to Bismarcks government resulted in Liebknecht resigning from his position as editor of Die Sozialdemokrat and leaving the ADAV in 1865. Though the SDAP was not officially Marxist, it was the first major organization to be led by Marxists and Marx. The party adopted stances similar to those adopted by Marx at the First International, there was intense rivalry and antagonism between the SDAP and the ADAV, with the SDAP being highly hostile to the Prussian government while the ADAV pursued a reformist and more cooperative approach. In spite of such militant rhetoric to appeal to the working class, in 1875 Marx attacked the Gotha Program that became the program of Social Democratic Party of Germany in the same year in his Critique of the Gotha Program. Marx was not optimistic that Germany at the time was not open to a means to achieve socialism. In addition he noticed a change over the relations between the two classes. The Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884 make an approach to universal suffrage. The Fabian Society was founded as a group from the Fellowship of the New Life due to opposition within that group to socialism
4.
Party of European Socialists
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The Party of European Socialists is a social-democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties primarily from states of the European Union. The PES member parties are mostly members of the Progressive Alliance or Socialist International. The political group in the European Parliament of the PES is the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the PES also operates in the Committee of the Regions and the European Council. The PES is currently led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria, the partys English name is Party of European Socialists. The Socialists 1962 congress pushed for greater democratisation and powers for Parliament though it was only in 1969 that this possibility was examined by the member states, in 1973, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the European Community bringing in new parties from these countries. The enlarged Socialist Congress met in Bonn and inaugurated the Confederation of the Socialist Parties of the European Community, the Congress also passed a resolution on social policy, including the right to decent work, social security, democracy and equality in the European economy. In 1978, the Confederation of Socialist Parties approved the first common European election Manifesto, the Luxembourg Congress approved the first Statue of the Confederation of Socialist Parties in 1980. The accession of Greece in 1981, followed by Spain and Portugal in 1986 brought in more parties, in 1984 another common Socialist election manifesto was approved at a congress in Luxembourg. In 2004 Poul Nyrup Rasmussen defeated Giuliano Amato to be elected President of the PES and he was re-elected for a further 2.5 years at the PES Congress in Porto on 8 December 2006 and for another 2.5 years at the Prague Congress in 2009. In 2010, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies was founded as the foundation of the PES. The Party of European Socialists held its latest Congress in Brussels on 28–29 September 2012 and these congresses are organized every two and a half years, once during the year of the elections for the European Parliament, and once at mid-term. The same Congress elected Achim Post as new Secretary General, the congress also adopted a process presented by the PES as more democratic and transparent for the selection of their candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission in 2014. Presidents of the Party of European Socialists and its predecessors, there are thirty-three full member parties from all the twenty-eight member states and Norway. There are a further thirteen associate and twelve observer parties, PES is an associated organisation of the Socialist International. Young European Socialists is the organisation of PES and PES Women is the partys womens organisation. The parties meet at the party Congress twice every five years to decide on political orientation, every year that the Congress does not meet, the Council shapes PES policy. The Congress also elects the partys President, Vice Presidents and the Presidency and they may also be joined by the President of the European Parliament, a PES European Commissioner and a representative from associate parties and organisations
5.
Purple
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Purple is a color intermediate between blue and red. It is similar to violet, but unlike violet, which is a color with its own wavelength on the visible spectrum of light, purple is a composite color made by combining red. According to surveys In Europe and the U. S. purple is the color most often associated with royalty, magic, mystery, when combined with pink, it is associated with eroticism, femininity and seduction. Purple was the color worn by Roman magistrates, it became the color worn by the rulers of the Byzantine Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. Similarly in Japan, the color is associated with the Emperor. The complementary color of purple is yellow, the first recorded use of the word purple in the English language was in the year 975 AD. In heraldry, the word purpure is used for purple, in the traditional color wheel used by painters, violet and purple are both placed between red and blue. Purple occupies the space closer to red, between crimson and violet, violet is closer to blue, and is usually less saturated than purple. While the two look similar, from the point of view of optics there are important differences. There is no such thing as the wavelength of purple light, monochromatic violet light cannot be produced by the red-green-blue color system, the method used to create colors on a television screen or computer display. This means that when light strikes the eye, the S-cone should be stimulated strongly. The resulting color has the same hue as pure violet, however, one curious psychophysical difference between purple and violet is their appearance with an increase in luminance. Violet, as it brightens, looks more and more blue, the same effect does not happen with purple. This is the result of what is known as the Bezold–Brücke shift, while the scientific definitions of violet and purple are clear, the cultural definitions are more varied. The color known in antiquity as Tyrian purple ranged from crimson to a deep bluish-purple, in France, purple is defined as a dark red, inclined toward violet. The color called purple by the French, pourpre, contains red and half the amount of blue of the color called purple in the United States. In German, this color is sometimes called Purpurrot to avoid confusion, Purple first appeared in prehistoric art during the Neolithic era. These works have been dated to between 16,000 and 25,000 BC, as early as the 15th century BC the citizens of Sidon and Tyre, two cities on the coast of Ancient Phoenicia, were producing purple dye from a sea snail called the spiny dye-murex
6.
Albanian parliamentary election, 2001
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Parliamentary elections were held in Albania on 24 June 2001. The result was a victory for the ruling Socialist Party of Albania, the Assembly of Albania has 140 members of whom 100 are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies and 40 members are elected through a party-list proportional representation system. President Rexhep Meidani announced on 18 April 2001 that the first round of the elections would be held on 24 June, the governing Socialist Party had the aim of gaining 60% of the vote, in order to have a sufficient majority to elect a new President in 2002. They campaigned on infrastructure such as communication and transport and on their record in restoring order. They were also boosted by achieving the opening of negotiations with the European Union on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement just before the election, the main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Albania led by ex-President Sali Berisha, had moderated their message after losing the 2000 local elections. They formed a coalition of right wing parties, the Union for Victory Coalition and they hoped to make gains due to public concern over corruption and the continuing poverty in Albania. The campaign was peaceful and with no reliable opinion polls most observers expected the ruling Socialists to be re-elected with a smaller majority. Both main parties initially claimed victory after the first round on the 24 June in which reached about 60%. The governing Socialist party claimed that they won 45 of the 100 seats, monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe described the election as having made progress towards international democratic standards. However the opposition Democratic party claimed there was intimidation and electoral fraud. Procedural differences led to polling stations being closed in Lushnje leading to voting having to be delayed for about 30,000 people. The results of the first round showed that the Socialists won 33 seats as against 17 won by the Democrats, a run-off vote to decide the winner in 51 districts where no candidate won over half the vote in the first round was held on 8 July. Another 40 seats were decided in proportion to the share of the each party won. Note that the data is inconsistent and there is a difference of 22,805 between the total and the number of valid votes. The constitutional court ruled that voting had to be repeated in eight districts on 22 July, international observers described the elections as a whole as having been free and fair. However the opposition Democrats said they would not accept the results and they described the election as a farce and started a boycott of Parliament. The boycott lasted for six months until January 2002 when Sali Berisha announced that his party was returning to Parliament
7.
Enver Hoxha
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Enver Halil Hoxha was the communist leader of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania. He was chairman of the Democratic Front of Albania and commander-in-chief of the forces from 1944 until his death. He served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Albania from 1944 to 1954 and at times served as foreign minister. His rule was characterized by the use of Stalinist methods to destroy associates who threatened his power. Hoxhas government was characterized by his firm adherence to anti-revisionist Marxism–Leninism from the mid-1970s onwards. After his break with Maoism in the 1976–78 period, numerous Maoist parties around the world declared themselves Hoxhaist, the International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organizations is the best known association of these parties today. Hoxha was born in Gjirokastër, a city in southern Albania that has home to many prominent families. He was the son of Halil Hoxha, a Muslim Tosk cloth merchant who travelled widely across Europe and the United States, and Gjylihan Hoxha. The Hoxha family was attached to the Bektashi tradition, fourteen years before Enver set off for France to study, at age 16, Hoxha helped found and became secretary of the Students Society of Gjirokastër, which protested against the monarchist government of Zog I. After the government closed the Society, he moved to Korçë, there he learned French history, literature and philosophy, and read the Communist Manifesto for the first time. In 1930, Hoxha went to study at the University of Montpellier in France on a scholarship given to him by the Queen Mother for the faculty of natural sciences. He attended the lessons and the conferences of the Association of Workers organised by the French Communist Party, after a year, lacking interest in biology, and after not having passed any university exams, he left Montpellier to go to Paris hoping to continue his studies. He attended philosophy classes at Sorbonne, but, again, did not sit for any exam, in Paris, it is said that he collaborated with LHumanité, writing articles on the situation in Albania under the pseudonym Lulo Malësori. He also got involved in the Albanian Communist Group under the tutelage of Llazar Fundo and he dropped out once more, and from 1934 to 1936 he was a secretary at the Albanian consulate in Brussels, attached to the personnel office of the Queen Mother. He was dismissed after the consul discovered that his employee kept Marxist materials and he returned to Albania in 1936 and taught grammar school in the French Lyceum of Korçë. His extensive education left him fluent in French with a knowledge of Italian, Croatian, English. As a leader, he would often reference Le Monde and the International Herald Tribune, on 7 April 1939, Albania was invaded by Fascist Italy. The Italians established a government in Albania under Mustafa Merlika-Kruja
8.
Intelligentsia
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The intelligentsia is a status class of educated people engaged in the complex mental labours that critique, guide, and lead in shaping the culture and politics of their society. As a status class, the intelligentsia includes artists, teachers, and academics, writers, journalists, historically, the political role of the intelligentsia varies between being either a progressive influence or a regressive influence upon the development of their societies. The intelligentsia status-class arose in the late 18th century, in Russian-controlled Poland, in practice, the status and social function of the intelligentsia varied by society. Whereas in Western Europe, especially in Germany and Great Britain, the Bildungsbürgertum, in Europe, the Intelligentsia existed as a status class before the coinage of the term intelligentsia in the 19th century. As people whose professions placed them outside the places and functions of the town-and-country monarchic social-classes of the time. In 1860s Russia, the writer Pyotr Boborykin made the term intelligentsiya popular, 20th century After the Invasion of Poland, by Nazi Germany and the Soviet union, in occupied Poland each side proceeded to eliminate any possible resistance leader. The concept of intelligentsia must not be confused with the notion of intellectuals. ”Moreover, in 1860 there were 20,000 professionals in Russia and 85,000 by 1900. Originally composed of educated nobles, the intelligentsia became dominated by raznochintsy after 1861, in 183378.9 per cent of secondary-school students were children of nobles and bureaucrats, by 1885 they were 49.1 per cent of such students. The proportion of commoners increased from 19.0 to 43.8 per cent, in fear of an educated proletariat, Tsar Nicholas I limited the number of university students to 3,000 per year, yet there were 25,000 students, by 1894. Similarly the number of periodicals increased from 15 in 1855 to 140 periodical publications in 1885, the third element were professionals hired by zemstva. By 1900 there were 47,000 of them, most were liberal radicals, in Russia, the Bolsheviks did not consider the status class of the intelligentsiya to be a true social class, as defined in Marxist philosophy. As a status-class, the intelligentsia grow by recruiting members of the working class, hence, the intelligentsia merely are an ideological illusion, a class of lackeys of the bourgeoisie and the landowners. Despite being a de facto oppressed status-class, the intelligentsia lack revolutionary drive, in the creation of post-monarchic Russia, Lenin dismissed the intellectuals and managers, because the “intelligentsia is not the ‘brain of the nation’, it is the ‘faeces of the nation. ”. The Russian Revolution of 1917 divided the intelligentsia and the classes of Tsarist Russia. The members of the Tsarist-era intelligentsia who remained in Bolshevik Russia were tentatively integrated to Soviet society, although the Bolsheviks recognised the managerial importance of the intelligentsia to the future of soviet Russia, they distrusted their ideological commitment to Marxist philosophy. The Soviet intelligentsiya arose from the commitment of the Communist government for the education of Russia. In the late Soviet Union the term acquired a formal definition of mental and cultural workers. There were subcategories of scientific-technical intelligentsia and creative intelligentsia, between 1917 and 1941 there was a massive increase in the number of engineering graduates, from 15,000 to over 250,000
9.
PASOK
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It was founded on 3 September 1974 by Andreas Papandreou as a democratic socialist and left-wing Venizelist party. As a result of the 1981 legislative election, PASOK became Greeces first left-of-centre party to win a majority in the Hellenic Parliament, formerly one of the two major parties in Greek politics, it has lost much of its popular support as a result of the Greek debt crisis. When the crisis started PASOK was the party with George Papandreou as Prime Minister. The party was a part of two coalition governments from 2011 to 2015 during which unprecedented austerity measures were taken in response to the crisis. The first members of the party were the organizers of the collapse of the military junta of 1967–1974. Its founder was Andreas Papandreou, son of the late Greek liberal leader and its founding mottos were National Independence, Popular Sovereignty, Social Emancipation, Democratic Process. Papandreou, a powerful orator and charismatic leader, explicitly rejected the ideological heritage of his father. At the November 1977 elections, however, PASOK eclipsed the EK-ND, doubled its share of the vote and won 92 seats, becoming the main opposition party. At the October 1981 national elections the PASOK won a victory with 48% of the vote and capturing 173 seats. He proved to be an excellent negotiator when it came to securing benefits, for example, in 1985 he openly threatened Jacques Delors to veto the entry of Spain and Portugal in the Community in order to secure more monetary aid for Greece. In 1986, the PASOK government amended the Greek constitution to remove most powers from the President and give wider authority to the Prime Minister, civil marriages, not consecrated by religious ceremony, were recognized as equally valid with religious weddings. At the June 1985 elections, received 46% of the vote and won 161 seats and it continued to be popular for much of its second term, especially in March 1987 when Andreas Papandreou successfully handled a crisis in the Aegean with Turkey. By late 1988 however, both the popularity and Papandreous health had declined. PASOK lost the June 1989 elections with 40% of the vote while the opposing New Democracy received 44. 3%, PASOK had changed the electoral law before the elections, making it harder for the leading party to form a majority government, so the legislature was deadlocked. Another election in November produced a similar result. After a brief period of a coalition government, in which PASOK participated. Its representation in the Parliament shrunk to 121 MPs in 1990, in opposition, PASOK underwent a leadership crisis when Andreas Papandreou was prosecuted over his supposed involvement in the Bank of Crete scandal. He was eventually acquitted and, in a reversal of fortunes
10.
Progressive tax
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A progressive tax is a tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases. The term progressive refers to the way the tax rate progresses from low to high, the term can be applied to individual taxes or to a tax system as a whole, a year, multi-year, or lifetime. Progressive taxes are imposed in an attempt to reduce the tax incidence of people with an ability to pay. The opposite of a tax is a regressive tax, where the relative tax rate or burden decreases as an individuals ability to pay increases. The term is applied in reference to personal income taxes. It can also apply to adjustments of the tax base by using tax exemptions, tax credits, Progressive taxation has also been positively associated with happiness, the subjective well-being of nations and citizen satisfaction with public goods, such as education and transportation. In the early days of the Roman Republic, public taxes consisted of assessments on owned wealth, the tax rate under normal circumstances was 1% of property value, and could sometimes climb as high as 3% in situations such as war. These taxes were levied against land, homes and other estate, slaves, animals, personal items. By 167 BC, Rome no longer needed to levy a tax against its citizens in the Italian peninsula, due to the riches acquired from conquered provinces. The first modern income tax was introduced in Britain by Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger in his budget of December 1798, to pay for weapons and equipment for the French Revolutionary War. Pitts new graduated income tax began at a levy of 2 old pence in the pound on incomes over £60, Pitt hoped that the new income tax would raise £10 million, but actual receipts for 1799 totalled just over £6 million. Pitts income tax was levied from 1799 to 1802, when it was abolished by Henry Addington during the Peace of Amiens, Addington had taken over as prime minister in 1801, after Pitts resignation over Catholic Emancipation. The income tax was reintroduced by Addington in 1803 when hostilities recommenced, the United Kingdom income tax was reintroduced by Sir Robert Peel in the Income Tax Act 1842. Peel, as a Conservative, had opposed income tax in the 1841 general election, the new income tax, based on Addingtons model, was imposed on incomes above £150. Although this measure was intended to be temporary, it soon became a fixture of the British taxation system. A committee was formed in 1851 under Joseph Hume to investigate the matter, despite the vociferous objection, William Gladstone, Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1852, kept the progressive income tax, and extended it to cover the costs of the Crimean War. By the 1860s, the tax had become a grudgingly accepted element of the English fiscal system. In the United States, the first progressive income tax was established by the Revenue Act of 1862 and this was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln and repealed the flat tax, which had been brought in under the Revenue Act of 1861
11.
Politics of Albania
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The Politics of Albania take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, wherein the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government, legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament, the Assembly of the Republic of Albania Kuvendi i Republikës së Shqipërisë. Since 1991 the introduction of pluralism, the party system is dominated by the Democratic Party of Albania, parliamentary elections are held every four years, the most recent in 2013. Its official journal is the Albanian Official Journal, the head of state in Albania is the President of the Republic. The President is elected to a 5-year term by the Assembly of the Republic of Albania by secret ballot, requiring a two-thirds majority of the votes of all deputies. Bujar Nishani was on 11 June 2012 elected president by a majority of deputies in the assembly. He took the oath of office on 25 July 2012, executive power rests with the Council of Ministers. The Chairman of the Council is appointed by the President, ministers are nominated by the President on the basis of the Prime Ministers recommendation, the Peoples Assembly must give final approval of the composition of the Council. The Council is responsible for carrying out foreign and domestic policies. It directs and controls the activities of the ministries and other state organs, the Assembly of the Republic of Albania Kuvendi i Republikës së Shqipërisë is the lawmaking body in Albania. There are 140 deputies in the Assembly, of which 100 are directly elected by a majority of the voters. The President of the Assembly has two deputies and chairs the Assembly, there are 15 permanent commissions, or committees. Parliamentary elections are held at least every 4 years, all laws passed by the parliament are published by the Albanian Official Journal, the official journal of the government of Albania. The court system consists of a Constitutional Court, the Court of Cassation, appeals courts, the Constitutional Court comprises nine members appointed by the Peoples Assembly for maximum 9-year terms. The Constitutional Court interprets the constitution, determines the constitutionality of laws, the remaining courts are each divided into three jurisdictions, criminal, civil, and military. The Court of Cassation is the highest court of appeal and consists of 11 members appointed by the Peoples Assembly, the President of the Republic chairs the High Council of Justice charged with appointing and dismissing other judges. The HCJ was expanded in late 1997 to comprise 13 members from among the branches of government. A college of three judges renders Albanian court verdicts, there is no trial, although the college is sometimes referred to in the Albanian press as the jury
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