MAK-NEWS 24/03/95 (M.I.C.) [**]
From: " Demetrios E. Paneras" < dep@bu.edu>
Ta nea ths hmeras, opws ta eide to MIC:
[01] ** DIALOGUE WITH EMBARGO
[02] * IN MACEDONIA - UNPREDEP
[03] . INITIATIVE OF SUHARTO BEFORE GLIGOROV
[04] * DEMANDS FOR CHANGING OF CONSTITUTION
[Gia tis apaithseis twn Albanwn gia allagh toy Syntagmatos.]
[05] . PRISONERS FROM " IDRIZOVO" GO ON STRIKE
[06] ** REVIEW OF THE MACEDONIAN PRESS: " PULS" : EXCERPTS FROM INTERVIEW
WITH FOREIGN MINISTER STEVO CRVENKOVSKI
[" Nomiko" to qema toy Eyrwpaikoy Dikasthrioy, " politika" ta
problhmata Ellados-pGDM. Sxolia gia kai thn epanaproseggish
Ellados-Albanias.]
MONEY - Economy, Business, Finance & Market
[07] . CEI MINISTERIAL MEETING
[08] . PRIVATIZATION - WHO WILL BUY THE TOBACCO COMBINES
[09] . PRIVATIZATION - PRIVATIZATION OF TRADE FIRMS GOING SLOWLY
[10] . BANKRUPTCY WORKERS - DEMANDS FOR SURVIVAL
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SKOPJE, 24 MARCH, 1995 (MIC)
[01] DIALOGUE WITH EMBARGO
The Greek Government has accepted the invitation of the
special mediator of the UN Cyrus Vance for the resumption of the
direct negotiations with RM on April 6, this year. The only thing
still left uncertain is whether the head of the Greek diplomacy
Karolos Papoulias will personally attend the first phase of
negotiations, Makfaks reports.
Government spokesperson Venizelos stated yesterday
before the press that it would come to dialogue at the UN with
the embargo still in force and with the well-known Greek stances.
Venizelos explained that the UN, through Cyrus Vance, are asking
for a response to the question whether Greece would lift the
embargo, if Skopje made " clear moves" in relation to the
Constitution and symbols. According to Venizelos, " Greece is
ready to approach some kind of consultations with the presence of
Mr. Vance. That could take place on April 6, with the embargo in
effect and the already known Greek stances."
In addition to parts of the statement by minister
Crvenkovski from two days ago, the press in Greece also convey
the assessments of the diplomatic circles in the U.S., according
to which the subject of the talks would be a so-called " small
package," which applies to the changing of the controversial
articles in the Constitution. For now, only the promises of
changing the flag are mentioned, the agreement for non-violation
of the borders and the lifting of the embargo, while the question
in relation to the name is not mentioned at all.
[02] IN MACEDONIA - UNPREDEP
The UN Security Council will most probably give its
peacekeeping forces in Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
different names, but they will still remain within the framework
of the Central Command in Zagreb, AFP reports from western
diplomatic sources.
The name UNPROFOR will be retained in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, while in Macedonia it will be changed to Preventive
engagement of the UN, that is, UNPREDEP, while the Croatia - to
UN Operation for renewal of confidence, that is UNCRO.
One of the resolutions of the Security Council will
encompass the creation of separate UN forces in Macedonia,
without the changing of their present mandate, the same agency
reports.
[03] INITIATIVE OF SUHARTO BEFORE GLIGOROV
The President of Macedonia Kiro Gligorov yesterday
received the ambassador Nana Sutresna, special envoy of the
President of Indonesia Suharto. The Indonesian ambassador
delivered a written message from President Suharto containing the
positions of Indonesia in the resolution of the military conflict
in former Yugoslavia.
Gligorov agreed that the peace process should be
advanced, pointing out that the escalation of the war in Bosnia
and Herzegovina is a threat to new tension in the region. He
underlined that the achievement of peace should be followed by
full respect of the independence of all states and with the
mutual recognition of all former Yugoslav republics.
Ambassador Nana Sutresna informed President Gligorov
about the begun procedure for mutual recognition and
establishment of diplomatic relations between Macedonia and
Indonesia.
The ambassador also met with Foreign Minister Stevo
Crvenkovski.
[04] DEMANDS FOR CHANGING OF CONSTITUTION
The Council for inter-ethnic relations of Macedonia has
appointed a working group to prepare materials for the demands of
Sukri Rahimi, Saban Zendeli and Nebi Aljus for making changes to
the Constitution. The proposal for changing of the Constitution
contains six items. The demands are: changing the preamble " that
clashes with many contents from the normative part," with which,
as the proposers say " the Constitution is neither national, nor
citizens'." They are also demanding that the Constitution
guarantee the proportional representation of the nationalities in
the administrative organs in the Republic and the local self-
government. The proposers place article 9 of the Constitution in
contradiction with article 48, as according to them, the first
one speaks of equality of freedom and the rights of all citizens,
regardless of sex, race, nationality..., while article 48 limits
the nationalities in the education. They also demand that
Parliament be made up of two houses: Assembly of municipalities
and People's Assembly.
[05] PRISONERS FROM " IDRIZOVO" GO ON STRIKE
The prisoners in the state penitentiary " Idrizovo" went
on strike yesterday. According to the newspaper " Vecer," around
one hundred convicts climbed up on the roof of the prison
building and another six hundred still in their cells, started
demolishing the prison and the prison building.
According to the prison warden, the prisoners are
asking for improvements in the living conditions and feel that
many have been denied the right to amnesty. Also, most of the
prisoners expected to be granted amnesty or at least have their
prison sentences reduced after the second multi-party elections.
A large group feel that they are kept in the prison unlawfully,
as they were sentenced during the time of SFRY, that is, a
presently non-existent state.
The warden Ristov announced that all the competent
ministries in the Government have been informed about the
incident, and that police backup has been called due to the fear
of further escalation of the prison unrest.
Apart from that, today, 400 prisoners are climbed up on
the roof of the building of the prison in " Idrizovo." The prison
also issued an official announcement saying that: " On March 23,
1995, at around 16.00 h in the state penitentiary 'Idrizovo',
some 400 prisoners from the closed and half-open section,
organized and prepared beforehand, climbed up on the roofs of the
objects where they are now, and started throwing tiles from the
roofs and raising paroles written on sheets " This is not an
uprising, it's a strike," at the same time, demanding a visit
from the Ministry of Justice, in order to negotiate improving the
material conditions in the prison and amnesty, with which their
sentences would be reduced or pardoned.
The convicts from the open section, the women's
section, the receiving section, as well as a larger group of
convicts from the closed part, who managed to cross to the
receiving section before the barricades were raised, did not side
with the strikers. A larger group started demolishing the
inventory, breaking the window glasses, while barricading on all
approach entrances to the objects. It is presumed that vast
material damages have been inflicted in the inside part of the
prison.
The Ministry of Justice and the prison management are
taking all legal measures and activities to resolve the situation
in an appropriate way, so as to avoid serious consequences on the
estate, lives and bodies of the convicts and prison employees.
[06] REVIEW OF THE MACEDONIAN PRESS:
" PULS" : EXCERPTS FROM INTERVIEW WITH FOREIGN MINISTER
STEVO CRVENKOVSKI
" PULS" : Do you see any connection between the readiness
of Greece for direct dialogue and the eventual decision of the
European Court in Luxembourg?
Crvenkovski: " I wouldn't look for any connections with
the court. I believe that the court is dealing with legal
questions and not with political ones, and I believe that the
court will made a decision based on legal facts. The question of
dialogue between Macedonia and Greece is not a question of the
embargo, which, on the other hand, is subject of the decision of
that court. We are clearly saying that the embargo can not be a
subject of negotiations. However, what should be a subject of
negotiations and what we are really interested in is the entirety
of the relations between the two countries. The problem doesn't
lie in some separate questions, it's not a matter of some kind of
items that one side or the other wants to impose, but the
entirety of the relations between the two countries, as it is a
long-term key issue both for them and us. We both lose a lot
because the dispute is being dragged on."
" PULS" : There were a lot of dramatic tones in the
American press and the public in the face of the meeting Gore -
Tudjman. After that climax in Copenhagen, what are the
assessments now in the U.S.A. on the security in the region, and
overall, the position of Macedonia?
Crvenkovski: " What I came across in the contacts in
Washington, following this instant resolution of the situation in
Croatia, I would say, is a kind of moderate optimism. There is
still great concern over the course of developments in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, with all the diplomats I met with in U.S.A.,
however, there is already a strong conviction with all that
Macedonia is practically out of the crisis region. Of course,
there can always be threats to the entire region, and according
to that, also Macedonia, however, the prevailing opinion is that
the severity of the crisis, at least for Macedonia, is not what
it used to be a year or two years ago. That can also be seen from
the attitude of the international institutions toward Macedonia,
including also with the last Conference for stability, in France.
" PULS" : The intensification of the relations Tirana -
Athens, and this spectacular strengthening of the same, can serve
as an example for the preparedness of the south of the Balkans to
settle the misunderstandings, nevertheless, in a peaceful way.
How much can Macedonia learn from this cooperation of the two
sides?
Crvenkovski: " In the first place, I feel it is very
positive that the relations between Albania and Greece took a
positive course. It is of vital interest for us that the
relations between our neighbors be as good as possible, as that
also has an indirect influence on us. We are also especially
interested that the neighboring countries in the region regulate
their mutual relations. In the case of the development of
relations between Albania and Greece, I believe that both
countries showed a high level of political maturity and high
readiness for dialogue and finding commonly acceptable solutions.
We have always been for settling the problems in such a way, and
we hope we would be able to settle some interesting disputes for
us, in a similar way.
MONEY - Economy, Business, Finance & Market
[07] *** CEI MINISTERIAL MEETING: Today's meeting of the
national coordinators of the CEI on the significance of the small
and middle-sized companies in the economic development of the
member-states marks the beginning of the two-day ministerial
meeting for foreign trade of the Central European Initiative. It
is not by chance that particularly these companies have been
chosen as the main topic of the summit, as according to the
general assessment, they have shown to be most flexible in the
processes of transition taking place in most countries of the CEI
and are the main bearers of the national economies. An additional
argument for the importance of this theme is the broader
interpretation in the western countries and the idea " small and
middle-sized companies," which also implies foreign investments
and foreign trade.
In addition, the Saturday meeting of the ministers will
concentrate on the economic cooperation between the member-states
of the CEI, with a special accent on trade. The European
agreements will be assessed, the perspectives of the trade in the
function of the integrative processes will be reviewed, and the
economic significance of the border and regional cooperation will
be discussed.
[08] *** PRIVATIZATION - WHO WILL BUY THE TOBACCO COMBINES:
According to unofficial information of the Skopje newspaper
" Vecer," out of eight interested foreign firms, only Rothmans and
Reynolds applied to take part in the tender for the sale of
shares of the tobacco combines in Kumanovo, Skopje and Prilep, as
well as the distributor " Makedonija tabak." They, according to
" Vecer" are interested in buying shares in the tobacco combines
in Kumanovo and Skopje.
According to the estimation of the Privatization
Agency, the capital of the Tobacco combine in Skopje is estimated
at some 13 million DM (of which the unprivatized part is
somewhere around 5 million DM), while the value of the Tobacco
combine in Kumanovo is 16.7 million DM (the unprivatized part is
somewhere around 9 million DM).
" Vecer" also finds out unofficially that the
privatization of the Tobacco combine from Prilep and " Makedonija
tabak" will be carried out by calling for a second tender. That
way, the legal possibility would be used to reduce their price
some 20%, which is applied if the companies are not sold in the
first tender.
The Tobacco combine in Prilep is estimated at 45.8
million DM (the unprivatized part is 23.4 million DM), while
" Makedonija tabak" is estimated at 19.3 million (unprivatized
part is around 7.2 million DM).
Although some of these companies are more than 51%
privatized, nevertheless, they will go on sale with the purchase
of a control package of stocks, with also 51%. According to
previous information from the Privatization Agency, it has been
agreed for the present shareholders to sell a part of their
stocks, so as to enable the new buyer to buy the controlling
package.
[09] *** PRIVATIZATION - PRIVATIZATION OF TRADE FIRMS GOING
SLOWLY: Out of 253 trade firms in Macedonia, according to
information from the Chamber of Commerce of Macedonia, the
procedure for previous control, which is a precondition for
starting the privatization process, has been carried out in only
61.
Of these 253 trade firms, 232 are from the ranks of the
small companies, with less than 50 employees. These companies
were supposed to submit privatization programs by December, last
year, but most of them did not do so. The Privatization Agency
believes that there is a tendency of transfer of state-owned
estate, in most cases under the excuse of covering the current
expenditure. The Agency recommends to the new owners to carry out
their own control and to offer a program for work of the
companies.
As to the large and middle-sized trade firms, the
situation is somewhat better and they are far more ahead in the
privatization process. But, out of 21 such companies, only 2 are
privatized, while in 7, the procedure for implementation of the
privatization is near the very end.
[10] *** BANKRUPTCY WORKERS - DEMANDS FOR SURVIVAL: " At the
moment, there are some 30,000 bankruptcy workers in Macedonia,
while for 10,000 of them, the period in which they received
compensation for their lost jobs has already expired, and now
they are left without any means of existence. 2,000 families are
in a terrible situation, as there are no employed family
members," the acting president of the Association of bankruptcy
workers Spasija Gramosli stated at yesterday's press conference
in Bitola.
The bankruptcy workers are making efforts to bring new
laws which are submitted to the Government in the form of
proposals, according to which the bankruptcy workers should
receive compensation until their next employment or retirement,
while the sum of the compensation should be increased to the
level of 50% of the average personal income in the last three
months, in the economy.
(end)
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