The "Meeting of the hungry" held at the Skopje city square yesterday, and attended by several thousand demonstrators, ended with a division inside the leadership of the Union of Independent and Autonomous Syndicates of Macedonia (UIASM). Speaking from the stand, the leader of the Union Atanas Lefterov demanded the resignation of the Government and the formation of an expert Government which would organize early elections in the country within three months.
Most of the members of the Executive Board of the Union dissociated themselves from these demands, who, according to their announcement, held the opinion that in the talks with the prime minister and president of the state, solutions were offered for most of the revised demands of the Union. These demands should be realized through concrete programs and the laws for privatization, which also means support of the reform course.
The announcement says that "without having a clear vision about the character of yesterday's meeting and the role of the Union in it, as well as the unacceptance to step beyond the tabled demands, most of the members of the Executive board are dissociating themselves from the holding of the meeting, and for any eventual mixing of the union with the political demands, the responsibility will fall on individuals."
The Executive board of the Union is of the opinion that the interests of the workers can be protected only by building an independent union movement, and the program and Statute of the Union confirm specifically that.
The Macedonian press says that the meeting started with the recognizable iconography of IMRO-DPMNU, by shouting out slogans against the current government and carrying anti- government signs. The leader Atanas Lefterov announced the beginning of the general strike of all workers, which should allegedly last until their goal is accomplished. In his speech, Lefterov also said that some citizens from the provinces were prevented from coming. In the interview for "A1" TV from Skopje, Lefterov dismissed allegations that the meeting had a political background, saying that the "demands for resignation of the Government came as a normal reaction, as it refused to meet, in any way, with the representatives of this union, and that they certainly would not demonstrate in front of a fishing club, but in front of the Government." He asked the reporters "not to write that the strike is political, as that inflicts great damages to this movement."
At around 16.00 hours, the demonstrators headed in front of the building of the Union of Syndicates of Macedonia, where the president Zhivko Tolevski was demanded to resign. The police cordon did not allow them to enter the building, so it did not come to a meeting with Tolevski at all.
Following this, Lefterov addressed the gathered citizens, accusing the president of the Executive board for organizing the strike Stavre Janev of "workers' treason." Lefterov said "this is only the first stage in the protest," and that it would "continue on with the development of other union dimensions, until our demands are not fulfilled."
Lefterov assessed the meeting as "successful" and, at the same time, admitted that it had come to a division inside the leadership of the Union. On the square, in front of the rest of the citizens, Lefterov also announced "aggressiveness in the future actions of this movement."
"Yesterday's protest following the division inside the leadership of the Union and the dissociation of its greater part, headed by Stavre Janev, was done by a group of citizens who are not under the leadership of the Union. The group in question are citizens inspired by the influence of a couple of political parties. Our information shows that the march before 'Rabotnicki dom' was led by IMRO-DPMNU activists, which shows, once more, that the meeting does not have a 'union' character, but it is a political activity under the veil of union demands," the minister-spokesman in the Macedonian Government Gjuner Ismail stated yesterday afternoon, after the end of the protest.
He added that after the talks with the larger part of the leadership of the Union, the Government and the Union jointly concluded that the Government's course of reforms is the only path we should follow and that this course also includes the union organizations. Ismail said that a law for union organization was being prepared, which would prevent future militant political actions in the union sphere.
He denied that the police prevented citizens from the provinces from arriving in Skopje and not taking part in the meeting.
"The social situation is not black, but it's also not pink. However, the way out should not be sought in what is called aggressive protest, which is confusing in its demands for a fall of the government. Had yoghurt revolutions succeeded here, they would have been successful much earlier," Ismail said.
At yesterday's press conference, the president of the Union of the workers from the textiles, leather and shoe industry of Macedonia Angelko Angelkovski, informed that the one-hour strike of the workers from these spheres, announced for today, will take place (from 13 to 14.00 hours).
In addition to the warning that a general strike would be organized, a third demand was also expressed yesterday, for stimulation of the competitive capability of the production, especially exports.
The President of the Republic of Macedonia Kiro Gligorov yesterday received a delegation of the U.S. Congress, led by congressman Jim Moren.
The talks, which focused on opinions about the current situation in the region and the development of the relations between Macedonia and the U.S.A., were also attended by the head of the U.S. Liaisons Office in Skopje Victor Gaber. In that context, the upcoming debate in the U.S. Congress was also mentioned, for support of the project for the construction of the East-West corridor.
President Gligorov informed about the current economic and political situation in RM and the relations with the neighbors. He placed an emphasis on the damages suffered by the RM due to the Greek embargo and the sanctions against rump Yugoslavia.
Yesterday, Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski also received congressman Jim Moren. The two sides expressed satisfaction with the to-date development of the bilateral relations between RM and U.S.A. and the mutual wish for their advancement. In addition, the presence of the U.S. soldiers and their mission in RM was positively assessed.
The Minister of Education in the Macedonian Government Emilia Simovska and the Under Secretary in the Macedonian Foreign Ministry Victor Gaber, who are taking part in the World Conference for cultural differences in Sydney, Australia, met yesterday with the Australian Minister of Inter-ethnic Relations and Immigration Nick Bolkus.
The Macedonian delegation placed a special emphasis on the dissatisfaction of the Macedonian immigrants with the unjustified renaming of the Macedonian community in Australia into Slav Macedonian, which is not in line with the policy of multi-culture.
Minister Simovska stressed the practical problems that appear in the process of education in Macedonian language in the state of Victoria, due to the use of the suffix "Slav" in referring to the Macedonian language.
Minister Bolkus tabled the current problems in the treatment of the various ethnic communities in Australia, underlining that the respect of the differences and tolerance are the basic principles which, at moments, are disrupted by political opportunism and outside pressure, which certainly have to be eliminated.
The first Macedonian Stock Exchange is scheduled to start working in Skopje, in November, this year, the minister without portfolio and president of the Macedonian Securities Commission (MSC) Ljube Trpevski stated.
The activities surrounding the organization of the stock exchange were handled by the MSC, while under the sponsorship of the British Know-How Fund, the London consulting firm The International Security Consultancy (ISC) was hired to organize the work surrounding the establishment of the exchange.
According to the project of the MSC and the recommendations of the ISC, the stock exchange will work on a non-profit basis and organized as an open type exchange. At least 5 founders are necessary for its establishment, however, this number can continue increasing.
Founders of the Stock exchange can be banks and other financial institutions whose operations are directly related to trading with securities, such as savings banks and insurance agencies.
In the structure of the Managing board, it is foreseen for most of the members of the Exchange to be independent, foremost, renowned experts from the wider financial area in the country, and who are not involved in the business with securities.
The trading with securities in the first two-three years will be centralized and take place at the MSE, and depending on its development, other types of trading could be authorized later.
The trading will not be carried out according to the offer and demand system, but according to the order-driven system.
In the beginning, floor trading is recommended, with a tendency of growing into electronic trading further on. "One of the recommendations of the MSC is for the securities not to be printed, but for the buyer to receive a certificate that he owns securities, which is taken over from the European countries that have a long tradition in this kind of business," Trpevski stated.
The basic intention is for the Exchange to be a legal entity, and in order to be formed, a founding capital of 1 million DEM will be necessary. According to the rules, the founders will have to be legal entities that will trade on MSE.
In the process of management of the MSE, there will be an Assembly of the exchange, a Managing board, a Supervisory board, an Arbitration Commission comprised of three members appointed by the Exchange Assembly, as well as the Commission for listing and registration.
It has been agreed for the members of the MSE to be legal entities with a capital of at least 150,000 DEM, and to have at their disposal liquid capital of a minimum 30,000 DEM.
The work of the MSE will be controlled by the MSC through authorized auditing houses. The regular control will be carried out by MSC, but in case such need arises, in the first year or two, there is a possibility of granting a mandate to some local or international auditing house for one-time control of the MSE, the Assistant-minister in the Macedonian Finance Ministry Dragoljub Arsovski said.
Over the next couple of months, there will be a period of training of brokers, who will then take a final exam, with which they will be authorized to work at the MSE, Arsovski stated.
The foreign institutional investors can trade on the MSE provided they found a brokerage which is based in Macedonia, while the brokers must be citizens of Macedonia, with a licence from the MSC.
Arsovski stated that it is designed according to an European model, and only the founders can be participants in the MSE, however, their number is not limited and can constantly increase. It is regarded that potential founders would be separate firms founded by the banks, and Mr. Arsovski mentioned as potential banks Stopanska banka, Komercijalna banka, Makedonska banka, Invest banka, Almako banka, Balkanska banka, Tutunska banka and Radobank, however, he also announced an expansion of this list.
With regard to the development of the MSE, Mr. Andy Wilson, Managing Director for Europe of the International Securities Consultancy stated that he viewed the development of the MSE with optimism and that it was being made according to international. He added that there was considerable interest for its opening by local companies and potential institutional investors. So far, according to Wilson, German and British investment funds and brokerages have shown interest in trading with the MSE, however, he did not want to specify their names.
He added that in the beginning, the MSE is expected to work somewhat less, however, with a constant gradation of development. "Within three years," Wilson stated, "we expect the 100 biggest companies in Macedonia to be listed in the MSE."
Assistant-Minister Arsovski stated that in the beginning, the MSE is expected to work one or two days in the week, but in a couple of months, it would work every day.
According to Mr. Arsovski, long term bonds will also be found on the MSE, to the value of US$ 135.6 million, stocks of the local banks, to the value of some 60 million DEM, as well as shares of the just privatized enterprises.