During his stay in Macedonia, the Danish Foreign Minister Petersen met also with Albanian political representatives.
Radio Tirana quotes the president of the People's Democratic Party (NDP) Iljaz Halimi as saying, in the meeting with the Danish minister, that the political building of a unitary Macedonian state will intensify the inter-ethnic relations even further, which presents a risk to the stability in the region.
"Denmark and many other countries support Macedonia the way it is, but we are not sure whether this support should continue when Macedonia is carrying on with its violation of the rights of the nationalities and when the legal state is not functioning," Halimi added.
On his behalf, minister Petersen said that Denmark supports Macedonia's accession to the Council of Europe and that it meets the criteria for membership in this institution.
The Chief of the General Staff of the Macedonian Army Gen. Col., Dragoljub Bocinov started his working visit to the armed forces of the Czech Republic yesterday.
On his first day, Gen. Bocinov met with his colleague, the Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Army, Gen. Col. Yirzi Nekvasil, to discuss the possible forms of cooperation on a military plan between the two armies. Today, Gen. Bocinov is expected to hold a number of meetings with representatives of the Czech Defence Ministry.
The President of the Republic of Macedonia Kiro Gligorov is scheduled to address the Assembly of the Western European Union in the French capital today, as part of the discussion on Europe and the establishment of a new world order for peace and security.
Speaking at this 40th convention of the Assembly of the Western European Union, which was opened yesterday by the President of the Assembly Sir Dudley Smith, will be a number of ministers from the member states, including the Greek Defence Minister Gerasimos Arsenis, which will be the first appearance of a Greek representative since Greece was accepted to this EU defence association last year. It is interesting to note that President Gligorov, as a guest of the Assembly, will speak as part of the general topic of security in Europe, and not as previously planned, as part of the debate on former Yugoslavia, which, in a way, speaks of the changed attitude of this association towards Macedonia and the freeing of the load of the former state association.
A number of documents will be reviewed by the parliamentarians. Some of them, like the report on former Yugoslavia, and the document on the Eastern Mediterranean also mention Macedonia.
Today, President Kiro Gligorov will meet with the French Foreign Minister Erve de Saret, and afterwards, visit the Senate, where he will meet with the president of the Senate Rene Monori.
Tomorrow, in the Ellissey palace, President Gligorov will meet with the President of the French Republic Jacques Sirak.
As part of his stay in Paris, Gligorov will also meet the president of the Commerce and Industrial Chamber of France. After his address, he will hold a press conference in the building where the session of the Assembly of the WEU is held.
As an imposed need, in view of the newly-developed situation and the unavoidability of settling a part of the problems that result from the created inter-ethnic intolerance in the municipalities Gostivar, Skopje and Tetovo, and as a basis for building trust between the Macedonians and Albanians, all with the purpose of building a stable Macedonian state of all the citizens living in it, a coalition is being created between IMRO- DPMNU and PDP. This process has already started in Skopje and Gostivar, while in Tetovo, it was announced yesterday by the leader of IMRO-DPMNU Ljupcho Georgievski during his visit to this town. This was also confirmed by Sakir Aliti, president of the Tetovo local assembly, with whom the leader Georgievski held talks. Some problems in the sphere of the local self-government were also pointed out in this meeting, the adoption of the Law on local self-government, for the territorial division of Macedonia and also some communal and other problems tackled by the local self-government.
In response to the question of some members of the IMRO-DPMNU municipal leadership in Tetovo - why they are making plans to form a coalition, without consulting the Committee in Tetovo first, Georgievski said that it was a matter of the parties, and not their municipal organizations.
The four newly-elected judges of the Supreme Court of Macedonia gave their formal statements yesterday, in front of the Speaker of the Macedonian Parliament Stojan Andov.
In his address to the judges and invited guests, the Speaker Stojan Andov underlined the significance of the Supreme Court in the development of democratic relations in the Republic of Macedonia and the responsibility of the judges in carrying out the functions they have been entrusted.
At the ceremony in the Macedonian Parliament, the following gave formal statements: Liljana Ingilizova-Ristova, Jovan Kalajlioski, Violeta Josifova and Feton Pecuku, the Information Service of the Macedonian Parliament informs.
The President of RM Kiro Gligorov yesterday received Henryk Sokalski, the newly-appointed Chief of Mission of UNPREDEP and UN Assistant Secretary-General. They exchanged opinions on the current situation in the country and the region, and the UNPREDEP mission. It was jointly assessed that the changing of the mandate of the peace-keeping forces in RM is important and presents one more confirmation of the significance of preventive diplomacy.
Yesterday, Mr. Henryk Sokalski also met with Macedonia's Defence Minister Blagoy Handziski. The two sides assessed the to-date mission in RM as positive, especially in the context of its separation from the peace mission in former Yugoslavia, with the appointment of a special envoy of the UN Secretary-General.
The draft version of the Law on local elections has been drawn up at the Ministry of Justice. Together with the laws on local self-government and on the city of Skopje, this law is expected to be delivered to the Government as soon as possible.
Moreover, the holding of the local elections depends on this law. It is still uncertain when these local elections will be held, but they are being planned for this fall or next spring.
According to this law, the proposer is offering a proportional election model, instead of the majority one, which is foreseen with parliamentary elections, while the territory of the municipality presents the only electoral unit. According to the authorities, the reason for this type of model is the fact that according to the Law on local self-government, the municipalities will have their own mayors and town councils. There will be two lists of candidates - one for mayor, and the other one for the town councils. The lists of candidates will be proposed by the registered political parties, and a minimum of 15 voters will also have that right.
The determination of the election results is on the principle of an electoral denominator. On the basis of the number of voters in the municipality and the number of votes for every list, it will be determined how many candidates have secured a spot in the town council. For now, it remains unclear how the mayor will be elected according to the proportional model, but that is left for future revisions of the text.
Due to the failure to fulfill the limitation of 3 million DEM for domestic work and 9 million DEM for carrying out foreign currency operations, the Macedonian-Australian bank "Citi West," based in Bitola, was declared bankrupt yesterday.
If the Law on business associations is to last at least 50 years, then it must precise and clear, and the legal acts that follow it must be passed in parallel with it.
Even more so seeing the capital of Macedonia is in question, i.e. who will control it, so all the irregularities that can lead to it being jeopardized will cause strong reactions. These and similar thoughts were expressed at yesterday's meeting held in the Chamber of Commerce, at which the opinions and proposals from previous discussions on the Draft-Law on business associations were reviewed.
As to concrete remarks, it was said that since the this Law arranges forms of organization that carry out various economic activities, and not only those that have business characters, the law should be renamed Law on economic associations. It was said that the law should not be passed only by lawyers, but it should include experts from all fields. The Commerce Chamber is asking for preciseness which will not limit the freedom of organization of the founders. The Law should stipulate what is and what is not allowed, and not to give working directions. Also, according to the Chamber, the has to define those who issue shares, with the purpose of protecting their fundamental function and value, and to stipulate whether the founding investment will be evaluated on economic or social criteria, is said in the Chamber's remarks.