Commenting on the statement made by Blagoja Handziski, Minister of defence of the Republic of Macedonia, when he said that "the battle for the name of the state has been won", the portparole of the Government of Greece Evangelos Venizelos, yesterday repeated before the journalists that "Greece will not recognize Skopje under the name Macedonia".
On the question why the representative of the White House, Mathiew Nimitz, after visiting Macedonia did not visit Athens, Venizelos replied that the international community, especialy the factors in the UN "have understood the unyielding and provocative attitude of Skopje and are implementing pressure in that direction", that is why Nimitz's visit would be unnecessary.
On Wendesday evening at aproximately 21.00 hours, a record 37,4 kilograms of heroine was confiscated on the border crossing "Deve Bair" on the Macedonian-Bulgarian border. This quantity would have reached a price of 10 milion DM on the ilegal market.
According to unofficial information, the heroine was to be smugled by a Turkish citizen, a bus driver with origins from Kumanovo. The heroine was hiden in a bus with Turkish registration and was towed to the border crossing "Deve Bair" by a Bulgarian truck. The identity of the Trkish citizen is still unknown.
Once again according to unofficial sources, criminal notification has been submited to the Municipal public attorney against the smugler of the drugs and he will be handed over to the investigating organs of the Municipal court of Kriva Palanka so that further criminal procedures may be undertaken.
The eight convicted in the affair "paramilitary" - Resmi Ejupi, Selam Elmazi, Redzepi Shinazi, Husein Haskaj, Akif Demiri, Abdiseljam Arslani, Burim Murtezani and Eugen cami, who were sentenced last year before the Municipal court II - Skopje for working against the constitutional order of the RM, have according to unofficial sources, have been set free on parole.
Eight of the ten convicted "paramilitarists" are being set free because they have served more then one third of their sentences, and because of the positive opinions received from the prison authorities, more precisely because of their good behaviour. The first and second accused Mithat Emini and Hasan Agushi, who have longer prison sentences, will be set free on the sugestion of the State Commission for pardoning.
"Unfortunately in the past 5 years of democratic development of Macedonia, the political factors did not suceed in facing the need to produce a general consensus when vital national interests are in question. This had a negative effect on our entire international position. In a concrete way this degrades and weekens our position in the negotiating process in relation to the Macedonian-Greek dispute".
Dr. Vasil Tupurkovski claims this, among other things, in the interview for the review "Svet", pointing out that it is "unacceptable that when the primary interests of the Macedonian state are in question, even its very existance, we as citizens, are witnesses of internal political tension about the platform, and the concretization of our goals in the negotiating process".
In referance to the current moment in the country, Dr. Vasil Tupurkovski claims that "a characteristic of the past years is the slowing down of the democratic process. There is less motivation for debates and mutual convincing, and a more expressed will for the radicalization of relations in the political sphere".
The democratic ambient in the country, according to Tupurkovski, is reduced and this, as he claims, introduces unrest among the citizens for who "life is already several fold burdened".
The firms in Macedonia, at the end of June had 7.2 bilion MKD on their accounts (US$ 195 milion), which is 102 milion MKD (US$ 2.8 milion) less than in comparison to last month. This fall is smaller in comparison to the falls in April and May, and this sum is far from the sum which the firms had in January and March.
In this entire sum from this month, the firms in from the economy increased their participation from 36.7% at the begining of the year to 50% at this moment.
The unpaid debts of the firms at the end of June was MKD 3.5 bilion (US$ 94.7 milion), which is the smalest some in comparison to the past months from this year, but this is probably due to the obligation of the firms to prepare a half year ballance sheat. Otherwise, the unpaid obligations were highest in january and then they were MKD 10 bilion (US$ 270.7 milion). At that time there were 1,871 blocked accounts of various firms, which have 90,647 employees.
At this moment there are 2,082 blocked accounts of various firms that have 77,196 employees.
The unpaid obligations are mainly located in the field of industry and mining - 46%, agriculture - 20% and trade - 21%. Seven branches of industry and mining: the processing of non- metals, production of chemical products, material for construction, production of linen, ready made clothing, the food and tobacko industry, carry the weight of 80% of the unpaid debts of the entire industry.
The unpaid obligations in the field of non-economy are mainly located in the field of health care and social insurance with MKD 11 milion (US$ 297.800 thousand), education and culture with MKD 3 milion (US$ 81,000) and MKD 1 milion (US$ 27,000) of unpaid budget obligations.
In June alone, 725 notifications of banckruptcy were submited, and in the period January - June the entire number was 3,645 such notifications with 32,550 employees. This mainly refers to private firms.