SKOPJE, SEPTEMBER 22, 1995 (MIC)
The President of the Republic of Macedonia and the Speaker of Parliament Stojan Andov yesterday received the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe Daniel Tarshis, who is staying in Macedonia. In the one-hour long talks, the two sides reviewed the to-date experiences in the relations and cooperation between the Republic of Macedonia and the Council of Europe, in the wake of Macedonia's accession to this oldest European institution. Macedonia has met all the conditions for full membership in the Council of Europe, which, according to President Gligorov's words, will mean a turning point in the concrete realization of the European option, as one of the fundamental orientations of the Macedonian foreign policy.
On his behalf, Mr. Daniel Tarshis expressed satisfaction with the cooperation between the Council of Europe and the Macedonian Government. He also stated that following the acceptance of Macedonia to the Council of Europe, new possibilities for its future international promotion and integration into the European processes will be opened. In this context, it was emphasized that after the signing of the Macedonian-Greek interim accord, it is realistic to expect Macedonia's speedy inclusion in the European associations and international organizations.
Expressing gratitude for the visit which is being realized directly before Macedonia's accession as a full member of the Council of Europe, President Andov stressed the contacts at parliamentary level which have been realized in the past, assessing them as very important, meaningful and useful.
Tarshis underlined the usefulness of the development of parliamentarism in Macedonia as a full member of the Council of Europe, as well as the satisfaction with the Macedonian-Greek accord. Mutual satisfaction was also expressed with the manner of resolving the problems with the human rights, the approach in the regulation of the local self-management, education and overall, the level of development of the democratic processes of the Republic of Macedonia.
"A lot has been done to coordinate our laws with the Human Rights Convention, but, a lot more has to be done. However, the rapporteurs who stayed in Macedonia gave a positive opinion and recommendation for the acceptance of your country," Daniel Tarshis, Secretary-General of the Council of Europe stated yesterday.
He added that after the discussion in the Council of Europe, the Ministers' Committee will probably invite Macedonia, most likely around November 10, to attend the formal acceptance ceremony.
To the questions whether there are any obstacles to Macedonia's admission, and under which name it will be accepted, Tarshis expressed the hope that the obstacles have been overcome. Actually, the report of the rapporteurs next week will contain many conditions which he hopes will be met. "I don't have an answer about the name," he said, adding that they will discuss a country under its name at the UN. However, he could not say what the opinion of the Council of Europe and the Ministers' Committee would be. "I hope this problem will soon be a problem of the past," Tarshis said at the end.
The biggest oppositional party in Greece New Democracy has called Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou to seriously table the question about Macedonia's name at the upcoming informal meeting of the leaders of the European Union.
Makfaks reports that the opposition is pressuring the Greek Prime Minister into asking his allies from the European Union to ask "Skopje" not to recognize Macedonia under another name except the former Yugoslav Republic.
At the parliamentary conference on the Central European Initiative, which is held in Warsaw, with the participation of the delegation of the Macedonian Parliament as well, the MP Ilinka Mitreva had a presentation to the theme "The situation in the Balkan region." Ms. Mitreva talked about the perspectives of the Balkans and the peaceful foreign policy of Macedonia, in light of the accord reached with Greece. She particularly underlined the policy of equidistance, which is led by the Republic of Macedonia towards the neighbors, as the policy of equally good cooperation between the countries, stressing that the realism in the events in the south of the Balkans should present a new impulse for the resolution of all pressing issues in the Balkans.
At the two-day parliamentary conference of the CEI in Warsaw, the initiative for strengthening the cooperation between the member-states on an economic, political, cultural and educational plan was emphasized.
In the vicinity of the former border crossing toward Bulgaria Deve Bair, the connection of the Macedonian gas line system with the Bulgarian gas line system from Russia was done yesterday. With this link up and with the construction of a 64 km connection from Dupnica to Gjueshevo, the first phase in the construction of the gas line from Bulgaria and Macedonia is carried out.
The tourist workers of Macedonia concluded at yesterday's meeting that the past tourist season in Macedonia was a real fiasco. The visit in the biggest tourist places, compared to last year, was reduced 40-50%. The reasons, according to the conclusion from the meeting, are mainly the uncompetitive prices in the domestic resorts, unlike the foreign ones. Also, the tourist agencies are not motivated to bring tourists into Macedonia. The domestic tourists are protected from the stereotype offers. The tourist workers have also attacked the Government "which stimulates the export of tourists more than the import."
The sugar factory "4th of November" in Bitola will soon start with this year's processing of sugar beet. It is expected for 6,400 wagons of sugar beet to yield 6,500 tones of sugar.
The deputy groups of SDAM and the Liberal party could not agree yesterday which of the two solutions for new national flag to release into parliamentary procedure as their joint proposal. Each of the parliamentary groups firstly had a separate meeting first and discussed the possible solutions, and then met with two representatives of the SDAM and LP, in order to exchange information about what they had decided. The fact that the "red alert" situation in Parliament was soon over, where everything was prepared for the start of the procedure yesterday, even the calling of a parliamentary session, confirmed that each of the parliamentary groups chose the other solution. After the exchange of information, we were told that an agreement would probably be reached today.
What was reviewed yesterday by MPs from SDAM, LP and the third coalition partner as well, were two variants of the eight-ray golden-yellow sun on a red basis. The first one is "pure" golden-yellow rays which spread out at the end, and which, as we were informed, was the choice of the SDAM MPs in the meeting which was also attended by Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski. The Liberals, on the other hand, chose the one in which the eight rays spread out through the flag, but in this variant, every ray has two thin red lines.
Still, this doesn't mean that some third variant won't be offered in the end, and the members of these parliamentary groups are leaving this possibility open.
As we are informed, the SDAM and LP MPs will most probably convene once more today, in order to reach a single proposal which will be backed by the MPs of the parties of the Alliance for Macedonia. But, not only they, because, judging by the to-date developments, everyone expects the MPs of Albanian nationality to also put their signatures on a common initiative. The possibility of new and different solutions about the flag coming up is even greater in light of the fact that the MPs from the Socialist party stated yesterday that they have a suggestion of their own, as well.
Now, the question is how come such a hurry with an initiative which was supposed to bear yesterday's date. The answers lie in a legal procedure which lasts 15 days (although there is a chance of shortening it). On the other hand, there's the until yesterday announced date of October the 5th, and by the most competent people in Parliament, as the day when the new flag has to be voted on. And, the 5th of October was "chosen" in order to give the foreign minister time to take it with him and show the new flag when he addresses the UN General Assembly on October 10th. According to the initial plans, four days after the session that was planned for October 9th, Parliament was supposed to convene once more and then ratify the Macedonian-Greek accord. If that still remains as a plan of the top people in Parliament remains to be seen shortly.
On the other hand, some MPs claim there is no reason for such urgency, since the only deadline that seems to be putting the pressure on is October 13th, when 30 days from the signing of the accord will be over. According to these views, the session of Parliament was not supposed to be summoned yesterday, but up to the 28th of this month, and to thereby meet the 15 days foreseen for the procedure through which the initiative for the new flag has to pass.
And once more, all those with whom we spoke yesterday in the Macedonian Parliament say that the solution for the new flag will not have an author, that is, only a group of MPs will formally be stated as proposers. According to them, the main matter was finished on the basis of the selected choice of solutions arrived at the competition from three years ago, including the bought ones, and which Parliament can dispose of at its own free will.
To the question why exactly MPs appear as proposers of the new flag, and not the Government, which took the whole matter surrounding the negotiations on its back, the interpretation prevailed that since this initiative came from MPs in the first place, the Government is not left alone, but support is given to Parliament for what it has done up till now. Otherwise, according to the Constitution, equal proposers in front of Parliament are the Government, the MPs and 10,000 citizens. A two thirds majority is necessary for the adoption of the laws on the state symbols, i.e. at least 80 votes. The MPs feel there won't be any problems in getting those votes.